The United States Congress has yet to approve the Dream Act, an acronym which means the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors. It was first introduced in 2001 and every U.S. state do have their own variety of this Act because it wasn’t approved on the federal level. Since many people have not been clarified about the immigration policies, particularly those in the educational sector, this has become one of the very significant issues being debated to this date.
Based from the statements stipulated in the Act, it will give the young, undocumented immigrants in the country the privilege of becoming legal citizens. A few of the requirements for them to be covered with this Act include coming to the country at the age of fifteen years or less. Additionally, one must have accomplished any of the following, including:
- Must be a high school graduate,
- Finished at least two years in college or
- At least served in the Armed Forces of the U.S.
Considerably, a lot of people felt the bias for the American children since they believe that this Act will provide advantage to immigrant kids. Some citizens even denied involvement of the Act as they don’t want to decide on the matter. However, it is still crucial to understand the impact of this Act for the country. Thus, perhaps it is best to ponder on the pros and cons of the Dream Act to have an overview of what this really means for everybody.
List of Pros of Dream Act
1. Will Not Affect the Current Workforce
Obviously, the people who handle the jobs that are rejected by other members of the American community are the illegal immigrants. Jobs that would require handling animal byproducts or garbage collection, for instance, are just a few of them. So in other words, even as the number of immigrants will double, it will have no impact to the economy or the workforce.
2. Keeps Close Family Ties
Understandably, the illegal immigrants have come to the U.S. with their children, while others only gave birth after they came. With this Act, the illegal aliens with minors living in the U.S. will not be subject for deportation. This can be advantageous for them as it will keep their families together and avoid separation.
3. Strengthen the Military
Immigrants coming to the United States are not given the opportunity to get enlisted in any of the branches of the military. Although this is understandably a security matter, only a few citizens of the country would want to get in the army. If illegal immigrants were only given the chance to be in the army, it can dramatically increase the strength of the military.
4. Immigrant Children are Given a Lot of Potential
The Dream Act is intended to provide immigrant children all the opportunities needed to become successful in the U.S. This advantage will accommodate them for learning, schooling, and some language barrier management.
5. Creates Skillful Workforce
Children of illegal immigrants are required by the Dream Act to get a high school diploma and at least completed two years in college. As a result, it will provide more experience and more qualified workforce to improve the global standing and economy of the country.
6. Offers Hope for Immigrant Kids
It is already on the mentality of the younger immigrants to consider America as their home. This is due to the fact that they have spent a huge part of their lives here than in their own country. The move to deport these children will only go against the sense of fairness to let children suffer just because of the wrong choices made by their parents.
List of Cons of Dream Act
1. Risk of Accumulating Huge Population
Basically, a huge number of illegal immigrant population are already living in some areas of the United States. The function of the Dream Act is to provide more chances of foreigners to live in America to get away from the challenges and issues they are facing back in their own country. Despite the fact that it allows everybody thrive in this country, the chances of getting major problems from overpopulation will be obvious.
2. Will Impact the Voting System
Naturally, only the legal citizens are allowed to exercise their rights of suffrage during elections. Accordingly, any person who can establish citizenship in the U.S. can vote. If this will be granted, politicians will be able to focus their campaigns and policies in favor of the immigrants having obtained citizenship. As a result, it will greatly affect the United States elections.
3. Causes Overburdening of Government Programs
The government of the United States will assist the illegal immigrants living in the country in order to sustain them. However, this will cause some issues as the social programs of the U.S. are already overburdened with millions of people coming to take advantage of the services of the government.
4. Will Cause Government Deficits
The number of people who will get assistance from the government will obviously rise, which will cause the national budget to fail. Such government services include education, healthcare, and social security. When they fail to pay taxes, it will lead to the failure of sustaining the needs of the people due to overpopulation.
5. Shortage in Job Opportunities
The possibility for Americans to secure their jobs will be taken away from them due to the impact of low wages or salaries. The increase in the workforce will lower the wages and salaries, allowing companies to capitalize on its impact such as cheap labor. The will cause the shortage of job opportunities with lots of immigrants given the same privileges as the legal citizens.
6. Chance of Foreign Criminals to Cross the Country
The Dream Act can be exploited by foreign criminals, such as terrorists or drug dealers. Likewise, this Act will enable criminals to stay as long as they wanted to, giving them a chance to evade deportation.
The postponement for the approval of the Dream Act is understandable based from the points mentioned in this article. Lots of factors have yet to be taken into consideration because it will involve the welfare of the country as a whole.
Crystal Lombardo is a contributing editor for Vision Launch. Crystal is a seasoned writer and researcher with over 10 years of experience. She has been an editor of three popular blogs that each have had over 500,000 monthly readers.
