Sarah High
Mrs. Thomas
SEGL 102
21 February 2013
How to live the American Dream:
The Debate over Immigration Reform
For years one specific topic has
been brought up to congress over and over again, but yet it continues to be
debated over with little progress being made leaving our country feeling
there’s no end in sight. Immigration
reform seems to be an issue our Government has a problem laying down a solid
law for. This leaves not only our
country but President Obama in frustration.
As American citizens are striving and struggling to make a living for
themselves, many have a hard time dealing with so many immigrants residing on
US land because they feel it takes away from their living, while others find it
to be beneficial for everyone. President
Obama sees every American and immigrants’ point of view on the topic, and has
struggled with Congress since his first term with a proposal for immigration
reform.
Our President first laid out the
DREAM Act, having solid evidence for ways he feels will work to boost our
economy, and at the same time allow those wanting to live the American dream to
do so successfully. But while the debate
continues, illegal immigrants are continuing to have American born children and
more immigrants are sneaking into the country, which is making it even more
difficult to take control over immigration reform. With many putting demands on Congress to make
quick decisions, some are trying to persuade them in believing immigrants
brought in the country are damaging our economy putting us at risk for a
downward spiral, while others are presenting solid evidence to prove
differently.
Two people specifically, one of
which is a Senator, have written articles stating their reasons why immigration
reform will be beneficial to our economy.
Senator Marco Rubio wrote “Ex-Las Vegan Rubio Outlines a GOP Vision for
Immigration Reform” which was published for the
Las Vegas Review, and David Brooks wrote “The Easy Problem” for The New York Times. Both of these men give evidence throughout to
emphasize their agreement with a rush needing to be put on the policy which
will benefit our economy; however they disagree with how to document those who
are here illegally. While comparing the
two articles, both of these men make logical arguments for immigration reform;
in contrast David Brooks incorporates more evidence producing a more
trustworthy stance on why it is the optimal choice for immigrants to reside in
America, and Marco Rubio uses his political knowledge to force the issue on his
readers, while both articles use the ad hominem fallacy against President
Obama, Congress, and our country.
The article by Senator Marco Rubio states that
our congress needs to address three key factors in order to fix our broken
immigration policy. He gives details as
to why needing a modernized legal immigration policy, strengthened law
enforcement, and addressing the illegal immigrants already here would build a
policy which is fair, honorable to ancestors, at the same time helping the
economy. (Rubio) In the first paragraph
of his article he mentions how our country is built on immigration and is a
part of our future. He makes a worthy
statement with this because President Obama agrees as quoted in his January 29,
2013 speech “we define ourselves as a nation of immigrants. That’s who we are -- in our bones.” One the other hand because he has this
erroneous belief that is quoted by him, “our dysfunctional Congress has been
unable to put in place a new legal immigration system that honors our heritage
as both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws,” makes his statement seem
he is not out to make an argument about immigration reform, but to thrash our
Government.
As the article continues he says the
first key area that needs to be addressed is a modern immigration system with
new aged technology. Besides Rubio’s
political background, he gives no verification this is what our country needs,
yet with President Obama quoting in his January 29, 2013 speech that “Now we
all know that today we have an immigration system that is out of date and badly
broken” gives Marco Rubio’s article more credibility in that our President
agrees needing updates to the system.
Rubio feels by updating the system this will provide a way for immigrant
entrepreneurs, those in the fields of math, science, engineering, and
technology, and seasonal workers into our country which will open the job
market for American born citizens.
According to the Americas Society/ Council of the Americas 28% of new US
businesses were immigrant owned in 2011, which created one in ten new jobs;
those foreign students who graduate in the top fields and remain in the United
States will create approximately 2.62 jobs for Americans. They also state passing the DREAM Act would
bring $320 billion to the economy and create 1.4 million jobs by 2030. Although Marco Rubio didn’t offer any of
these supporting statistics in his article, his intellect of how immigrants will
boost our economy is clear.
Rubio continues his article with the
need to strengthen our law enforcement. Not
only is his argument weakly supported, but his views on how to penalize those
who improperly crossed the borders see-saw.
He first blames our broken immigration system on the law enforcement. He
says they have not properly forced the immigration laws from the beginning, which
is why our country is flooded with undocumented Dreamers and Congress is having
this drawn out debate. Since Marco Rubio
follows Obama’s immigration proposal he knows our President recently spoke to a
crowd in Las Vegas about his visions for the reform. President Obama announced, “During my first
term, we took steps to try and patch up some of the worst cracks in the system. First, we strengthened security at the
borders so that we could finally stem the tide of illegal immigrants. We put more boots on the ground on the
southern border than at any time in our history. And today, illegal crossings are down nearly
80 percent from their peak in 2000” (Obama).
With Rubio declaring enforcement needs to be strengthened, this overlooks
what has already been proposed making his assertion unsupported.
In this article Rubio states, “They
knowingly broke our immigration laws and do not have a legal right to remain
here. But they are also human beings who
made those choices in pursuit of a dream we recognize as the American dream.” On one hand he says they don’t have a right
to be here, but see-saws to the other with it being difficult to round up the millions
of undocumented to have them deported. So
they should come forward, pay back taxes, go through a background check, and perhaps
be granted a temporary non-immigrant status which would prevent them from
benefitting from government funds including college financial aid (Rubio). He says after the policy is in place they
should be allowed to apply for permanent residency, but only if they wait in
the back of the line. In President Obama’s
immigration reform proposal, he mentions there being 11million undocumented
immigrants, and it’s only fair they play by the same rules as every other American;
this includes paying their taxes. So even
though Rubio’s opinions on current illegals sway, they are supported by Obama’s
current proposal.
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