I came to this country at the age of 3. My family lived in a two-bedroom apartment in a multi-unit brownstone in Jamaica, Queens. My Dad had just graduated from medical school but he drove school buses to make extra money. Like many immigrant parents, my parents saw this country as a land of opportunity for my brother and me.
With hard work, we could grow up to become whatever we wanted to. As children, we had our dreams set on the simple things. When I was 16, that dream was to get a job as a cashier at my local discount store. When I was 18, all I wanted was to go to college, live in a dorm, and attend division one football games to cheer my team on. I had all these dreams and did all of these things not fully understanding how lucky I was that if I wanted them, I had an opportunity to go for it because I could produce a valid Social Security card.
But 10 million young people in this country are not so lucky. They were brought into this country illegally as children. It's not until they grow up and attempt to apply for their first job, or try to enroll in a higher education program, or serve in our armed forces, that they realize that they are in this country without documentation. Not by choice, but by the actions of their parents. Their dreams are shattered and the door to opportunity has closed. The only choice they are given is self-deportation.
As of last week, however, one million of these young people will be eligible for a chance at their dreams. And they have the President to thank for that.
For years, President Obama tried to get the DREAM Act passed. Rather than come up with an alternative solution, Republicans in congress have gridlocked the efforts of the DREAM ACT, which was drafted with bipartisan support. Like many other presidents have in the past, President Obama took action when no action was being taken.
President Obama did what George W. Bush did 291 times -- he exercised his presidential right to issue an executive order to protect these undocumented young people. President Reagan issued 381 and President Clinton issued 364.
As a result of the executive order, approximately one million young people have been been given a “one in a million” opportunity to pursue their dreams. Appropriate limits were placed on the order. To qualify for relief, applicants must have been brought into this country under the age of 15, they must have been here for at least five years, and they must be law abiding.
The executive order is not a temporary solution, but provides temporary relief until a permanent solution can be passed. The relief does not make these individuals eligible for citizenship nor will they receive a resident alien card.
The one million people that can qualify for this temporary status have rightfully been called "Dreamers." By issuing the order, the President Obama has opened the door for these Dreamers so that they can dream as big as they want.
This post is part of a weekly conversation with our Moms Matter 2012 political bloggers. To see the original question and see what all the bloggers had to say, read What Do You Think of President Obama's Immigration Decision?
Image via USAG-Humphreys/Flickr
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Comments 39
As of May, there are approximately 12,700,000 unemployed people in the US.
There are 8,100,000 working part time, because they were unable to find full-time jobs.
There are an additional 2,400,000 "discouraged" workers, unemployed who have given up looking.
(defined as having looked for a job in the past 12 months, but not the last 4 weeks)
5,400,000 have been unemployed for longer than 27 weeks.
In the month of March, the economy produced 143,000 new jobs. (revised down from 154,000)
In the month of April, the economy produced 77,000 new jobs. (revised down from 115,000)
In the month of May, the economy produced 69,000 new jobs. (wonder what that will be "revised" to next month?)
The Congressional Budget Office says 187,000 to 260,000 (depending on predicted future labor force participation rates) new jobs are needed each month just to keep up with population growth.
The Congressional Budget Office says 316,000 to 391,000 (depending on predicted future labor force participation rates) new jobs will be needed each month to noticeably reduce the overall unemployment rate.
OWEbama is about to hand out (by his number) 800,000 new green cards. (according to left leaning Pew, that number is more likely to be 1,500,000)
In 2010, (last year available) 1,042,626 LEGAL immigrants came to the U.S.
See you all in the soup lines!
I have not one ounce of sympathy for the children of illegals, when our government deports families who came into this country legally, over stupid technicalities or beaurocratic foul ups. Obama's decree does not one thing to protect those families who in my opinion maybe should get a break. And we are to feel sorry for those who openly make a mockery of American laws? Not me!
I really hate rewarding families of people who come here illegally. I know it's not the fault of the children but I have to live with decisions my parents made when I was young and so should these folks. I agree with the comment aove about adding 1 million illegal immigrants that will be looking for work to an already suffering US job market. With Obama needing the unemployment number to improve he may have just screwed himself in that regard. Unfortunately I don't care for Obama or Romney. I don't feel that either one of them represent my interests well enough.
Illegal immigrants are not “undocumented.” They have fraudulent documents such as counterfeit Social Security cards, forged drivers licenses, fake “green cards,” and phony birth certificates. Experts suggest that approximately 75 percent of working-age illegal aliens use fraudulent Social Security cards to obtain employment.
Leaders support perpetrators and ignore victims. Political, civic, religious, business, education, and media leaders blame Americans for “forcing” illegal aliens to commit document fraud and identity theft. No similar concern is expressed for the American men, women, and children whose lives are destroyed in the process.
Children are prime targets. In Arizona, it is estimated that over one million children are victims of identity theft. In Utah, 1,626 companies were found to be paying wages to the SSNs of children on public assistance under the age of 13. These individuals suffer very real and very serious consequences in their lives.
Illegal immigration and high levels of identity theft go hand-in-hand. States with the most illegal immigration also have high levels of job-related identity theft. In Arizona, 33 percent or all identity theft is job-related (as opposed to identity theft motivated simply by profit). In Texas it is 27 percent; in New Mexico, 23 percent; in Colorado, 22 percent; California, 20 percent; and in Nevada, 16 percent. Eight of the 10 states with the highest percentage of illegal aliens in their total population are among the top 10 states in identity theft (Arizona, California, Florida, Texas, Nevada, New York, Georgia, and Colorado).
Illegally employed aliens send billions of dollars annually to their home countries, rather than spending it in the United States and helping stimulate the American economy. In October 2008 alone, $2.4 billion was transferred to Mexico.
95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens. 83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens. 86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens. 75% of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens. 29% (630,000) convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually. 53% plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens. 50% plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border. 71% plus of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by Illegal aliens or “transport coyotes”. 66% plus of all births in California are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
Shall I continue? LOL! Not really funny, though, is it? I haven't even touched the homicides/DUIs committed by illegal aliens here in Texas alone.
What part of the word "illegal" do you not understand? Their parents most certainly DID have a choice in the matter. They chose to break the law, and subject themselves to the consequences of breaking the law.
The criteria they have to meet to get the work visa is appropriate and fair.
What precisely is "fair" about a "Get Out of Jail Free" card? The criteria: Don't get caught during a time period when the administration specifically refused to enforce the law.
I do think they should write into it that it only applies to those already here when it was put in place, so as to discourage illegals from coming now to take advantage of the order.
Since these people are "undocumented", how do you enforce that? LOL!!!
If every time we issue yet another amnesty, we claim we are not going to issue yet another amnesty in the future, yet keep issuing amnesties, what possible reason would there ever be to start obeying the law?
We said that no new people (these people) would get a break the last time we gave everyone a break...
I'm a firm believer that adult illegal aliens should be deported,
Except when there might be a slight political benefit for a politician of a party you favor?