Immigration issue calls for dialogue

CONGRESS SHOULD PASS the McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to gain legal status and provide them with a path to citizenship.

The bi-partisan bill sponsored by Arizona Republican Senator John McCain and Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy seeks among other things, to create a temporary worker program for unskilled foreign workers, to work closely with foreign governments to provide incentives for immigrants to return home and to allow immigrants to apply for permanent legal status as paying back taxes and fines.

What the bill seeks to achieve is more realistic and cost effective than trying to deport 12 million people, most of whom contribute honestly to the economy.

Despite the fact the immigrants broke the law by crossing the borders without permission or overstaying their visas, undocumented immigrants have demonstrated goodwill by working and contributing in every section of the economy making some sectors dependent on their labor.

Critics however, dispute the benefits of labor provided by undocumented immigrants claiming they’re overtaxing medicare and school systems. While there is some truth to these arguments, there are reports that undocumented immigrants lose a lot of money in unclaimed social security funds and tax rebates.

The solution is not to kick them out and poke a big hole in the economy, but to bring them in the system so that they can also contribute fairly to the social amenities they consume.

Giving the immigrants a path to citizenship would also bring out the undocumented immigrants from the shadows and help identify people in the country a positive step in our national security.

The proposal to crack down on illegal immigration seems to unfairly target Mexicans and Latin Americans.

While a vast majority of undocumented immigrants come from Mexico and Latin America, information from the Pew Hispanic Center shows there are millions of other undocumented immigrants from Europe, Asia and Africa.

Charges that immigrants do not assimilate and threaten the American values are also inaccurate.

Research by the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan project by the Pew Research Center, shows immigrants currently assimilate into the American culture faster than in the past.

The research findings are credible because most immigrants are exposed to the American culture in their native countries through music, movies and American companies operating abroad. While such glamorization presents a skewed image of the real America, it creates an urgent desire to try their best and fit in the culture as soon as possible to achieve the American dream.

But fitting in a new culture after living most of your adult life in a non-English speaking country is not easy, immigrants always standout because of accents and some innate cultural traits acquired while growing up.

Adapting to a new language takes time and may be difficult for first generation adult immigrants.

Usually children born in America from immigrant parents are forced to assimilate faster to avoid the kind of prejudice their parents face for being different.

The idea of deporting undocumented immigrants also presents us with a moral dilemma when it comes to mixed status families. The Pew Hispanic Center research indicates that out of the 12 million undocumented workers, more than three million are children who are U.S. citizens by birth, are we ready to divide families that have done nothing but pursue a better life?

Deporting undocumented members of a family also makes a mockery of the statement of hope on The Statue of Liberty “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Such a move would also create a myriad of new social problems such as increase in juvenile delinquency.

In the past weeks, the pro-immigration demonstrators have also shown maturity in their way of expressing themselves by engaging in peaceful demonstrations, a gesture that should be construed as a call to sober dialogue.

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