Two recent valedictorian graduates revealed a shocking piece of information about their lives. They're both guilty of immigrating to the U.S. illegally. That's shocking, I suppose, but what remains more shocking to me is that any person who could pass with a GPA above 4.0, not only excel beyond the average American, but also must've comprehended both American History and American Government. (As they're required classes for high school students, or at least they were back in my day.) Those two courses, make up a bulk of what it means to "become a citizen."
Even then, it's true they broke the law, and yet, according to a bill presented to congress in 2001, they would have been allowed to continue their education, on merit of their diligence and furthering of American society as a whole. Of course, the reason I say presented is because despite being proposed multiple times, it's never been passed. Why? Well, because it's against the law. Redundant as it may sound, that's still a good point.
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Now, one could then make the argument, "Well, they should just apply for citizenship." As anyone in the U.S. can tell you, it's not that easy. Filing paperwork in the beast that is the Federal Government costs money, time and generally a headache, as well.
In order to obtain citizenship, a person must be a green card holding, non-citizen for a period of five years, or you know, marry an American. Sounds easy enough, except in order to get to that point, there's more red tape and paperwork, and at this point, who even has money for it? (Sometimes, it's just not that simple.)
The actual citizenship application ends up costing you even more money, ($680) with, of course, no guarantee of acceptance.
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So, where do we go from here? How do we possibly make this work? Do we sacrifice our convictions and merely let some 11 million people who broke the law for a chance at a better life? No, of course not. We do, however, need to make changes.
One of the most constant influxes of immigrants comes from Latin America. Not a huge shocker, and yet, one is almost forced to ask why they don't just apply for citizenship. The answer is because they can't. When immigrants flooded into the U.S. during our immigration booms, many of them had no contacts, no excess wealth. They brought with them what they had.
We are a nation of open arms, a nation of inventors and writers, philosophers and poets. We may not be able to solve the whole world's problems, and we shouldn't try, but we can take in more people. I always hear people complaining about those pesky "jobs" of theirs that get stolen.
Whether it be because of increases in education requirements, disability or what have you, we have a good portion of unemployed workers, and yet, you can always seem to find somewhere that an immigrant is willing to work. Why? It's better than what they had. This is as much a testament to the unwillingness of Americans to do jobs that need to be done, as it is a clear reason for immigration reform.
Let's make America great again, and let's start by being the nation that helps people, rather than shuts them out. Hispanics aren't zombies trying to get past the wall to eat your brains ("Game of Thrones," anyone); they're people who come from other places far less fortunate then where we are, and they deserve a chance for a better life. I'm not advocating for a free handout, I'm offering an opportunity.
We are a part of that opportunity, and we reap the rewards from it, as well.
