I will be writing about my experience in class discussing the issue of immigration, among my fellow classmates. It was a very interesting experience. I found that almost everybody in the group had kind of the same mind set, when it came to immigration. One of the main questions we were trying to find an answer to was basically,” what should happen to the illegal people that have grown up here, because they were brought as children?

We all had a similar mind set when thinking about this. We thought they should be able to stay if they wanted to, if they were not criminals and never did messed up stuff. Throughout the discussions I had with the members of my groups I realized that most people have a similar thought process. This was news to me. I thought that everyone would have a bunch of drastically different opinions, but for the most part they were similar with of course a few differences. So this revealed that our group members thought of democracy in a positive way, because they thought people should have a say in what happens to them illegal or not, as long as they are not criminals or something like that.

Now, all of this could make one wonder about how democratic erosion plays a part in this or if it is even involved at all. I think it play a huge role in this, because whenever someone is deported against their will and they did not do anything wrong, especially when considering the Dreamers that were brought here by their parents and didn’t even have a say in what happened to them, is a big example of democratic erosion in a way. It might not sound that way but I think it is. Whenever people are being forced to do things, like leave the country for no reason, I think it is a sign of eroding democracy. If their already here and contributing to society they might as well stay. I think the people of the U.S. should simply have a vote on if the Dreamers should stay or not, and just on immigration in general as well. I bet that most people would be just fine with the Dreamers and any illegal immigrates staying if they are not criminals.

So, we all had similar views, but some views little different form others. One member in our group said that he cares about the little kids that are here now and they should be given a chance at an education and a better life, but he did not really care for the people who just sat around all day and did not make attempts to get an education or strive for a better life. Other members were ok with those people staying. So, some thought that the government should just decide what to do with all the illegal immigrants. The fact that they are having such a hard time deciding what to do with them is kind of weird. It makes me wonder if there is any democratic backsliding going on in the government institutions right now. It sounds like a pretty easy fix to me, I don’t know what’s taking the government so long.

All of this brings me to the subject of DACA which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. “DACA is an American immigration policy that allows some individuals who were brought to the US illegally as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a work permit in the United States. Unlike the DREAM Act, DACA does not provide a path to citizenship for recipients.”(Wikipedia) The only problem is that I sounds like the program is dissolving and is going away. So what’s going to happen to the hundreds of thousands of people who depended on this program? This is a loaded question. The kids that grew up here are pretty much Americans. They know how stuff works here, but in Mexico or other places they came from, who knows what’s going on there or how things work there. It would be very difficult for them to settle in a country that they don’t even remember. Not to mention that Mexico and Central America in general have some of the most dangerous areas on the planet located in their borders. So just for the kids safety it would be good for them to stay.

Now there is another side to the issue. There are many people that are against illegal immigration and everything it stands for. Not necessarily in my group of classmates, but some people think that not every law abiding illegal immigrant should stay, and there should be limits. One article claims that,”Considerations should be given to policies concerning legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, refugees, nonimmigrant workers, and border commuters and to the impact of these policies on U.S. labor practices. Comparisons are made with the experiences and policies of other developed countries. The author argues that recent extensive changes in U.S. labor market trends and an increase in immigrant flows have created the need for reform of the nation’s entire immigration system. A number of alternative policies are suggested, including the establishment of flexible immigration ceilings that are responsive to changing U.S. employment trends, as well as a return to occupational preferences as the primary basis for allowing immigrants to enter the country.”(Briggs, Vernon M. “Immigration policy and the American labor force.” (1984). So for or against, everyone agrees that something needs to be done.

So, that is just some of the things that I learned for my time discussing illegal immigration with my group of class mates. Most people are seemingly ok with law abiding illegal immigrants staying in the country. I found this to be true even in research that I did on the subject out of class. This was surprising because I thought that there would be more people that were against. So that’s cool.

Works Cited Page

Wikipedia

(Briggs, Vernon M. “Immigration policy and the American labor force.” (1984)