Before I was a writer, Southeastern student and the man I am today, I was a person of Mexican descent.
Like many of you reading this article, my grandparents or ancestors traveled to this land of freedom and opportunity with the “American dream” in mind, powering them through any hardship they may have faced on the way. That same idea still gives hope to millions of foreigners that risk everything to enter this country, legally or not.
I can’t help but wonder why we don’t help these fellow human beings accomplish their dream by granting amnesty, as opposed to hunting undocumented workers down and punishing them for only trying to better themselves.
I’ve noticed a difference between the country we live in today and the one my grandparents traveled to nearly a century ago. Despite this country’s growing acceptance for the LGBT community, there is still a staggering amount of Americans who have disdain for the group of people whom this nation was built upon: immigrants.
Our society is so quick to point out the negatives that undocumented immigrants may cause that they do not realize that not every undocumented immigrant is a drug-smuggling evil-doer with the intentions of stealing “your jobs.” It can be easy to point out the bad apples that give all undocumented workers a tainted image, but it is the responsibility of citizens to not let the reputation of these people become spoiled by a small margin.
One of the biggest problems in the country today is the rising debt of the nation. While critics may believe illegal immigrants harm the economy by taking jobs away and not paying taxes, it is quite the contrary. There are certain segments of the U.S. economy that rely heavily on the cheap labor of undocumented workers. That $5 value meal you just ate would double in price if companies were unable to hire undocumented workers to tend to the fields. The same goes for the already pricey milk we Americans love. According to the National Milk Producers Federation in 2009, without the labor of undocumented workers, milk prices would rise by more than 60 percent.
As far as not paying taxes, illegal immigrants still in fact pay some taxes. Immigrants pay taxes at both the state and federal level, taxes such as property, sales and even income. A survey by the Institution on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated taxes received by immigrants surpassed $85 in 2010 in the state of Louisiana alone.
Gaining citizenship into the land of opportunity is no easy task for a foreigner. Unless an immigrant fits the criteria of a first preference category, CEOs of companies and other high ranking company employees, then they must settle for attaining a green card in the secondary or third preference category.
To fit into the secondary preference category, most immigrants must have at least a master’s degree and fall into a career the United States feels the nation is in need of. These careers range from accountants and business analysts, to computer engineers and chemists. Having a degree doesn’t certify citizenship right away, however. Prospective immigrants must also have a business that is interested in hiring them in order to attain their work visa, one of the first steps in the path to a green card. Once a business files the proper documents to attain the work visa for an immigrant, it can take several years and hundreds of dollars in lawyer fees to actually obtain a green card.
For the average Joe who wants to enter this country legally, they will most likely choose the third preference category. This option to attain a green card can last nearly a decade. Some foreigners do not have that much time to wait for U.S. Immigration to process the paperwork.
For those of you who are reading this in your dorm, classroom or wherever you may be, you can live happily with the knowledge that the hard work your ancestors put into reaching this nation has paid off. They came to this land to create opportunities for their family that weren’t available in their homelands. This same wish still lives on today in the minds of undocumented workers that travel to America.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” These famous words from the U.S. Declaration of Independence’s are not only meant for U.S. citizens, but being inalienable, they extend to every single living person. Driving the vast majority of these immigrants is the most basic of human goals, the pursuit of happiness. Who are we to deny others the right to be happy?