Illegal Immigrant Children Essay

This is a true humanitarian crisis. The thousands of children who make the grueling trip are not doing it for fun. They are doing it because nothing could be worse than the violence, sadness, and danger that they are experiencing in their own home country. We, as United States citizens, do not understand what that is like. So, instead of turning these minors away, our country should be treating them with the humanity and compassion that they

Imagine you are a US citizen, (which you probably are), and you have a job, a family, a home. You have a family member, or a friend who is a citizen of a different country, and they are trying to escape a situation in their country, or just trying to get to a family member in the US. You would most likely not realize how hard it is to get to this country when you are not a citizen; and if you do not want to wait for the proper papers, it can be very dangerous. If you knew a family member was clinging on to the top or outside of a train for days, even weeks, or months, how would you feel? If you knew that family member was being robbed, raped, or at risk of being killed, how would you feel? And what would you do if you were in that situation? Ait is hard to imagine those things happening, but lots of people go through that, and it is reality. We need to start realizing these things so we can help more people be able to safely come to the US.

Many proponents of the DREAM Act argue that “these kids were brought to the United States before they had a say in their life circumstances. Denying them hope and opportunity is punishment for an act beyond their control” (Fitz). Supporters of the DREAM Act continually advertise this argument; They claim that the children are innocent, and the United States is treating these children unjustly, but not rewarding them with “legal residence and expensive college tuition subsidies is simply withholding benefits to which they never had any entitlement in the first place” (Mehlman). These children are innocent, and deserve to be given an opportunity to come to the United States and have a good education, but it should not be through the DREAM Act or illegal immigration. It is not un-American to prioritize United States citizens, and other immigrants waiting to enter the country legally. A gross misconception is that DACA is only opposed by a radical few who want to hurt innocent children and families, but “a recent Quinnipiac University poll shows that Americans across the political spectrum favor tougher enforcement of existing immigration laws over rolling out the amnesty welcome wagon.” (Malkin). Despite this poll, many patrons of the DREAM Act think that continued amnesty is a right the United States is taking away, when in truth, the general public supports tougher immigration law. The DREAM literally goes against popular opinion, as it sponsors amnesty, and not harsher immigration

Although, it is a temporary measure with no direction to citizenship. This announcement brought a major victory for the immigrant youth movement, which has worked for decades to achieve some sort of legal status for its undocumented members. In particular, this movement has struggle for transition of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act. While it has yet to become law, the DREAM Act has played an unparalleled role in U.S. political discourse since it was first proposed in 2001. Above all, it has assemble a new youth movement that asserts its members' rights the new terms articulating in society are "undocumented youth" and "DREAMERS" which are widely used on college campuses, workplace, in mainstream newspapers, publications, and including by politicians and celebrities. Many of these immigrant youth movement have taken their stigmatized undocumented status into a powerful identity. As a result, "DREAMERS,” undocumented immigrants in their teens, twenties and thirties who have reveal their undocumented status in support of the DREAM Act and have become a recognizable and compelling force in United States; despite having no formal political

Another myth that many critics of the DREAM Act believe is immigrants who have broken the immigration law will encourage more illegal immigrants to move to the U.S., with the knowledge that their kids will have a passageway to legal residency. Essentially, in the adversaries’ eyes, it suggests an incentive to break the law. Additionally, those that oppose the bill feel that the young immigrants applying for college and receiving financial aid creates a level playing field for U.S. citizens and undocumented immigrants—which is just unfair. Basically, undocumented immigrants will have an equal shot at precious state and federal resources as legal residents if the DREAM Act is passed and this is particularly offensive considering the economic

What motivates or is associated with this decreased likelihood of kinship placement is, however, unclear. While the finding of statistically significant differences in the proportion of children placed in kinship care by immigration status suggests a barrier to the placement of undocumented children, additional analyses of just undocumented children on variables potentially associated with kinship placement outcomes yielded no significant differences. This raises several questions regarding what contributes to the differential placement of children by immigration status. Is the decreased likelihood of kinship placement a factor of relative availability: Are there simply no relatives available in the United States to provide a placement? Or are available relatives constrained from becoming kinship caregivers because of their immigration status? Alternatively, is the decreased likelihood of kinship placement for undocumented children due to child or family environmental characteristics not explored in this analysis: Are there other behavioral or cultural characteristics associated with children with undocumented status that contribute to the decreased likelihood of their placement with relatives? Or are the family economic circumstances of the caregiver and difficulties noncitizen families face in receiving stipends for fostering children

This controversial article regarding the US immigration policy reveals two opposing views. Ben Johnson, the executive director of the American Immigration Council enthusiastically encourages immigration. Mr. Johnson sees it as an opportunity for people to “uproot themselves” (Johnson), and work hard to make their dreams come true. Further into the article, his viewpoint is supported by Clarissa Martinez, an immigration expert at the National Council of La Raza (a Hispanic civil rights group). She thinks that the “American Dream” is close to unavailable to foreigners because of the immigration policy.

