Amnesty For Immigrants

[AmbivalentEye]

Before I post this, I'd just like to say that I started posting here 2 years ago, at the age of 14. I'd like to say first and foremost that I'm still formulating all my standards, and goals for my life and I don't assume to know everything about every topic. I love speaking my mind, and regardless of the fact that everything I have ever said on this site has been dissected and attacked by every possible view point, I still love joining all the discussions here and learning new things or getting insight on varying perspectives. When you read the following, please take into account that I can't even drive yet so I'm not here to threaten anybody else's opinions on this topic. I'll look forward to any constructive criticisms or opinions you may have:

(This was a speech I wrote that I had to present in one of my classes)

They come here in search of the American dream. This may sound redundant to a great many of you but the truth is that in most, if not all, of all the other nations in the world we are looked to as an example of a different way of life. For a large population of people, for a vast number of decades, the United States has represented the “Life that could be”, the “New World”, and “The Western Power”. People of innumerable backgrounds have, since the beginning of our colonization, sought the means to enter this country and struggle for a life of possibility and freedom. Back in the 1700’s, the representative assemblies of our 13 original colonies understood the necessities for incoming peoples willing to follow standards and support the economy. Back then, the European settlers promoted the immigration of people from various nations, and those people came with the intent of prospering. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, our nation is in a state of fear and turmoil, locking it’s doors to so many of the outside world that have invested their hopes and dreams in earning the original title of what it meant to be an American.

Illegal immigration has been a problem in this nation since about the 1920’s. Back then, the government attempted to assign quotas depending on nationality stating a specific quantity of people that would be permitted to enter our borders per year. But restricted legal immigration since then has only caused dramatic increases in the level of illegal immigrations. I am not here to say that it is just for immigrants to be breaking the law and forcing their way into this country. I am here in the defense of the foreign youth that has been a victim to this conflict from the beginning, and that deserves a chance to establish their own lives. Every year, millions of illegal immigrants come here with their families and illicitly resign their children to grow up in a country foreign to their own. These children have grown up within our education system, and as a result of this influence, they grow to know no other way of life except that of American standards and principles, and the majority of them have the profound desire to continue their educational careers and invest in a life here as Americans. Despite this, at the completion of their 12th grade year in secondary education, the student is suddenly bestowed with the legal status of their parents, leaving them unable to work any decent job, unable to attend state universities, and fundamentally “nonexistent” to the nation he grew into simply because he is missing the 9 digit identification we call “social security”.

My bill’s purpose is to provide amnesty for those students who have been in this country for a minimum of 5 years, and who, out of a personal will, seek to pursue post-secondary education and a life here in the states. Do you really think its fair that an American, dragged across the borders by his parents at an age when he can’t even add, should just be thrown back into a world he doesn’t even recognize any longer, simply because of the fact that he was not born into the American ideals, but rather grew into them? Do you think it is fair that he struggles throughout his entire adolescence to maintain high academic standards and morals, just to be told upon graduation that his fight was in vain and he is being deported? Is that really what this country stands for? We have spent over a hundred years announcing to the world the possibilities and freedoms of the United States. Why is it that now a population of youth that learned to believe in it, is shunned from the prospects of their futures simply because of the decisions of their parents?

Granting amnesty or legalization for these students and their families would only be of greater benefit to the American people. The average 12 million illegal immigrants in this country thus far, are unidentified, and lower class labor men that are significantly supporting the economy. Wouldn’t it just be reasonable to provide amnesty for at least a percentage of them and allow them to pay taxes? That is the one population that will have the least complaints on governmental taxes. Immigrants have been coming here to work to the death for a chance to build their own lives. Taxes are not the problem, and neither is employment because they always take on any quality of career or occupation. The problem is that since 9/11 the government has made it increasingly difficult and sometimes even impossible for them to live their lives and benefit their states. The government fears them and wants to push them out because they have no papers, and they remain deprived of an American dream because of the lack of a 9-digit number.

Amnesty would open up doors for those prospective students, it would identify the hidden working class, and it would only supplement the ethnic diversity that this nation was built on.

