By Jesse Saunders Photo Editor
We are a country built on the backs of immigrants and yet we have had anti-immigrant rhetoric in almost every era of our nation’s history. The current hatred towards immigrants, specifically Muslims and Mexicans, is an unfortunate new face to a problem that has plagued our nation since its inception. However, while it’s easy to use a few choice examples of immigrants causing issues or being the source of violence, the majority are assets to the country and deserve the right to citizenship that most of our ancestors longed and fought for.
Immigration is not something that should be a controversial issue, since this country was founded by people looking for a better life away from their natural home. It seems entirely hypocritical to deny people looking for the same solace as our ancestors.
President Obama’s administration has deported the most illegal immigrants in modern history, but has demonstrated with other legislation that mass deportation is not the way to solve the problem of illegal immigration. Obama has worked hard to enact laws that would aid immigrants, knowing that at one point “we were strangers too.” Laws such as the Dream Act would be permanent and peaceful solutions to a problem that seems to be unceasing. Deporting illegal immigrants breaks up families and leaves children to fend for themselves in a currently over-encumbered foster care system.
Though many believe otherwise, illegal immigrants aren’t stealing American jobs. On the contrary, they’re being exploited for their desperation for work. While there is an illusion that everyday Americans are losing out to illegal immigrants, they misunderstand the exact treatment of those workers. More often than not, they are underpaid and overworked in jobs that many Americans ignore or underestimate the need for.
Instead of building a wall and expecting another country to pay for it, Americans need to look to making the path to citizenship more accessible. Why should we punish people who come to this country for the same reasons our ancestors did? The keystone of the American dream is that it can be anyone’s dream, not just a naturalized American citizen’s.
Jesse Saunders is the president of the Democrats of Hofstra University
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