Bold new immigration policy



In a bold and unexpected move the Obama administration announced that it will no longer deport undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children and have not broken the law.  Much like the long-lost DREAM Act, which would have allowed young people who came to the states illegally but attended college or served in the military, illegal immigrants who are under 30 may fall under the plan. 

There are quite a number of requirements, however.  Not only must they be under 30, but they must have come to the US before they turned 16, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school, earned a GED or served in the military.

Those immigrants who meet those requirements will be immune from deportation and will be eligible to apply for a standard work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed.  They will not necessarily be granted citizenship, but they will no longer have to hide in fear of deportation. 

Janet Napolitano, former governor of Arizona and current head of Homeland Security explained that while immigration laws must be enforced in a firm and sensible manner, " they are not designed to be blindly enforced without consideration given to the individual circumstances of each case. Nor are they designed to remove productive young people to countries where they may not have lived or even speak the language. Discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here.”

“Many of these young people have already contributed to our country in significant ways.”

Not everyone sees this new policy as a great idea.  Several  prominent figures on the right-wing are declaring that this is practically amnesty, and that with so many Americans already unemployed it doesn’t make any sense grant illegal immigrants work visas.

What they don’t seem to take into account is that these young people are already working.  They may be working illegally, or under the table, but if they are here and alive they have to support themselves somehow, especially when the traditional societal safety net isn’t available to them.  The law isn’t adding new people to the labor pool, it is simply giving those who are already working legitimacy and taking away the huge incentive of employers to abuse these individuals.  

It also might be the first step in ensuring that more immigrants come here legally, rather than in the terrifying and horribly dangerous way they do now.  

"It also sets the ball in motion to break the gridlock and fix our laws so that people who live here can do so legally and on the books, and people can come with visas instead of smugglers in the first place,” says Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.  “Today, the students are being protected, but we have to fix the system for their families and for the country once and for all."

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