What’s So Hard About Being An Illegal? In the United States, we have come to an impasse or maybe a downward spiral even towards how we view immigration. Although this great country was founded on that idea, nowadays, the US Government is not as accepting to those who come across our borders illegally and plan to stay. What our generation does not empathize with is how difficult the lives of those who come here illegally, truly have it. What are some of those obstacles they may have to deal with that we, as legal-born citizens, do not? How might these difficulties even be the root cause for the problem of immigration? Aside from having to successfully make it into the country, and then find a place to live, as well as getting a job, there are many limitations as to what these “aliens” who have made it here still have to deal with. As a society, we are ignorant to some of the hardships that these people have to go through, the liberties that we take for granted in our everyday lives. Our country was formed and founded on immigration; we should not deprive others of that dream just because we are prejudiced.

Throughout the readings of many personal stories and accounts from these “aliens,” I have begun to sympathize with illegal immigrants. The struggles they and their families have to go through to try and survive or be together as a whole. Reyna Wences’ personal account “My Life in Shadows,” of an undocumented US citizen’s problems, truly opened my eyes. From the young age of nine; her mother, sister, and her packed up what they had after borrowing a large amount of money from their family to travel illegally across the border from Mexico to Arizona. They planned to meet her step-father who had originally received a work visa, and stayed after it had expired. “Even as a young girl,” she knew why her family needed to be reunited in the United States. Reyna’s “parents often had to choose between paying the rent and buying food.”. This is a terrifying decision thousands of families, who hope to find prosperity in the US, have to go through on a regular basis. Due to the lack of a Social Security Number because of the lack in residency status, Ms. Mences will never qualify for financial aid to “one of the several top-tier colleges” she got into and most likely will not be able to find a job in her field of study because employer’s would not be able to hire her. After all the hard work and effort towards building a better future, an individual could be denied so much that we, as legal Americans, would have no reason to worry about. A hope for many young people like Reyna is a possible amnesty bill that was proposed by Congress in 2009 called the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act.
The DREAM Act sounds very promising to those who are uneducated on its details and only know the general gist of how it would help them, but Mark Krikorian who wrote the article “DREAM On,” states the four main flaws this act would hold. All of which, I agree could pose a serious problem towards how immigration issues would drastically change. The cutoff age for children being legalized would be 16 years old. In my opinion, this is way too old for an individual to come over and be given legal status; the point would be to allow younger children who are more impressionable to come over so they can grow up with American ideals and patriotism for where they live. If you brought