Samantha
Current Event Posting #2
Topic: Education
By JULIA PRESTON
Published: November 30, 2010
New York Times
Length: 1 page
Main idea:
Illegal migration has always been a controversial topic in United States, especially when it is about undocumented immigrants that are under 18 years old. In this case, I will focus in the issue of educating undocumented young students.
One of the sources of this hot debate is that the American constitution of the United States made education a "fundamental right" , stating that all students under 18 years old must go to school.
In the past weeks, several immigration advocacy groups have done mayor efforts to convince Congress to pass a bill to legalized thousands of illegal immigrant students.
Democrats, like Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, are supporting this position and put forward legislation to grant legal status to some students who are illegal immigrants. On the other hand, many Republican senators who are seeking to reduce the immigrant population are totally against this bill.
The article published on November 2010 in the New York Times, describes a increased nationwide mobilizations to give an opportunity to these children. For example, in California and in Washington state several groups of students, immigrant activists and farm immigrant workers made protests and caravans. Furthermore, education sectors from the American society are also supporting the cause, for instance, leaders of several prestigious universities, like Brown, Harvard and MIT, have signed supporting letters.
Although these are huge advocates to this cause, opponents like Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who wrote a detailed 10-point critique to the bill, in which one of his points was that this bill “would give safe harbor to some immigrants with criminal records and could benefit illegal immigrants who were no longer youths.”
Conclusions:
I think that Congress should pass this bill for several reasons. One is that despite undocumented children are able to go to public schools up to secondary education; most of them are not able to pursue higher education. Their “illegal status” might create several barriers between students and school personnel that could affect negatively these students.
Secondly, for those students work really hard in school and are really respectful of the law, and it’s just really unfair that despite all that effort they can be deported.
Third, giving them the chance to study being legal citizens facilitates work opportunities, which could reduce unemployment rates and criminality that might beneficiate their society in general.
I think it would be a good idea to pass this law. Most of the children of immigrants did not decide that they wanted to come to the US; their parents did. They'll be able to go to college, and get off the streets. Many illegal immigrants turn to crime because they can't get a good job with a high school diploma. They'll later go on to welfare, which will cost taxpayers a small fortune in the long run. Paying for their college tuition is nothing in comparison, because once they have a better job, they'll be paying more taxes too.
ReplyDeleteI think we should allow these illegal immigrants an education. If America is to be the land of opportunity, then we should show our generous side. Although Senator Jeff Session's argument is reasonable, it does not take into account the number of immigrants who will benefit and become a productive member of society.
ReplyDeleteThis law should definitely be passed because everyone living in the country should have a right to learn, whether they are here legally or not. All children have a right to go to school, as they did not choose to come here on their own accord. This would not only benefit the immigrants, but would also benefit the country. With these children in school, they would be more likely to study and less likely to get into trouble. Also, they would have a much better chance of getting jobs later in life, which would decrease the amount of illegal ways of obtaining money.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the Democrats in the sense that illegal immigrants do deserve a certain degree of status in education. If people expect immigrants to avoid a life of crime or unproductiveness to society as some would claim then they should emphasize strong support to put immigrants through school and off the streets. This would also help to give an accurate perspective on the lifestyle of foreigners so that our impression is not based off street dwellers.
ReplyDelete