BY STUDENT
When looking into today’s political climate, a lot of turmoil is happening with the illegal immigration coming to the US. President Obama deported thousands of immigrants during his 8 year term and elected President Trump has talked about building border walls, compiling names and returning jobs to the white Americans that were taken by the illegal immigrants. But, as we have seen, the wall does not stop immigrants, mainly because many of us flew into the country or used our Visa to pass the border1, but also, many of the jobs immigrants have are not going to be taken by the white population. “Twenty-five years ago, a worker made 12,13,14 cents for [picking] a bin of oranges. Today that same bin pays 15 or 16 cents – in spite of 250 percent inflation”2. Immigrants will keep coming into the US and will continue to be hire for those jobs white people are not willing to take, and as a fellow immigrant from Danbury said “We're here, we're staying, no matter what you're saying!”3. So what now? now that we are here illegally, do we have the right to ask for a better living, grants or prime loans? a better wage? Equal access to higher education? Or even health benefits?
For me,
it seems that we should all have the
same access to a decent home, education, health and wage, and it would benefit
everyone. The Center for American Progress reports that with the 2.1 million eligible
dreamers, if given legal status, there would be a gain of $329 billion into the US economy4.
If more people have access to health insurance and pay, the price will drop for everyone. But also, if
immigrants are deported, specially homeowners, the economy in many towns and
cities will decline, a city is not a city without its people. It is
economically smart for everyone to not abuse immigrants, or anyone, to include
them into the system and make sure we all play a role in society.
The idea
of immigrants helping the economy can be persuasive, but, are we all just money
in the eyes of our government and our society? Should we just elect economists
to run the country without any leadership or sensitivity to our own humanity?
It would not be moral nor helpful for those who cannot economically contribute
to this country because of age or disability. It is our responsibility to help
those in need, no matter who they are. But one of the biggest arguments is that
the North American territory has been taken from the hands of the natives in
colonial times and from Mexico in the Mexican American War, it was violence over
rights. When focusing on the south west, where Mexico lost its land, after the
war Mexican home owners were forced to validate their land ownership under the
new government. Many Mexicans lost their lands when they were denied ownership
over insufficient documentation, others were harassed or killed to gain the
land, or tricked by lawyers who made them sign documents under false
explanations. The US gave grants and loans to white citizens and denied it to
Mexicans, later, Mexicans were offered subprime home loans which had higher
interest and became impossible to payoff, more immigrants lost their home and
assets.5
If we look into Franklin Roosevelt, 1944
State of the Union Address and the Oregon Law review 82(2003):433, 442, we can
see that anyone regardless of station, race, or creed has the right to a decent
home, not just a “shelter”, but an adequate, decent and affordable housing, a
place for growth, education and health. These rights should be given not just
because it is economically good, or because some were here before others and
there has been much abuse towards non white, but because it is a basic
universal right.
SOURCES:
1. Murray,
Sara. "Many in U.S. Illegally Overstayed Their Visas." The Wall
Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 2013. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.
2.
Marc Cooper, “Sour Grapes: California
Farm Workers’ Endless Struggle 40 Years Later,” Weekly, August 11, 2003, http://www.laweekly.com/2005-08-11/news/sourgrapes (last
visited 12, 2009) (quoting economist Rick Mines).
3. Bellettieri,
Diana. 2006. "Danbury Rally Protests Against Illegal Workers." The
Journal News, Jan 08.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/442819530?accountid=14166.
4. Mahwish
Khan on October 2, 2012, and Mahwish Khan. "New Report Reveals the
Economic Benefits of Passing the DREAM Act - America's Voice." America's
Voice. 2012. Accessed December 02, 2016.
http://americasvoice.org/blog/new-report-reveals-the-economic-benefits-of-passing-the-dream-act/.
5. Bender,
Steven. Tierra Y Libertad: Land, Liberty, and Latino Housing. New York,
NY: New York University Press, 2010. Pg. 1-56
