America was built on the very foundation of immigration. The roots of this country reside in the fact that we are one of the most racially diverse countries in the world.
“They (immigrants) created entire new industries that, in turn, created new jobs and new prosperity for American citizens,” said President Barack Obama, in his immigration reform speech at Del Sol High school in Las Vegas.
So let’s ask ourselves one question: Who are we to take away an individual’s dream to lead a healthy and prosperous lifestyle?
Obama mentioned three main proposals that tie in with his immigration reform for 2013, which he said are “very straightforward.”
“We have to stay focused on enforcement, and strengthen security at the border,”Obama said.
Since cracking down on security at the border in Obama’s first term, he said that “Illegal immigration is now down 80% from it’s peak in 2000.”
Not only is Obama striving to give opportunities to immigrants, he is doing it in such a way that discourages illegal immigration while keeping criminals out of America.
“Second,” Obama said, “we have to deal with the immigrants who are here illegally…and it has to be clear that there is a pathway to citizenship.”
A common opinion is that illegal immigrants do not deserve to be here, since they do not pay taxes to our government. That may be true for some, but I work in a restaurant that is filled with illegal immigrants who are my fellow employees, and they all pay income taxes to the government.
If we know that immigrants are becoming U.S. citizens legally, why is there still so much apprehension towards letting them in and expanding American industry? Because we are afraid that they will take away what we think we deserve more than them.
Americans constantly say how immigrants take away our jobs and that we deserve them instead since we are citizens here; however, immigrants, most of the time, take the jobs that are unfavorable to American citizens. Immigrants also “create new industries” as Obama said, thus creating more jobs.
The last and final proposal Obama mentioned was to “Bring the legal immigration system into the 21st century. If you are a foreign student, we should help you succeed to strengthen our economy.”
The point of having foreign students come to America is to grant them the opportunity of a better education, and to expand their capability to start their own businesses and become successful entrepreneurs. Who are we to give them an education and then send them back, only for them to not have the resources to succeed? We must follow through.
There is a possibility for us, as citizens of the United States, to give somebody else the opportunity to live the lives they have always wanted.
Don’t be apprehensive towards it because that’s how your fellow citizens view it. Embrace change and embrace the idea that everybody, not just the typical white American, deserves to succeed.
Obama laid it out perfectly when he said, “We forgot that most of us used to be them.”