Dillon Shipper
Dr. Hazleton
WRC 1023.063
27 January 2014
The Need For Stricter Immigration Laws
The number of families crossing the border illegally into the United States increases every year. U.S. immigration laws need to be stricter in allowing people from other countries to enter, live, and work in this country. Stricter immigration laws involve creating a more efficient DREAM Act along with solving the problem of “anchor babies.”
The DREAM Act is a bill that was introduced in Congress in the year 2009. DREAM stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. The goal of the bill is to allow illegal aliens who arrived in the U.S. before the age of sixteen the opportunity to become citizens while also having to fill certain educational or military service requirements. While the idea of the DREAM Act is a step in the positive direction for immigration reform, the bill is very flawed. The act is too sympathetic to illegal aliens and needs to be stricter. First of all, the cutoff age of sixteen is way to high. Mark Krikorian argues, “I have a 15-year-old, and if I took him to live illegally in Mexico (and living illegally is a lot harder to do there than here), he would always remain, psychologically, an American, because his identity is already formed” (505). This means that the DREAM Act needs to be altered to focus on illegals who consider themselves American, not Mexican. Krikorian mentions in his work that the Roman Catholic Church and English common law set the age of reason at seven years of age. Having the cutoff age be seven would make the bill stricter, but more efficient in legalizing people who deserve to be legalized. The DREAM Act needs to be strict in handling fraud. The act states that any information used to fill out the application cannot be used in a removal proceeding or to prosecute fraud. Krikorian explains, “This is like playing a slot machine without having to put any money in, any illegal alien can apply, and if he wins, great, but if he loses, he can’t be prosecuted even if he lied through his teeth about everything” (506). In essence, this logic makes no sense. No amnesty program will ever be efficient without it being understood that lying is not acceptable. Another reason the DREAM act is not ready to be passed yet is because it will attract illegal immigration. Krikorian states, “Any new amnesty, even if only for those brought here as children, will attract further illegal immigration” (506). Illegal immigrants will keep crossing the border as long as there is a possibility that their predecessors can achieve citizenship. If there is no form of severe punishment, then there will never be a reason for prospective illegal immigrants to think twice about crossing the border. The DREAM Act also rewards illegal immigrants. It rewards both the kids brought to the United States and the adults who brought them. Krikorian writes, “Any serious proposal to legalize young people…would need to prevent the possibility that their parents and other adults responsible for bringing them here illegally would ever receive any benefit from the amnesty” (506). As of now, the DREAM act is predetermined to fail, but with some strict reform to the bill, it will make the illegal immigration process more efficient.
The United States has a problem with anchor babies. Anchor babies are the children of illegal aliens who purposefully cross the border so they can be born in the U.S. According to the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, if someone is born in the United States then they are granted instant citizenship. Illegal immigrants take advantage of this right and come to the U.S. with the intention of giving their child American citizenship. In a 2010 editorial posted in The Washington Times, a newspaper founded by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, “Eight percent of babies born in U.S. hospitals in 2008 had mothers who were illegal aliens” (502). Anchor babies bring about serious costs to society. Since the