Immigration Reform

With the Presidency of Barack Obama many undocumented immigrants living in the United States began to dream of a immigration reform that would help them follow a path for legal status. President Barack Obama promised immigrants that during his first year of presidency he will push immigration reform. Since 2009 we haven’t heard of any immigration reform. It looks like congress and the President forgot about the undocumented immigrants that had favored their election. The President and congress can’t just assume that undocumented immigrants don’t exist, or just realized that they are present when there are big marches in Washington.

There is a movement of two senators to offered immigration overhaul. Democratic Senator Charles E. Schumer, and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham proposed to overhaul the immigration system in a bipartisan effort. They suggested that undocumented immigrants have to admit that they broke the law, and require all workers, including U.S. citizens, to carry a biometric identity card to demonstrate that are allow to work in the United States. Their plan also includes more enforcement at the border and in work places. This plan stands to benefits highly educated immigrants with degrees in science or technology, forgetting about the labor workers.

In the United States we need reform that can help all undocumented immigrants find a way to obtain a legal status, including labor workers. I agree that not all undocumented immigrants would qualify to obtain a legal status. Those immigrants who are hard workers, pay their taxes, share their knowledge to the country, and behave according to American laws, they really deserved to obtain a legal status in the United States. The immigration reform has to offer same opportunities to all undocumented immigrants, and not just give privilege to highly educated immigrants. Highly educated immigrants tend to have money and come from families that have higher status in their native country. This contrast the other immigrants who are labor workers that have no money back home, and for that reason they come to the United States in search of the American Dream: to offer a better future to their family. They are the most vulnerable immigrants because they are poor, don’t speak the language, and don’t know the legal system. If Congress and the President finally decide to push Immigration Reform, it has to be a plan that it will cover all undocumented immigrants equally.