Immigration is a quagmire of an issue so I’m starting out in the shallow end. I’m a first generation American. My dad was from Canada and my mom is from Sweden. They both followed proper procedures to live here legally and my mother became a US citizen about 15 years ago. My belief is that the procedures in place should be followed by everyone who wants to live in this country. Those who enter our country illegally should be sent home again.
The challenge begins when children are involved. When illegal immigrants have children in the United States, those children are automatically U.S. citizens with the same rights as every other citizen. So, if the parents are caught and deported back to their country of origin, do they take their child back to the country they risked everything to leave? Or do they leave them behind to hopefully find a better life than they had. Like I said, it gets very complicated so quickly. The heart is in conflict with the rational. My rational side thinks send them back home. My heart and empathy feel like they should stay because whatever situation they risked everything to leave behind must have been pretty terrible and how as a nation can we send them back to that? I’ve been in conflict about that for a while now and it’s hard to think about. Seeing images on the television and online of families being torn apart by immigration agents are heartbreaking to watch. At the same time however, I’m reminded that there is a process that everyone who wants to live in this country is free to follow in order to become a legal citizen and if they choose not to follow those procedures then they have to accept the consequences of that choice.
Like I said in the beginning, this issue is a total quagmire of different aspects all knotted together. You pull one thread and three more start to unravel. There is so much more to be said about this issue that I want to say but this is a start for me and I feel like I’ve said enough for now. I need to research the issue more so if anyone of you reading this have any good resources with information on immigration let me know, I’m always looking for more resources.