Politicians snarl and call them “anchor babies.” They’re kids who were brought to the U.S. by their parents. They didn’t sneak into the country, and they grew up knowing no other life but that of an American kid. If they were rounded up and sent back to the place they were born, be it Mexico or Canada, or Ireland, or wherever, we may as well be sending them to Mars, into a life and culture where they are strangers.
How have they spent their lives here? Even if their families lived on welfare awhile, many of these kids have graduated and gone on to college and even served in our military. They’re trying to be productive members of society. They see ads for jobs, many of which no one is applying for, but they can’t apply because they aren’t “legal.” The new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals changes that.
Not everyone can get this 2-year work permit–and that’s all it is, not a green card or instant citizenship. To be eligible, the person must prove he or she came to the U.S. before age 16, was actually here this past June 15, and has lived here continuously for five years. PLUS, there must be evidence of being enrolled in or graduated from school or having been honorably discharged from the U.S. military. In other words, these applicants must prove that they’re working on making a life for themselves.
The argument, of course, is that these people will take “our” jobs–that’s an argument used against immigrants almost from the start of our country. On the other hand, there are many jobs that are going begging, because they’re not what people choose or unemployed people don’t have the training or background needed. Our economy depends not just on jobs being filled but on their being filled by people who will work hard, think hard, be creative and inventive. If immigrant kids who have proven their ambition and have been schooled in skills to fill these jobs, why deny them. Aren’t those unfilled jobs also slowing our economy?
I think this program is the right thing to do, for moral reasons and for the practical reason that these “babies” will help “anchor” our struggling economy.