[softwareNerd]

... I don't assume to know everything about every topic.

It is the perogrative of 16 year olds to know everything .

Seriously though, your bill gets my vote, and a loud cheer

[JMeganSnow]

Not bad. Here are some changes I would have made, largely to tighten up the style:

They come here in search of the American dream. This may seem cliched, but the truth is that in many other countries we are looked upon as an example of a different way of life.  To a large percentage of the population the United States represents “life as it could be ”, the “New World”, the “Shining City”. People of innumerable backgrounds have, since colonial times, sought the means to enter this country and struggle for a life of possibility and freedom.  In the 1700’s, the  assemblies of the thirteen original colonies understood the value of new immigrants. The European settlers promoted immigration, and people came from every part of the globe.  As a result, America and prospered. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, our nation is in a state of fear and turmoil, locking its doors against people that have invested their hopes and dreams in earning the title: American.

Illegal immigration has been a problem in this country since the 1920’s, when the government attempted to institute quotas on the number of immigrants allowed to enter each year.  Yet, restricted legal immigration has only caused dramatic increases in the number of illegal immigrants. I am not claiming that it is just for immigrants to break the law and force their way into this country; I am here in the defense of the innocent victims of this conflict that deserve a chance to establish their own lives. Every year, millions of illegal immigrants bring their families to the United States and, perhaps unintentionally, relinquish their children to grow up in the American culture. These children know and want no other way of life than that of American standards and principles, and the majority of them want to continue their education and invest in life as Americans. Despite this, on completion of secondary education, these children are suddenly bestowed with the legal status of their parents, leaving them unable to legally work, unable to attend school, and fundamentally “nonexistent” to their own nation simply because they lack the 9 digit identification of a Social Security Number.

I propose to provide amnesty for the children of illegal immigrants that have been in this country for at least five years.  Is it just that an American, brought here by his parents before he can read, should be cast into a foreign and terrifying world he does not recognize, simply because he was not born an American, but rather became one? Is it just that he struggle his entire adolescence to maintain high academic scores, simply to be told upon graduation that his fight was in vain and he is being deported? Is that really what this country stands for? We have spent over two hundred years declaring the possibilities and freedoms of the United States. Why is it that those who learned to believe it are cut off from the prospect of any future by events not under their control?

              Granting amnesty for these students can only benefit the American people. The 12 million illegal immigrants in this country provide all manner of services and are significantly supporting the economy. Immigrants building their own lives are also building America.  They take on any sort of career or occupation, no matter how onerous.  Yet since 9/11 the government has made it increasingly difficult and sometimes even impossible for them to live their lives to the benefit of everyone in this country. The government fears them and wants to drive them out because they have no papers. They are deprived of the American dream by a nine-digit number. 

              Amnesty would open doors for those prospective students, it would end pointless persecution of real Americans, and it would pave the way, once again, for America to be a source of hope for the rest of the world.

Notes: You mis-use words a few times, slightly, and you add a lot of unnecessary verbiage that clutters your speech. A few of your points (especially the one about taxes) are, well, pointless. The rest of your speech is about noble ideals . . . putting in a bit at the end where you attempt to appeal to low-minded revenge (which is what inflicting taxes on immigrants would amount to) cancels out a large part of it.

The worst part, though, is that you, at first, advocate providing amnesty to the children (who had no choice), and then you sneak in the idea of extending this amnesty to their entire family, which presumably includes adults that DID have a choice. Unless this was intentional (in which case it was dishonest), this ruins your entire speech; the points you were arguing don't apply to the parents.

If you want to argue for the amnesty to include the entire family, you would need to make some kind of appeal that the family needs to be together for some reason. A better method (depending upon your long-term goal in proposing this legislation) would be to leave the question of the remainder of the family out altogether. If your bill succeeds, you have gained two things by this method: a.) you have created a precedent for providing some kind of amnesty to illegal immigrants, and b.) you have left the door open for FURTHER proposals of this kind, first to include the children's entire families (can't expect 18-year-olds to suddenly go out and support themselves entirely on their own while attending college!), and then gradually other illegal immigrants (it's ridiculous to exclude these people just because they aren't lucky enough to have kids!) and eventually to dismantle the entire ridiculous apparatus and replace it with something rational.