Thanks to the DREAM Act, illegal immigrants are given the opportunity to receive higher learning other than just high school. The Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors was created due to the low number of undocumented teenagers who had a high school GED but didn't continue with their education. The system made it impossible for illegal immigrants to attend college since they wouldn't be given any financial support from the government (Conger). "These young people were never given the option to enter the United States legally because the decision to move to this country was made by their parents or other adults. The DREAM Act would give these children the opportunity to take corrective measures to obtain legal immigration status" (Heathers). This act should be kept and supported even after Obama leaves office because it gives these students the opportunities they deserve.

For many people today, living the American dream is as simple as waking up. Many young adults do not have to worry about deportation from the only country they have known as home. Nonetheless, 7.6% of the population in North Carolina’s school system is the sons or daughters of illegal immigrants and lack a legal status (Strauss). With the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act) many of those young adults will be able to become American citizens. By passing the DREAM Act, this will allow for many of those young adults to attend a university, earn a taxable living, and purchase a home.

Before going into deeper with the fundamental ideas of undocumented immigration, it is necessary to understand the advent of this era, multicultural society. The multicultural society is referring to the society where people with different race, language, and culture live together and can be defined as the society where various cultures coexist. Will Kymlicka, a philosophy professor at Queen’s University, wrote Multicultural citizenship (1995) which he distinguishes the "multiculturalism" into two categories: “Multinational states and Polyethnic states” (Kymlicka, 1995). His assertion describes multinational states as of where national minorities remain distinct with their language, culture, territory etc. Polyethnic states, on the

Children most of all are affected by the bad decisions that the federal government makes. This is because they often end up orphans or in foster homes. Because of deportation kids grow up without their parents and they have to live with strangers. In some situations their other family members are also undocumented immigrants which means that the child can not stay with them. Hence, they get sent to Child Protective Services and get put in foster homes. According to another article “Furthermore, child welfare departments tend not to place children with undocumented relatives, opting instead to place these children in foster care with individuals the child has never met” (qtd. in Zayas, Bradlee, 170).

It has appeared to me we have an illegal immigration problem here in the United States and also some of the these immigrants are coming here to just have their children, and they know when they do this their child is by the Fourteenth Amendment a citizen. What could be said about this is Citizenship should not be granted to children of illegal immigrants because some (or many) use their children as a way to gain citizenship for themselves and the privileges that come with it, gain money from the US government, and take jobs away from law-abiding citizens.

Immigration has been a big problem in the United States for a long time. Over the years, many immigrants from different parts of the world have entered the United States illegally. In search of the American dream. What is the American Dream? The American dream is what immigrants call when they come to the United States to provide a better life for their families, to prosper, for freedom and for better opportunities. Achieving all this through hard work, initiation, and determination. However, many Americans take advantage of their immigration status. Many illegal immigrants are enslaved to work because they are threatened by

Many young undocumented immgrants grew up in the same environment as other young Americans. They went to the same schools, had the same hobbies, and the same dreams as their peers who had documents. These children never felt the difference of being undocumented until it came to their teenage years when they began to face the repercussion of being undocumented. In the article titled, “Perceptions of Shifting Legal Ground: DACA and the Legal Consciousness of Undocumented Students and Graduates” Richelle Swan and Marisol Ibanez explore those challenges by presenting the story of five undocumented immigrant children. These immigrant children do not get the luxuries that their legal peers do, and sometimes are forced to live a much harder life. They describe these burdens by stating, “Their desire to make an honest living to help them get through school, or to simply engage in the typical activities and routines that characterize teenage life, such as getting a driver’s license, getting a cell phone (during times in which social security numbers were required for a contract), and going on field trips became legal impossibilities.” (Swan and Ibanez 78). While DACA did not completely level the playing the field it did make it easier to reach that dream many of them had. Through DACA many young immigrants were able to finance their schooling and also apply for well-paying jobs with benefits. Many states also allowed DACA recipients to apply for Driver’s Licenses thus making the

Many people illegally travel to another place because they are desperately looking for better opportunities, running away from famine, wars or violence. For instance, Mexico unfortunately has a poor economy with a high population and the country is still engaged in a war with various Mexican drug cartels which kills more than 80,000 people every year (“Reasons for Illegal Immigration). Therefore, United States, being one of the most prosperous countries, attracts many of these illegal immigrants. It provides freedom of speech and religion, steady jobs, a safe environment, and benefits for the poor and unemployed. It has become a home to many of them. Some individuals believe that this people deserve a chance because most come with