Jewelia+S’s+2016+OpEd+Article

Illegal immigration is a touchy subject for most people, but, personally, I don’t know much about it. I do know that no matter what political group you’re apart of, you’re unhappy with the current laws surrounding immigration and illegal immigrants. I decided to start learning how someone becomes an american citizen on the USCIS website (United States Citizenship and Immigration services). Going through it took about a half-hour. All of the limitations, stipulations, and qualifications were disorienting. I’m a native english speaker and I was constantly clicking between uscis.gov and dictionary.com. It’s vaguely understandable after reading and rereading certain things. There are different forms for different types of citizenship or visas, such as an I-140 for and immigrant petition for alien workers. The cost of a visa or citizenship os well over a thousand dollars. $545 app fee, $85 biometric (health screening), and varying costs depending on the way of applying for citizenship, $580 for an I-140. This may seem reasonable price to live legally in the US but, most people moving to America, the “land of opportunity”, are moving to escape an unfavorable financial situation. Starting off a new life in the US, which will most likely be filled with adversity, already $1,210 in debt is a set up for failure. This system of naturalization is not comprehensible and very obviously flawed. So, who is going to fix it? There are many theories of who and how this will be solved. The beloved republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, suggest we simply build a multi-billion dollar wall on the Mexican-American border. Along with this wall, he also advocates an extensive deportation of some 11 million illegal immigrants living in the US, modeling this proposal after a similar operation, “Operation Wetback”, conducted in 1954. Not only is this plan economically ,and physically, very unlikely to be successful, it is overall ignorant and tunnel-visioned. Not only will this cause a huge dent in economic funds, that could be put towards education, it also removed 11 million US workers that help keep the economy afloat. Overall the Trump plan is unfeasible and dumb. Democrats have a less aggressive, more helpful outlook on illegal immigrants and immigration overall. Bernie Sanders, a populist democrat, suggests that we can secure our southern border without a fence. He also believes many immigration reforms need to be implemented in order to allow illegal immigrants to more easily reach the status of an american citizen, including the 11 million illegal immigrants already living in the US. I may not 100% agree with this but it’s much more realistic and beneficial to the country. Sanders disagrees with the temporary work visas that are currently in the system. This is because a temporary visa allows large corporations to exploit their workers, paying under minimum wage and providing bad working conditions. Immigrants only living in the US by way of temporary work visa who file complaints or cause any adversity in the company would simply be fired, and consequently deported. In theory, a temporary visa seems like a good idea, giving citizenship in exchange for working in our country. But, large corporations have exploited this and use it to their advantage, ultimately screwing over the people who just want to work hard to better their lives and the lives of their children. Immigration and the naturalization of illegal immigrants is still a complicated, confusing, and flawed system that anyone has yet to come with a solution and execute it.