Immigration Reforms
Immigration reforms are an important aspect of the American history. Historically, America has been seen as a country where dreams to a better life can be achieved and, therefore millions of people continue to immigrate into the United States annually. Issues concerning Immigrants have continued to generate heated debates through America.
I chose a story I found about immigration reforms in the New York Times. The article, titled New York’s Dream act dead talks about the New York’s senate rejection of the Dream Act bill that sought to allow undocumented immigrants to be eligible for tuition aid
The dream act was first tabled to the senate as a legislative proposal on the first of August 2001. The bill searched to give conditional residency to immigrants who arrive in the country as minors and show good moral behavior throughout and graduate from the American High schools. In addition, if they serve at least two years in the military or complete higher education in the country, they would qualify for permanent residency together with full economic and social benefits. The act has been amended continuously over the years, but each time it has failed to pass through the congress. However, some states have drafted their own versions of the Dream act which extends instate tuition to undocumented immigrant children.
The article about the Dream act in the New York Times uses evidence from the states senate debate on the state’s version of the dream act. The law, fell short of passage by only two votes in the assembly, reflecting the situation in the ground in which Americans are profoundly divided on to whether unlisted immigrants should be granted conditional residencies or deported back to their home countries. Even though, New York has long prided itself in being a progressive state, it failed to push through the legislation, casting a dark future to the immigrant’s hopes of affording higher education.
The story raises many questions on the modern History of the US. The arguments for and against the legislation has put into perspective issues about the cost of unlisted immigrants to the US economy, and whether or not granting such immigrants conditional residency is useful to the state. Proponents of the bill argue that such legislation will be beneficial to the nation as it gives the immigrants a chance to stay legally in the US without necessarily giving a