In Defense of the DREAM Act

by Sam M.

In preparation for our trip to Washington DC, 7th and 8th graders were asked to consider the pros and cons of the DREAM Act and to draft a short speech that included what they believed to be the three best points in defense of the DREAM Act.

In the Continental Congress, July 4^th, 1776, a country was born. This was something crafted of change and equality, opportunity, and acceptance. This newborn baby was born of three guiding ideals: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in whatever form that may take. These were dreamt up by the founding fathers, solidified by the revolutionaries, made larger by the pioneers of the west, made broader by the soldiers of the civil war, made more inclusive by the civil rights movements. It is time to write a new chapter in the book of the three morals. There is currently a chance to do so. It involves an issue that is old as the nation itself, immigration. This country is one consisting of 99.9% immigrants; even the founding fathers were not originally from this country. There is no doubt that they were Americans at heart and soul, but immigrants nonetheless. 

Currently, we are betraying our country. We are denying numerous youth immigrants the right to lawfully inhabit the United States of America. This in itself is a major infringement on the third principal. Not only are we denying them citizenship, but we are deporting them back to the countries they came from. Now, there is no denying that while America is the land of opportunity, it is also true that it cannot be held accountable for the failure of other countries to provide for their inhabitants therefore cannot assume the responsibility of taking in people simply because there countries are in turmoil. Or that those who enter the country illegally did not commit a crime. . However, the offspring of those undocumented immigrants may not even have recollection of entering the United States, and in a court of law, in most cases if a child under 18 commits a crime, the blame falls on the caregiver. So in order to truly follow the Ideals set forth by current laws, the young immigrants should be given a chance. 

Even if you disagree that they should be pardoned, they still have requirements that would aid in proving that the people that the D.R.E.A.M act would grant citizenship are people who would be educated and able, with no record of other criminal activity. Even though no person should be viewed in terms of economic gain, DREAMers would become taxpayers, which they aren’t now, but they’re already using resources, so really, the government would gain money by letting these immigrants in.  There is a part of this that may be viewed as a drawback, that many more officers would have to be added to the force in order to compensate the inevitable influx of applications, however if carefully studied one can gather that one, it creates more jobs in America, but also, it is more cost effective than financially supporting deportation officers and prisons.  So, with these factors weighing in on everything ,it is inhumane to believe that these young prosperous immigrants do not deserve a place in the land of opportunity.