As for the idea of your bill in general: I am for it, but then I indicated above that I think immigration restrictions are insane anyway.

[Unconquered]

A much more radical and principled approach is to chuck out *all* of the stupid immigration restrictions. Every, single, solitary last one of them, with the exception of the very few that the U.S. government has any legitimate interest at all in: protecting the rights of Americans by excluding those with dangerous contagious diseases, and known criminals/terrorists. Making it retroactive, which is logical, would automatically "grant amnesty".

I haven't run the numbers but Harry Binswanger indicated that he'd calculated that if the ENTIRE population of the earth were to immigrate to America, its population density would still be less than England. Anybody who has ever driven across the U.S.A. (I have many times) has no trouble understanding why. Leave out the major cities and this country is practically a vacuum compared to much of the rest of the world. Immigration restrictions are - to be charitable - utterly, absolutely, boneheaded, without a shred of rational justification or redeeming value. In the name of keeping out "undesirables", which is laughably impossible, it has kept out many of the best and brightest from the rest of the world, or made it impossible for them to stay.

[JMeganSnow]

This is true, Phil, I just wonder whether such a radical proposal would have any chance of succeeding.

[AmbivalentEye]

wow, Jen....I can't believe you took the time to actually go through it like that. Thank you so much! I really love most of the things you did to it except for maybe one or two things that begin to cut away at my personal style. It is alright. I am very graeteful for your kindness in revising my speech. But the truth is that it turn out I won't really be using this speech anymore. well, I don't know, maybe you could help me out with a suggestion on how I could best get my point across. This speech is for a Student Congress competition I will be attending on Tuesday, so I still have time to make revisions. The problem is that I spoke to my friend who has been nicknamed the "Debate Nazi", because she's the best person to go to when you need your speech slaughtered for specific details that are weakening it. I read my speech to her over the phone and from what she was able to retain, she basically said it was too emotional for Congress and maybe I should use it for an Oratory event which involves more of a personal stance as well as a social criticism. She told me my speech had to be more about facts because Congress doesn't really care about how I feel about the topic, only about my position and the knowledge I use to support it. Because of this, I wrote another speech that I will post in a moment. Let me know if you agree that the new speech is more direct, credible, and still persuasive. Thank you again.

Now in regards to the comments you left me:

"The worst part, though, is that you, at first, advocate providing amnesty to the children (who had no choice), and then you sneak in the idea of extending this amnesty to their entire family, which presumably includes adults that DID have a choice. Unless this was intentional (in which case it was dishonest), this ruins your entire speech; the points you were arguing don't apply to the parents."

yes, I understand and I actually felt that myself when I wrote it, and it really bothered me. The problem was that my original bill (that I will also be posting momentarily), stated that amnesty would be given to the student's families as well, because it isn't reasonable for a 7th grader to be legal in this country if his parents are still being deported. I just hate to see families torn apart, but I wasn't sure how to incorporate that into my speech because of the fact that the family is not my primary focus at all. My focus is the student. In the second version of my speech I encountered a similar problem because in providing a positive reason for the families to stay as well is because of their imprtance to the economy as a significant percentage of the working class. I feel that point came out too vague. Please let me know after you read it.

"As for the idea of your bill in general: I am for it, but then I indicated above that I think immigration restrictions are insane anyway."

well, thank you very much, I'm glad there are rational people out there.

[AmbivalentEye]

Speech Version Two:

In the past 4 years there has been an average of 76,000 male illegal immigrants under the age of 16, and 75,300 female immigrants into the United States annually. Why are they here? Because they had no other choice. Statistically, 92.6% of the youth immigrating to the United States each year do so, either without personal consent, or out of resignation to the choices of their parents. In Florida alone, 18% of those 151,300 youths are students enrolled in the US education system. That adds up to roughly 27,000 students in Florida that “don’t exist”, because they lack a nine-digit identification number known as social security. Because of this, at the completion of their high school career, most of them will be doomed to a life of scorn, disapproving odds, and most likely, even deportation back to a country they barely know, just because of the guilt placed upon the decisions of their parents.

