Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants

Possible compromise on immigration reform takes shape
By Dana Bash and Tom Cohen, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/28/politics/immigration-reform/index.html
AP Gov. Current Event #1

Topic: The U.S. senate will be seriously considering a plan that will grant amnesty to nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants that are living in the U.S.. A bipartisan group of 8 senators believed that while this will provide a temporary solution for these immigrants to attain green cards, in order for the plan to be successful, border security must be strengthened and more closely monitored. The framework proposed by these senator's bill also includes the Overhauling the country's legal immigration system, including attaching green cards to advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, or math from U.S. universities; Establishing an employment verification system that holds employers accountable for hiring undocumented workers; and Creating a guest-worker program for positions that Americans are either unable or unwilling to fill. The argument highlights that the immigrants deserve temporary citizenship without second-class people being mistreated simply because they lack paper even though they are already contributing to our economy and our tax system. Because this is a bipartisan effort, it has been able to avoid many of the negative connotations that typically result from factional controversy. This is not to say that there has been some rebuttal. Conservatives immediately voiced their opposition to amnesty."When you legalize those who are in the country illegally, it costs taxpayers millions of dollars, costs American workers thousands of jobs and encourages more illegal immigration," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who serves on the immigration subcommittee in the House. "By granting amnesty, the Senate proposal actually compounds the problem by encouraging more illegal immigration." The framework proposed by the bipartisan senators was further sustained by executive support.

Opinion: The context of this article is very interesting for a number of reasons. The first being that it is a bipartisan effort, following the election of a democratic president. On the surface, the republican's willingness to aid an effort that had been historically fronted by democrats and liberals may be seen as a rare glimpse of compromise between the two groups. However, there is much more to it. It is not secret that the republicans did not fair well with latino voters in the previous election. It is the hope of the republican party that through the support of immigration/amnesty legislation (a primary concern for many latino voters) they will be able to reverse the latino opinion and gain republican support from the ever growing minority population. Exit polls indicated Latino voters gave overwhelming support to Obama over Mitt Romney, who had advocated a policy that amounted to forcing undocumented immigrants to deport themselves. The republican party must recognize that, despite their recent efforts to gain minority support, they will not see a drastic change in the voting trends of the latino community. While immigration policy is important to latino voters, the republican party must be able to offer much more to these voters in terms of community improvement programs, policies, and welfare (things that democratic candidates offer and support).

Conclusion: Despite the expected political controversy, this is a major step-forward as a whole and should be viewed as a return the the fundamental beliefs of our country. By granting these citizens a temporary solution to their illegality and undocumentation, they will have the opportunity to participate in our labor force as they please, without the fear of being deported or labeled based on their legal standing, as well as take the opportunity to attain the proper documentation in a legal manner, undergoing to the full process of citizenship. These citizens are unfortunately stereotyped as taking advantage of the american system, while in reality, they directly contribute a great deal to the labor force and economy. When these citizens are granted their temporary visas, they will lose their undocumented status(reflected in a statistical decrease) and subsequently, deflate the massive issue that illicit immigration has become.