The issue is Integration not Immigration (Constructive Argument)

There currently is an estimated 11.5 million illegal immigrants now residing in our country. This phenomenon has sparked a national debate about immigration. The debate has ranged from the ineffectiveness of current federal immigration laws to the possibility of amnesty for those who are already here illegally. The Senate even created a bipartisan committee, comprised of four democrats and four republicans, referred to as the” Gang of Eight.” They worked to draft legislation that would revamp our antiquated immigration laws. Despite the efforts of this group, any kind of comprehensive immigration legislation has yet to be fully passed by Congress and signed by the President, which leaves these illegal immigrants to continue on here without documentation. Even if new laws were passed or amnesty granted, many of the underlying issues dealing with immigrants who came here illegally would still need to be addressed. These issues would better be answered through a national debate on integration instead of immigration.

Immigration deals with laws pertaining to how people are allowed to enter the country where integration deals with how those people will become contributing members of our society and become a beneficial good for all parties involved. Immigration is what allows people to come here and integration is what keeps them here as contributing members of our society.

  

Immigration is an issue of the federal government. The founding document of our country, the US Constitution, clearly set forth in Article 1 section 8, establishes that congress is to enact the laws governing naturalization of immigrants to this country. Congress began establishing these laws as early as 1790. Through the Constitution, we the people allow Congress this right, so that we can equally share among the states the burden of regulating the kind and type of people we would want to come into our country. Even though we relinquished this right to the federal government to determined and establish specific immigration laws, we (the states) did not give up our right to regulate how people are integrated into our melting pot.

Furthermore, because congress retains this right to enforce immigration laws, the states don’t have any recourse against those who have broken these laws if the federal government refuses to enforce the immigration laws. The evidence that the federal government has refused to fully enforce immigration laws can be seen by the fact of the estimated 11.5 million who are currently here in our country without proper documentation. 

Recently, Arizona took steps to enact laws dealing with immigration that would basically force the federal government to enforce their current immigration laws. The federal government immediately initiated a law suit against the state for infringing on their duty to enact and enforce laws pertaining to immigration. This action was justified by the federal government through the constitution, but they still have a duty to uphold the laws which they obviously have not completely accomplished.  If Arizona had changed their focus from enforcing immigration laws to creating integration laws, their argument could be debated on a different front.

   

Integration is not an acceptance of amnesty. It sets a benchmark for those who would like to come here. The early founding of our country was based on the immigration of people looking for a brighter hope of opportunity in a new land. Many others came fleeing from the ravages of tyrannical governments and dictators. They came to a land that generally recognized the rights of the people to pursue happiness through their hard work and ingenuity. Has the purpose to come here changed? These are the individuals that we want in our country and as our fellow citizens. People coming now still want to have hope and an opportunity for success that will not be ripped away from them without consent. These are the people that add benefit to our country with new ideas and new hope for a better future. Integration debate focuses our attention back to the people it affects and not just on the laws that were broke. The statistic for immigration show that a largest majority of immigrants are still coming from Mexico as well as Asia. These people are fleeing their repressive governments and economies in order for an opportunity of hope in our land. 

In the 1980’s, during the Reagan era, a similar problem of illegal immigration was approached with an almost full amnesty for those that were already here illegally in the country. This action resolved much of the problem of people being here illegally by simply changing their designation, but did not establish a clear reasoning for these people coming here in the first place under the terms that they did. This move continued to bolster the hopes for many more, currently 11.5 million more,  that believed that if they could just make it across our border, that they would eventually be able to stay and be taken care of like their predecessors.  This is failed immigration policy, but integration laws could set an upfront standard for those people wishing to come here to acknowledge before they made the attempt to come across the border without going through the proper channels.

Debating integration instead of immigration allows the discussion of issues to happen on a local level. Each area of our country is different in its population diversity and amount of immigrants legal and illegal. Therefore, the laws that are right for one area may not be the best for another area of the country. Keeping the law making more local can further debate and provide more particular solutions to this issue.

Integration can provide an atmosphere for debate of the immigration issues where solutions can be discussed and decided. Immigration is very limited in its scope of issues where integration can include the  regulation of issues like English as an official language, how immigrants can get work here or start businesses and begin to pay their share of the tax burden, and how these people are dealt with in regards to American entitlements but on a state-by-state basis and level.

The current immigration laws have obviously not deterred very many from the dangers of crossing our borders, but tough integration laws could encourage only those who are willing to live by those laws to enter with the full knowledge that if they can meet the necessary criteria, they will be granted an equal opportunity just like the rest. Meeting these initial laws could relieve some of the burdensome restrictions of those wishing to eventually become citizens of our country.

A discussion of integration provides and atmosphere for a discussion of solutions to the issue of immigration. We have learned that immigration is a federal government issue that has taken years to develop and may take many more years to fix to the liking of a majority of our representatives. Until that time, we the people have retained the right to regulate the integration of particular aspects of immigrants into our society. Tough integration laws will further persuade only those who are truly interested in meeting the criteria of those new laws to come to our particular states and cities. Integration laws can be created on a local level, which would be more beneficial for each particular area of the country. These laws would ultimately help make better contributing members of society out of those who are currently considered illegal according to our current immigration laws. This would be a benefit to both the immigrants as well as the current citizens of the United States.