Efforts are being made to block President Obama’s recent undertaking to stop the deportation of illegal or undocumented immigrants brought into the US as children by granting them deferred Action. The GOP has introduced a bill to that effect.
The opposition has criticized the president for allegedly bypassing Congress in making its recent decision on deferred action.
The alarming twist is that some undocumented immigrants have no idea that they are unlawfully in the U.S. Take, for example, most children brought unlawfully into the United States at an early age grow up thinking they are American Citizens. They have no recollection of life outside the United States. All they know and recall is life in the U.S. They grow up only to realize the limitations suddenly around them; no social security number; no driver’s license, no hope of college, or a job, and worse of all they realize they are branded as “illegal immigrants.” What a name and description for a young mind! Does anyone wonder what the impact of this will be on these children? Most of these kids must live in constant fear.
These children are caught in between two worlds. One world is willing to accept them, but they have no relationship to that world. The world they embrace is ready to reject them. Whose sins are these children being punished for? Must the sins of the parents be visited upon the children? Was it the children’s fault that their parents brought them in, or remained in the US unlawfully? What role did these children play in coming or remaining in the US illegally?
These children through no fault of theirs have been caught in this battle or trap for which they are not equipped to fight. Who should they look up to for justice and fairness?
The non-passage of the Dream Act in Congress which would have created a pathway to lawful immigration status for illegal or undocumented immigrants brought into the US as children is to say the least disappointing. Nonetheless, the recent move by President Obama’s administration to stop the deportation of illegal or undocumented immigrants brought into the US when they were children is a very welcome development. Although not a perfect solution to the Immigration crisis, the President has indeed demonstrated that the sins of the parents should not be visited upon the children.