Immigration Reform: Why Immigration Is Good

Immigration has long been a topic of debate in the United States. Especially now with Trump as POTUS, the U.S immigration policy has become more unfair and unjust to people who just want a better life for themselves and their families. Immigration is what makes America special and it is far more beneficial to have immigrants in the U.S. I agree that there are some people who should not be allowed, but as it is right now our immigration laws are outdated. Our system was designed for a paper based, brick and mortar type economy, patched together in a time where the life expectancy was a full five years less than it is now. That was a very long time ago and we need immigration reform as soon as possible.

The United States immigration policy has never been perfect but as of late Trump has made a lot of announcements trying to make our immigration laws stricter but by doing so has brought a lot of attention to immigration and how it should be fixed/changed. Although I do understand what is trying to be accomplished I don’t think the way it is being done is right. A lot of children and families are negatively impacted by the immigration policy, and considering that most terrorists (which is the main reason the policy is as strict as it is) originate from inside our borders radicalized years after moving here, and economically immigrants are beneficial to the United States and all the money put into Border protection can be used for more important things.

No child should be forcefully separated from their parents because they were moving to the United States in search of a better life. The punishment does not fit the crime. While the Trump administration has not issued a formal policy stating that parents and their children caught at the border without documents must be separated, Sessions last month announced a policy dictating that adults found illegally crossing the border face criminal, rather than civil, prosecution. Accordingly, parents are detained and separated from their children, who are taken into custody by the government or sent to foster care. I do not believe this punishment fits the crime, the type of mental damage that would be done to a child is unwarranted. A lot of these children do not even speak english so they can barely understand what is happening. This just is not right and unfair there has to be a better way because as of right now this punishment is cruel and unusual. That is just the most pressing matter also a lot of injustices are happening how is it right that the Administration is unwilling to accept that grandparents are close enough family for nationals of six Muslim majority countries to be exempt from the travel ban.

Immigrants in my opinion do more good than harm when allowed into our country. A survey of 285 economists at America’s major corporations by the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) found that a clear majority believed President Trump’s restrictive stance on immigration is a mistake. They help boost our economy. Among the economic benefits that immigration brings are entrepreneurs who start businesses, young workers who replace retiring Baby Boomers and people with diverse skill sets to keep American companies competitive and innovative.

Markets reward skills that have value and this day and age, running a machine tool is a skilled trade. You should have a visa system that recognizes market shortages and allows those skills to enter the United States. Of course this comes at a cost United States citizens with a shorter education background and not too many skills are going to have a hard time finding jobs because so many immigrants will fill jobs or less pay. Instead of looking at this negatively I think this could foster in a new age of competitiveness that will result in people taking school more serious, or learning more skills to stay competitive giving us an economic boom. Rather than economically taking advantage of this the U.S is blocking foreign entrepreneurs with investments in hand from coming to the U.S. and starting businesses. There is a lot of research that proves we are wasting billions of dollars in economic growth.

The reason our Immigration policy is so strict is to keep out terrorists but that is not even who is entering the U.S. These are just normal people trying to build a life for themselves. Labeling these people as criminals creates a certain stigmatism about them that is unnecessary and can only negatively impact us as a society. Instances like President of the United States had to intervene to allow in a group of girls from Afghanistan seeking to participate in an international robotics competition, or two French kids getting detained and returned to France, unaware of the fact that a tourist visa was not the proper visa to come to the U.S. to learn about organic farming. Those children did not deserve that kind of treatment as though they came in to the U.S with criminal intent.

Everyone has heard America being described as a “melting pot” because of all the different races and ethnicities that make us unique from other countries. This country was founded on immigration it’s not like we did not only allow those who were rich or elite it attracted those rejected, oppressed, enslaved and even jailed (people just looking for opportunity). The workers are the people who built this nation. Our diversity is the source of our strength. The fact that there people are now treated as criminals is wrong, we need to push for fair and just immigration reform.

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