Rationale for Choosing the Issue
Immigration is one of the most prominent and divisive issues facing the United States today. It is important to address this issue because of its broad impacts on millions of Americans. Not only is the issue relevant to the immigrants themselves, but it also has direct effects on their families and communities. Immigrants are critical to the American social fabric, and they also play a crucial role in the maintenance of a healthy economy. Therefore, it is worthwhile to examine immigration policy options and consider the most appropriate solutions.
Key Immigration Issues
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Deportations and a Pathway to Citizenship
There are currently an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. In the past, federal authorities prioritized illegal immigrant convicted of crimes for deportation, but under the administration of Donald Trump, the federal government’s policy has been to identify, arrest, and deport as many illegal immigrants as possible, regardless of criminal status (Wilkinson, 2018). This has led to an increase in the number of non-criminals being deported (Wilkinson, 2018). While it is true that the number of deportations per year has declined under President Trump, this is largely because of resistance from states like California, where state officials have refused to cooperate with the federal crackdown (Wilkinson, 2018). Indeed, even with the slightly lower deportation rates, Trump’s hardline deportation policies have contributed to a climate of fear throughout the country that directly threatens the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
Instead of continuing with the policy of prioritizing all illegal immigrants for deportation, the appropriate policy solution is to grant illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship. Immigrants are often willing to do jobs that other Americans reject, and they pay state and local taxes, even if they are not paying federal income taxes. With the offer of a pathway to citizenship, illegal immigrants would have the opportunity to come out of the shadows to live and work legally in the United States. With a pathway to citizenship, illegal immigrants would immediately be granted legal status, but they would still be required to go through a fair, time-consuming process, just like any other applicant for US citizenship. Ultimately, this policy solution is preferable to continuing with deportations, since it recognizes the contributions of illegal immigrants and allows communities around the United States to continue to reap the economic and social benefits of a robust immigrant population.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was created by President Barack Obama in June 2012 (Gamboa, 2018). The program provided protection from deportation and work permit eligibility for approximately 800,000 young people who had been brought to the United States illegally as minors prior to June 2007 (Mark, 2017). On September 5, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that DACA would be gradually phased out over the course of six months, with a slated end date of March 2017 (Mark, 2017). Although the Trump Administration encouraged Congress to develop a legislative solution that would replace DACA, Congress has thus far been unsuccessful. A ruling by the Supreme Court ultimately blocked the termination of the program, so DACA may remain in place for over a year after the originally proposed end date (Gomez & Kaplan, 2018), but the future of the program still remains unclear
Therefore, it is essential for Congress to take action to extend the DACA program and provide DACA recipients with a path to citizenship. So far, President Trump has rejected the previously proposed policy solutions on the basis that they do not provide adequate funding for border security or sufficient restrictions on legal immigration. However, Congressional leaders should insist upon a “clean” DACA bill for this deserving population of immigrants.
Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA)
Another program that was created by the Obama Administration for deserving illegal immigrants was the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). Under this program, illegal immigrant parents of children who are citizens or lawful permanent residents would have the opportunity to pursue a pathway to citizenship (Bendix, 2017). Although it was initially proposed in 2014, it was blocked by a federal court in 2015, and it never went into effect (Bendix, 2017). However, experts estimate that it would have allowed about 3.7 million undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows and begin living and working legally in the United States (Bendix, 2017). Therefore, implementing this policy would be an ideal first step to providing legal status for deserving immigrants rather than indiscriminately targeting them for deportation.
Family Separations at the US-Mexico Border
In recent weeks, the news has been dominated by concerns about the family separations that are occurring at the US-Mexico border. This policy was a result of the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy for individuals caught crossing the border illegally from Mexico into the United States (CBS, 2018). Citing the “Flores case,” which established that immigrant children could not be held in detention for more than thirty days, the Trump Administration justified separating immigrant children from their parents (CBS, 2018). At the same time, the administration justified the policy by suggesting that it would deter potential illegal immigrants from trying cross the border (CBS, 2018). Ultimately, outcry from the public led to the end of the practice of family separations, and a judge has ordered that all families be reunited, but the reunification process is still ongoing.
Candidate Stance
Candidate Oprah Winfrey is in favor of commonsense, humane policy proposals for addressing the immigration issue. She opposes the deportation of immigrants who are already living in the United States legally. Like so many others, she has also spoken out against the inhumane practice of separating families at the US-Mexico border.
- Bendix, A. (2017). Trump rolls back DAPA. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/
- Gamboa, S. (2018) What is DACA? What you need to know. NBC. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/
- Gomez, Alan and Sophie Kaplan. 2018. “DACA Was Supposed to End Monday. It Didn’t, but Dreamers Remain Anxious.” USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/
- Mark, Michelle. 2017. “The Trump Administration Is Ending DACA, Jeff Sessions Announces.” Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/
- Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy sowed confusion from the start. (2018). CBS. Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/
- Wilkinson, F. (2018). Why Trump deports fewer immigrants than Obama. Bloomberg. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/
