Passing the DREAM Act

           For the immigration reform bill titled “DREAM Act” (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) to be successful in becoming a law, Hispanics living in the US should let their voices be heard about the matter.  For too long the Hispanic community has been content in leaving the fight to the few committed community leaders and politicians.  However, more should be done especially from the people who benefited most, which are the children of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.  After 25 years since President Reagan signed the bill into law, the beneficiaries have become adults that went on to get a higher education, serve within our nation’s military, and become productive members of the American society.  Yet, another generation of the brightest minds amongst the undocumented population are being denied an opportunity that can dictate their future.  Since they cannot express their concerns publicly due to the fear of deportation, it is our responsibility to speak for the voiceless and let the politicians become aware of our concerns within our communities. 

 Within the Hispanic community, nationalities from throughout Latin America live side by side and share a mother tongue, history, and cultural values which make the fabric of America pure.  However, outside from the good Hispanic food and music, we cannot pretend to ignore the fraternal struggles of immigration amongst the undocumented population.  We as a whole cannot let nationalism (i.e. Dominican, Colombian, Salvadorian, etc.) deter us from helping our neighbor next door from living a life of insecurity due to the possibility of deportation.  The consequence of deportation or the threat of it does not benefit any person because in the end it just separates family members, deny the young educational and employment opportunities, and most important neglect them from our society.  Simply put, this matter affects everyone and by increasing the volume of your TV set to watch “Gordo y La Flaca” will not resolve this issue. 

 Currently, our political establishment is divided on the topic of immigration.  A number of leaders from both parties who have been vying to get the Hispanic vote made promises that their policies will benefit our interest.  An example is President Obama, who during his 2008 presidential campaign speech at the annual National Council of La Raza (NCLR) conference said that

“When communities are terrorized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel, when all that is happening, the system just isn't working and we need to change it.”  (Gutierrez, 2011)

President Obama talks about relating with the frustration of the Hispanic community and the will to seek relief for our concerns, but his administration has an aggressive track record when it comes to deportation.  For the fiscal year 2010, “392,862 undocumented immigrants were deported from the US…In contrast, during the 2008 fiscal year, during the George W. Bush presidency, 369,221 people were deported” (Madison, 2011).  With numbers like these, Hispanics ponder if President Obama really value the interest of the community and if he is serious about Immigration reform, which obviously does not seem to be the case.

                On the other end of the political spectrum, Tea Party members and a few Republicans do not support the policy of immigration reform.  They claim that undocumented individuals harm the economy such as taking jobs away from the average American, endanger our borders and law enforcement, and pose a huge burden on taxpayers such as Medicaid.  Some of their arguments can be justified to a certain extent but immigration is not the sole reason of such problems.  An Immigration Policy Center study by Dr. Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, titled “The Economic Benefits of Immigration Reform”, argues the benefits that the legalization program for undocumented individuals can bring “a large economic benefit – a cumulative $1.5 trillion in added US GDP over 10 years…In stark contrast, a deportation-only policy would result in a loss of $2.6 trillion in GDP over 10 years” (Hinojosa-Ojeda , 2010).  Below are some more interesting data regarding the benefits of immigration reform from Dr. Hinojosa-Ojeda’s study:

• The higher earning power of newly legalized workers would mean increased tax revenues of $4.5-$5.4 billion in the first three years.

• Higher personal income would also generate increased consumer spending—enough to support 750,000–900,000 jobs in the United States.

• Experience shows that legalized workers open bank accounts, buy homes, and start businesses, further stimulating the U.S. economy.

• The real wages of less-skilled newly legalized workers would increase by roughly $4,405 per year, while higher-skilled workers would see their income increase $6,185 per year. The wages of native-born high skill and low skill U.S. workers also increase modestly under comprehensive immigration reform because the “wage floor” rises for all workers.

• Legalized workers invest more in their human capital, including education, job training, and English-language skills, making them even more productive workers and higher earners.

•  Mass deportation would reduce U.S. GDP by 1.46 percent, amounting to a cumulative $2.6 trillion loss in GDP over 10 years, not including the actual costs of deportation. The Center for American Progress has estimated that mass deportation would cost $206 billion to $230 billion over five years.

•  Wages would rise for less-skilled native-born workers under a mass deportation scenario, but higher-skilled natives’ wages would decrease, and there would be widespread job loss.

(Hinojosa-Ojeda , 2010)

With the above data showing that a strong benefit can be gained economically by passing the DREAM Act, it also benefits the human capital level such as keeping the best minds from leaving our borders.  Clearly, the benefits of immigration reform outweigh the negatives that anti-immigration supports are proclaiming.

                In making this bill become reality, members of the Hispanic community, other immigrant communities, and supporters of the bill must gather to work together to become one voice.  It has been a decade since the DREAM Act was introduced into congress and clearly the political establishment does not take our serious enough.  Statistical studies indicate that in 50 years the Hispanic community will become the majority in the US.  However, Hispanics cannot take solace of this possibility if the minority group will dictate the interest of the majority in the future.  In having a strong Hispanic interest group with vast monetary resources to promote and defend our interests in congress, politicians will begin to take us more serious.  The Hispanic community has become weary of broken promises and now is the time to remind politicians that the decision they make today, such as rejecting the DREAM Act, will have implications not just for the current elections but for future ones as well.      

References  

Gutierrez, L.. (2011, August 01). President Obama's Lost Pledge To Latinos. The Guardian.      Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/aug/01/us-immigration-obama.

Hinojosa-Ojeda , R. . (2010, January 11). The economic benefits of immigration reform. Immigration Policy Center. Retrieved from http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/economic-benefits-immigration-reform.

Madison, L.. (2011, May 11). How serious is obama about immigration reform?. CBS News. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20061893-503544.html.