CHELSEA CORNABY

IMMIGRATION REFORM

Illegal Immigration is a rising issue in America (if you see it as an

issue.) With some political views they make it seem immigrants are the worst
thing to happen to America. In my personal experience with immigrants I
think immigrants are great and if we remember right we all come from some
immigrant. Its hard for immigrants to be successful in this country because
of all the negative energy towards the issue. To help these immigrants
become successful the government should help make it easier to get visas.
Before my step father got deported he came to the United States
from Mexico. He came here to build a better life for himself and support his
family back home in Mexico, after he met my mom they got married and had
two kids together. He has always had to work construction jobs or jobs that
didnt require United States documents ex passport social security card.
Chicho has been in our family and here in the states for twelve years waiting
on his approval to apply for citizenship. Then he got deported ten days prior
to meeting with the U.S Immigration and Custom enforcement. The reason
for his deportation is because someone found out he was here illegally and
they called I.C.E. now my family lives a whole continent away from me, and
all of this could have been avoided if the government looked into the
situation further and approved the visa.

Immigrants arent coming all the way from South America, Middle East,
Africa to be a burden to America, they are coming to make a better life for
themselves. Being a successful immigrant would be to come to America to
live out their dream of owning a home, starting a business, get a decent
paying job so they can support their families whether they live here in the
States or in the country they are from. Stephanie Coontz states in her article
Competence also meant being capable and reliable. The American Dream
was that people who worked hard and capably could support their families.
Coontz implies here that immigrants are coming here to live the American
dream.By helping immigrants become successful and live a happy life the
government should make it easier for them to get visas.
The United States government does not want to make it easier for
immigrants to get visas because they are afraid they will take jobs for lower
pay decreasing the jobs that are already available for united states citizen.
Zadeh explains in his article We hear a lot from some quarters about the
fear that immigrants will take jobs from Americans , or drain the U.S
economy. Nonsense. Granting legal status to illegal immigrants alone would
create 121,000 jobs per year over the next ten years according to the Center
for American Progress. The U.S economy would grow by 1.4 trillion over the
next 20 years if the senates proposed immigration reform legislation was
adopted, according Congressional Budget Office. (pg. 625) Zadehs point is
that we need to make it so illegal immigrants can get legal status because it
would help our economy and create a whole bunch of jobs for everyone.

Although the U.S government feels that way small businesses and
other major companies along with U.S citizens do not. We already see
companies such as call centers and Microsoft, Google expanding to different
countries. By granting these immigrants with work visas we can help the call
centers and big major companies by giving them more employees to choose
from.
Immigrants will improve the United states economy because they are
prepared to work hard. In Zadehs article he shares a personal experience of
his process coming to america. Zadeh is from Iran and Iran doesnt have a
US embassy, so him an his friend/ future business partner took a train all the
way to Turkey (thats where the closest embassy was.) he traveled to turkey
to get his visa so he could come to the United States to further his education
and follow his dream of creating his own company. (pg. 624) Just by going to
Turkey and making that trip shows how dedicated he was to work hard for
something he wanted. Thousands of immigrants come here because there is
no work in the countries they are from, so they come to the United States
with the mindset of I will get a job and will work hard to support my dreams
an family (if they have one.)
United States is known to have the best higher education programs
such as universities, colleges, special engineer/ medical programs. Tim
explains in his article when it comes to higher education we remain the
beacon of success four of the worlds top five universities and seven of the
top ten listed in last years Times Global Higher Education Rankings are in

the United states. If we have these schools here in the United States it is
not fair to the people in foreign countries to not be able to attend these
schools to help them with their career. Zadeh explains about him and his
friend We both aspired to be academics, and we were both accepted into
the Ph.D in mechanical engineering and computer science at the university
of Maryland. There was only one obstacle: we needed to obtain F1 visas to
attend the school we had worked so hard to get into. (pg. 624) these
students just wanted to come to the United States to attend school. The
government has to make it difficult or them because they have to get visas.
So the US needs to make it easier to obtain work visas and school visas so
illegal immigrants can come here and get the schooling they need to achieve
there career choice.
Making it easier for immigrants to get visas will help innovation and
continuous job growth. Lets say someone came here to the United States
from Mexico and had a great idea for a company that would provide
hundreds of jobs but this company wouldnt be able to survive in Mexico
because of certain circumstances there. But it would benefit us here in the
states because the employees that would get hired would be paying taxes
on their checks every two weeks or weekly depending on how the company
worked. Daniel himself writes, The burden of government in the United
States is smaller than it is in Europe, and our markets are more open and
deregulated than they are in Latin America, Asia and Africa. These features
mean that poor people have considerable opportunity to climb the ladder,

limited only by their talents, abilities and willingness to work hard. In

making this comment Daniel urges us to interpret if the government gives
work visas to immigrants coming to the United States to work they can have
the opportunity to climb the ladder too. Daniel also states The American
Dream exists all across the country, from the small businesses in every town
to the energy entrepreneurs that have created so many jobs and driven
down oil and gas prices. The essence of Daniels statement is that once the
immigrants are allowed to come here they can become successful in any
part of the country, because there has already been so many jobs created.
In conclusion, if the government would make it easier for illegal
immigrants to get visas weather its for work, school, or just to come and
make a better life for themselves. It would help out a lot of families around
the world. These immigrants would bring their ideas and dreams to the
United States and help create jobs and make our economy grow. Immigrants
will have the opportunity to attend high ranked universities and colleges, or
even just be able to get a decent paying job to provide enough income to
support their families.
To connect this with class Thomas A. and I did a presentation we
connected our projects together, his was with the 2016 president race
candidates views on immigration. His project refers to chapter 1 in the text
about democratic parties and republican parties. We did an activity in class
to see which side of the spectrum you were on so we compared and

contrasted Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump with their views on Immigration
reform. Also we had a discussion in class one day about immigration reform.

Bibliography

Mitchell, Daniel J. The American Dream Is Alive. New York Times, 1 Jan.
2015. Web.

Coontz, Stephanie. The New Deal and Civil rights Helped Make the
American
Dream Attainable The New York Times, 01 Jan. 2015. Web. 15 Dec.
2015

Roemer, Tim. America Remains the Worlds Beacon for Success. They say, I
say: With readings.

3rd ed. Pg 618-621. W.W Norton & Co. NewYork. 2015.

Shayan Zadeh. Bring on More Immigrant Entrepreneurs. They Say, I Say:

with Readings.
3rd ed. Pg. 623-626. W.W. Norton & Co. New York. 2015.