Second Chances

Anthony Walton once wrote “America’s greatest strength, and its greatest weakness, is our belief in second chances, our belief that we can always start over, that things can be made better.”  Since the founding of our great country, we-as Americans- have prided ourselves on the fact that in our country no matter what a person’s race, ethnicity, or religion he or she has the ability to come to America, live freely, and even start over and create a better life for his or herself.  I would like to see Walton’s words take form in the implementation of an immigration policy that is more focused on human-rights as one of its fundamental principles.  The topic of immigration continues to be a debated issue at the federal, state, and local level.  On one side of the argument, some feel strongly that illegal immigrants from other countries take jobs and resources from natural born citizens and therefore believe that they should be sent back to their respective countries and or punished for being here illegally. However some people, like myself,  believe that  our country was founded by people seeking a better life away from persecution, and because of that illegal immigrants should be given a second chance to start over, and make things better for themselves and to be provided with services and rights once they do arrive.

I recently read an article in the Los Angeles Times which touches on this hotly debated issue of immigration at a local level.

Politicians in the cities of  Temecula, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore, Menifee and Norco have been railing against illegal immigrants for taking jobs away from desperate citizens by Using a strategy first adopted in Arizona, the cities in January began requiring all businesses to check the legal status of new workers through E-Verify which is a free online database run by the federal government that allows employers to determine the immigration status of their workers.

Jennaya Dunlap, an immigrant-rights activist from Romoland who has led the fight against the new policies. 'It doesn't really address the broken immigration system, and all it's going to do is force more people to be paid under the table.' "

As evidenced by this article, our federal immigration policy is ineffective and broken, and using some online database to determine the immigration status of workers is not going to help resolve this issue.  We must collectively, come up with a way to create an effective immigration policy that does not only focus on the illegality of undocumented immigrants, but also one that does not just roll out the red carpet for them. I believe that there is a way to establish a policy that articulates a middle ground between Democratic and Republican policy.   

First, the visa system must be reformed. The current system takes too much time to process immigrants, and ends up creating an incentive to cross illegally. If we fixed the visa system to where immigrants are given their visas in a timelier manner, I strongly believe that we would reduce the need for people to try to immigrate illegally. In addition, immigrants who are currently living in the United States, who wish to be granted full citizenship should have to follow a strict pathway.  This pathway should include learning to read and write in English, refraining from being convicted of criminal conduct, paying taxes, and seeking gainful employment and or maintaining a steady job. The third aspect that needs to be reformed is the way employers deal with illegal employees, which is directly related to this article.  Instead of punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants, or punish illegal immigrants who are trying to make a living, the government should require these employers to help their employees succeed on their pathway to citizenship by providing them with classes on site to learn English as part of their daily work schedule and mandating them to pay taxes. As we have seen in this article

The most important change that needs to take place is that the U.S. Government must attempt to get at the root of the immigration issue-poverty within Mexico and Latin America.  If these countries begin to provide a higher standard of living for their people and create more opportunities to be successful and gain capital then their citizens will feel less inclined to cross our borders illegally and relocate. The federal government needs to establish a uniform immigration policy and then be held accountable to it and make it crystal clear who is responsible for setting immigration enforcement priorities and who is accountable for their success or failure.

I strongly believe that by implementing a more enforcement-based approach immigration policy where illegal immigrants that are caught are immediately locked up and in many cases even deported completely undermines the very premise that our country was founded upon-freedom and equality.  By implementing a more enforcement-based approach we will end up compromising the stability of our economy and more importantly the well-being and safety of illegal immigrants and their families along with the safety and well-being of our own citizens.  We must restore “America’s greatest strength, and…our belief in second chances” and the belief that a person who has moved here in hope of starting over will be granted that chance to make a better life for his or herself in spite of his or her race, ethnicity, or religion and will be able to do as a result of the implementation and strong enforcement of an immigration policy that is more focused on human-rights.