By Joshua Alan Contreras Gonzalez

The future of illegal immigration in the United States is critical in today’s society. Instead of building a higher wall in the border like Donald Trump says, Congress and the Senate should work to establish a fair legal citizenship process. It benefits the economy, gives people a second chance, and immigrants are hard workers. A lot of people have the wrong impression about immigrants and question why they come here. The answer to that question is very simple; they come here for a better life. They do not come here to cause harm, but they come here to find harmony. Over the years the U.S has been known as the home of the free and full of opportunity, but lately that freedom and opportunity seems to have been forgotten. The injustice and racial treatment immigrants face today is unfair, unlawful, and ungodly. People are so blinded by negativity that they do not see what immigrants have to offer to this country. 

If Congress and the Senate work together to establish a fair immigration reform the economy of the U.S would increase tremendously. Should all 11 million illegal immigrants in this country be legalized? No, According to the economic fact sheet (2014) to have an immigration reform means only certain people qualify. First the border must be secured and hold a certain amount of undocumented immigrants accountable and ensure that everyone plays by the same rules. Deport criminals that committed serious crimes not families, and require undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check, and pay their fair share of taxes as they register to temporarily stay in the U.S without fear of deportation. According to an analysis by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) the President’s executive actions on immigration would boost the economic output by an estimated 0.4 to 0.9 percent over the next ten years; increases in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $90 billion to $210 billion in 2024.

People come to the U.S for a second chance, so they can succeed. Education is other counties is not free, but it is highly priced. People stereotype immigrants as being ignorant due to their lack of education, but not all immigrants are uneducated a lot of them are very intelligent and talented. A lot of immigrants have their Ph.D., but are unable to find jobs in their native country so they come to the U.S hired by American companies. For example, Mexico has a lot more to offer than just crime, violence, and injustice. There is highly skilled Mexicans that come to the U.S to pursue their careers. Around 11,000 Mexicans with doctoral degrees reside and work in the United States. Another estimate says 27 percent of all Mexicans who hold such degrees work north of the border. According to an interview by Tim (2015) Enrico Ramirez Ruiz a Mexican astrophysicist that teaches at the University of California at Santa Cruz dreams that Mexico may reap more Nobel Prizes in science beyond the 1995 prize in chemistry won by Mario Molina, a chemist. Ramirez dream is shared by many others that would love to hear about the great accomplishments made by the people of their country.

Immigrants are hard workers, in fact they are one of the hardest working people this country has. People come to the U.S to work and better themselves and their families. They work multiple jobs, and work overtime hours weekly. The job they perform is not the job a kid dreams of growing up. They do the dirty work Americans refuse to do. As stated by The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (2013) immigrants are not taking peoples jobs away. The difficulties of working on the fields to harvest produce for Americans to eat requires hard work. Every year in the U.S people including members of Congress take their two week break for Thanksgiving, meanwhile immigrants are working hard on the field to put dinner on the table for their families. The United Farm Workers invites American workers to step into the shoes of an immigrant farm worker. As millions of immigrants continue their hard work to contribute to our country, they ask Congress do the same. As stated by Bruce (2013) a publication called Modern Farmer was made of a story of an immigrant women the feature is called “Farm Confessional”. The confessional is about Odilia Chavez, a 40 year old undocumented immigrant farm worker in California. Her message says that she is not taking anyone’s job away because nobody would do the job that she does to support her family. She explains that in the 14 years she has been here, she has never seen an American working in the fields. She has never seen anyone work like immigrants do. She says that she would keep her job even if immigration reform passed. The difference would be that she would be able to return to her native country, Mexico and see her mother for the first time since 2008.

People see immigrants as a low class minorities that do not have anything to offer for this country, but that is a lie. Immigrants have a lot to offer to the United States from an economic boost to having great skilled workers. Also, this country offers them hope and opportunity. Hope for a second chance and better opportunities they could not have in their home country. This country was born from immigrants and people seem to have forgotten that. Undocumented immigrants dream will come true when the hate stops. You can help the hate stop by spreading awareness, calling your local congressman office and fighting injustice. There is still hope for the American dream. Our American dream.

Header photo by NBCNews.

References

(2013, Nov 22). Immigrant Farm Workers, Labor Leaders and Immigration Advocates to the  Republican House: ‘Do Your Jobs’ on Immigration. Targeted News Service (USA). Retrieved from http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/14A3C68D2C645D58?p=NewsBank

Maiman, B. (2013, Nov 7). Illegal immigrant: ‘We’re not taking your jobs’. News & Politics Examiner (USA). Retrieved from http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/149F7D1DDB26D610?p=NewsBank

Johnson, T. (2015, Aug 18). Immigration – Mexican brain drain brings benefits to U.S. – Thousands of Mexicans with doctorates have left homeland for the U.S. – American universities reap benefits from exodus – Crime, bureaucracy drive some away from Mexico. Charlotte Observer, The (NC), p. 13A.. Retrieved fromhttp://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/1574CA994D377410?p=NewsBank

(2014, Nov 22). FACT SHEET: The Economic Benefits of Fixing Our Broken Immigration System. Targeted News Service (USA). Retrieved from  http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/151C0B7783ECCE78?p=NewsBank