Pros And Cons Of The Dream Act

Emma Davidson

Heather Kent

English 1B

24 April 2023

America is a nation that was built on immigration, but though immigrants in the U.S. today continue to support and uphold the virtues of this country, many face the constant, looming threat of expulsion to a foreign place that is not their true home. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants have come to the U.S., fleeing poverty and political turmoil, and a vast amount of these illegal aliens were children when their parents brought them into the country. In 2001, the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors or DREAM Act was proposed to protect these children, often called “dreamers,” but the act was opposed in Congress. Naturally, the issue of the numerous

However, where the DREAM Act would have provided support for the dreamers and granted them citizenship, DACA merely gives a deferral, renewed biennially, to allow certain immigrants to work and go to school legally for a time (Blakemore). The dreamers continue to fight for their right to remain in the U.S., but there are still many people, particularly politicians, who push back, worried that allowing them to stay would negatively impact the country and intensify the immigration problems. Dreamers should be granted citizenship in America despite potential financial drawbacks and risks due to the essential economic support they provide and the inherent cruelty of deportation. There is no perfect solution to an issue on this scale, and providing legal status to this group of people could have some drawbacks, such as in terms of national security. With the DREAM Act, an immigrant applying for legal status cannot be deported due to information in his or her application, even if it is discovered to be false, making fraud easy (Hudson). Naturally, this can be a disturbing thought, and it is unfortunately likely that there would be some who choose to lie, possibly for nefarious reasons. Though this argument may imply

The immorality of deportation is heartbreaking, especially for the dreamers who, in the vast majority of cases, were too young to even remember their native country when their parents moved, like the sisters Tapiwa and Dominique Nkata. Brought from Malawi, in Africa, at the ages of four years and eleven months respectively, Tapiwa and Dominique moved with the parents who eventually became permanent residents. However, their case was locked in the slow, inefficient immigration courts for years, jeopardizing the status of their daughters who could no longer become residents with their mother and father by the time the case was settled. For reasons entirely out of their control, the Nkata sisters were set to be deported. In a letter to a senator who shared her story, Dominique stated, “The looming fear of having everything I know, including part of my family, here in the United States while I am removed to the other side of the world, is crippling.” Both Dominique and Tapiwa built a life in America with their parents, raised with loyalty to the country as they learned the language and made connections with other citizens. They had bright futures and aspirations, yet the negligence of the government in matters of immigration and citizenship