Immigration reform is needed to fix a broken system and help the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. The current political climate has done nothing to address this issue. Comprehensive reform is needed that secures borders, includes criminal background checks, and provides a path to citizenship for law-abiding immigrants who are contributing to the economy and wish to become citizens, while also deporting convicted felons. Such reform would benefit both immigrants and the country by taking a humane approach while also strengthening border security.

1. Immigration Reform
In thinking about immigration reform I wonder why people want to come here. What is it
that draws mass numbers of people to do things that we Americans would never even consider?
Even with the promise of a better life our country they are arriving at a place where the
immigration system is a bit unfair. To leave a place where your family is a working unit and
move to a country that has become so mechanical and cold in its daily routine just makes me
wonder. Then I realize that with all of our problems we are still the country that gives an
immigrant hope. The US offers them personal freedom and rewards for their hard work. The
problem is that our immigration system is broken and our current political posturing is doing
nothing to help the estimated 11 million people living in the shadows. What we need is real
reform that takes the real lives of the people who are now living here. With employers gaming
the system by hiring undocumented workers it does no one any good and hurts our already
fragile economy. Yet we have a Congress that is unwilling to take on real reform that will work
for all of us. Securing the borders and criminal background checks should be working together to
make sure that felons stay out while at the same time allow families who are coming here in
good faith become part of the legal system and like the rest of us pay their fair share of taxes.
That’s how it should work but we need to demand that Congress does their job to fix this. They
should be working towards a solution that would help those immigrants who wish to earn
citizenship be able to move towards that goal. There should be a way to not deport the child who
by no fault of their own ended up here yet at the same time be able to send the felon back
through deportation. We should put money and effort into securing the borders and that means
taking a peek at the Canadian one too. There should also be harsher penalties in place for those
employers who hire illegal immigrants for several reasons both human and economical. Our
country even with all our current troubles is still that place where immigrants can come and
make their own destiny. It’s who we are and how we all got here and something that we tend to
take to lightly. We need to fix this.