Gaining legal status would likely mean three things for the people living in the United States undocumented. First, they would no longer be subject to deportation solely because they are in-country without authorization. Secondly, they would be authorized to work, thirdly, they would have the right to travel in and out of the country. Estimate, 60 percent of the illegal population has been in the United States for more than 15 years and cannot return to their home for various reasons (Hidalgo, 2019). This has created a debate on whether those immigrants should be offered citizenship in the United States and if there is anything wrong with providing them permanent residence. The ideal factor is evaluating their illegality and determining their fate based on the current government regulations.
The United States immigration system is badly broken due to the various regulations based on the federal laws. Many people cross US borders and turn away too many people who want to enter the country legally. The greatest challenge is what the US government can do with more than 12 million people illegally in the country (Wright & Levy, 2020). Evaluation of the provision of citizenship should be based on the need and the urgency of the immigrants as part of government agendas to resolve immigration challenges.
This status quo is unsustainable, without reforms in the immigration laws, these immigrants might be forced to deportations, tearing apart families, and moving the government to expend precious resources to deport millions of immigrants. Many immigrants live in a state of fear, and the majority of them want to get right by the law, but there is not a specific plan to enable them to do so. This delimits families’ dreams and creates uncertainty in their daily lives.
It is not economically or logistically practical to deport more than 12 million immigrants living in the United States. The enforcement alone would not perfectly work to regulate the increasing number of immigrants. Illegal immigrants should be examined to determine the reason for immigration, this will assure the US government of authentic citizenship applications. The current immigration reforms are threats to the immigrants, and this delimits people across the world from seeking peace and harmony outside their home countries.
The current immigration system should be modified to ensure proper accommodation of all immigrants. This can be done by conducting a thorough investigation on the reasons for increased undocumented immigrants. Government needs to give undocumented immigrants a chance to settle their debts to society and earn legal status. All reforms should be based within the parliamentary bills on the immigration cases such that the senate should consider passing laws to resolve immigrants’ issues across the country.
Considering a blanket of amnesty that not only pardons those who have broken the law but rewards them might encourage more people to persistently become lawless. Authorized immigrants should be examined based on the reason for immigration and be granted amnesty before allowing them to live legally in the country (Marchevska, 2022). Immigrants would earn their citizenship through a rigorous process that includes paying penalties and taxes. This process will enable many undocumented families to achieve the American dream by paying the price. It is morally applicable to keep families of mixed immigration status together.
Children have less concern on the issues of immigrations; therefore, they should be deported unless there are criminal activities attached to them. Otherwise, they should be trained to become a better US citizen. Deportation of children is immoral and unacceptable in international laws. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with offering unauthorized immigrants a path to citizenship. However, a thorough examination must be done to ensure proper addressing immigration challenges. This involves evaluating the reasons for immigration and providing an amnesty based on the current government regulations and policies.
References
Hidalgo, J. (2019). The ethics of resisting immigration law. Philosophy Compass, 14(12), e12639.
Marchevska, E. (2022). Creative Acts of Citizenship. Art, Migration, and the Production of Radical Democratic Citizenship, 65.
Wright, M., & Levy, M. (2020). American public opinion on immigration: Nativist, polarized, or ambivalent? International Migration, 58(6), 77-95.