A child, though hopeless to the choices of his guardians, is endowed with the same legal status as his parents if he is not native born to the states. Is it just me, or does this sound a little too much like the Virginia Slave Acts, which stated that any Negro child born to a slave mother would inherit her status and be fated to a life of servitude? Well, if you choose to disregard this similarity it’s the same nature. The unjust policy currently being enforced, places thousands of prospective students in impossible situations that cripple them from establishing their own lives according to the American ideals they were raised by.

Psychological and sociological studies done by a group of Harvard students have proven that immigrant students value school more than native-born. The study showed that 42% of native-born students display negative opinions of their education and their futures, only 20% had good opinions, and the rest had no comment. Likewise for immigrant students, 80% really valued their schools and held hopes in their future, while the rest remained neutral. Immigrant students throughout the past decade have demonstrated a sincere desire and determination to do well in school and the majority hope to pursue post-secondary education. Yet, despite their efforts, the US government is constantly on a quest to deport all illegals, often sending back with them some of the top ranking students of the state.

My bill is to provide amnesty for these students who have been in the United States for a minimum of five years. It also includes their families. The Office of Immigrant Archives shows that immigrants make up 12.8% of this country’s workforce, and 40% of them are involved in agriculture, construction, or service occupations. This group is a significant support of the country’s economy, even though diplomats generally choose to ignore this factor. The average annual wage of immigrant workers has been estimated to be between $13,200 - $30,900. That’s less than even teachers make, but you don’t see random immigrants complaining everyday about their wages. Their low wages are the sustenance of their lives, like education is the sustenance of the immigrant student’s. Amnesty would provide identification for all of these people, it would have this “hidden” working class finally pay taxes, and it would open the doors for more promising students with the dream of representing this country as Americans.

[AmbivalentEye]

The actual Bill I wrote that was accepted by congress:

A Bill to Provide Amnesty for Immigrant Students and Families

1. Be it enacted by this FFL Student Congress here assembled that:

2. Section I: Amnesty shall be provided for immigrant students and

3. families of students that have resided in the US for 5 years.

4. Section II: Legal amnesty shall be provided on the condition that

5. the student(s) had to have been enrolled in the US Education

6. system for a minimal period of five years.

7. Section III: The student shall also be required to have the

8. sincere intent and determination to pursue post-secondary

9. education within the US.

10. Section IV: The family(ies) of said students shall not attain

11. legalization or amnesty until there is acquired proof of the

12. students enrollment in a US college or university.

13. Section V: This legislation shall take effect within 6 months of

14. being passed by this FFL Student Congress Assembly.

15. Section VI: The US Immigration and Naturalization Agency

16. shall fully assume responsibility for the enactment of lawful

17. permanent resident statuses (LPS) for all the aforementioned

18. eligible undergraduates. The processes shall be overseen and

19. endorsed by the Department of Children and Families.

20. Section VII: All laws or portions of laws in conflict with the

21. provisions of this legislation shall hereby be declared null and void.

Respectfully Submitted,

-J

[JMeganSnow]

I read my speech to her over the phone and from what she was able to retain, she basically said it was too emotional for Congress and maybe I should use it for an Oratory event which involves more of a personal stance as well as a social criticism. She told me my speech had to be more about facts because Congress doesn't really care about how I feel about the topic, only about my position and the knowledge I use to support it.

Ugh, that's awful. I don't have time to muscle through your second speech right now (frankly I'm surprised you were so accepting of my butchering it the first time!) But I want to make a comment about this.

Your friend has come out loud and clear for a disintegrated approach to thought and action; an attempt to replace principles with statistics. This is Utilitarianism at its finest: it doesn't matter one whit what the principle is, only what (theoretically) yields better numbers. Ai yi yi yi.