Immigration Problem 

By Matthew Denaro

 

Many of us have seen a quarter with its famous impression of George Washington "the father of this country". If you look at the back of it you will see one of America’s traditional mottos, "E pluribus unum", which means “out of many, one.” An Italian cannot go to Germany and be called a German and a German can't go to Italy and be called an Italian, but an Italian and a German can come to America and be called an American. That is one of the reasons why America is an exceptional nation. With every nationality represented in the United States we are all Americans living in one united country– the greatest country on earth.

 

There is no doubt that America is a nation of immigrants but we often forget that there are two types of immigration. There is legal immigration and illegal immigration. America is great in that people from all over the world willingly leave their homes in the pursuit freedom, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness so that they may live the American dream. I know this because my family immigrated here legally in the 1900s for those very reasons; however, it's unfortunate that some people decide to immigrate and stay in America illegally. President Obama’s recent executive order of amnesty states that he is allowing illegal immigrants to stay in America legally without being deported. President Obama has said that this is not amnesty yet he has also said "If you like your health care plan you can keep it period." That turned out to not be the case. What will make his non-amnesty statement different this time? In my opinion, this is in fact amnesty.

 

In President Obama’s speech he pointed out that Republican President Ronald Reagan did the same thing. In my opinion, this is another of President Obama’s various untruthful statements. The fact is that President Reagan did not use an executive order to grant amnesty. President Reagan signed into law the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986– a bill that was actually read by congress and gave roughly 3 million illegals immigrants legal status. Later President Reagan used executive order for illegal spouses that were not able to get legal status from the original bill. President Obama is not acting on a bill from congress which makes his executive order unconstitutional, despicable, and an overreach of executive power. In addition to this, President Obama has also blamed House Republicans for not voting on an immigration bill. My question is, when is this President going to man up and take responsibility and do the job that he was elected twice–  to lead this great country. To quote President Harry Truman, a member of President Obama's political party, "the buck stops here." President Obama cannot blame anyone but himself. Let's not forget that this President had control of congress for his first two years in office and his party could have passed anything they wanted, including immigration reform.

 

Allowing illegal immigrants to stay in America legally is one of the biggest mistakes President Obama can make. Most of these illegal immigrants do not speak English which will cause many problems for them as they try to find jobs and travel around big cities and airports. For the illegal immigrants who do speak English they will end up taking jobs away from hard working Americans who are trying to live the American dream and provide for their family. I am not against legal immigration but I am against illegal immigration. If immigrants want to come to America they need to come the right way which is legally, just as the many other legal immigrants do, including my family. We wouldn't even have to talk about this if Congress and President Obama would do a better job in securing the border and enforcing immigration laws. Not only is America a nation of immigrants we are also a nation of laws and weather you are here legally or illegally no one including our elected officials are above the law. If you secure the border and make it easier for people to come here legally it's a win-win for everyone. After all, America is the land of opportunity and everyone should have the opportunity to have freedom and make a better life for him/herself. America is always willing to welcome people but she needs to do so fairly and legally.