I thoroughly enjoyed the editorial I recently read in USA today about a bipartisan immigration plan.
With the liberals talking about a fast-track to citizenship and the conservatives cracking down on immigration, illegal immigrants have been a hot topic for years. Amnesty, maybe the only word that immediately caught my attention when first reading through this article, has seemed to stand in the way of the conservatives' plans throughout recent years.
Here's the ugly truth: most people support amnesty. It would be cruel to force millions of illegal immigrants out of our country-- "the home of the free..." This is where a bipartisan agreement really needs to come into play. I agree with conservatives to some extent... "There should be some punishment for breaking the law..." but at what cost?
Liberals also have the right idea. Amnesty must be enacted with some discretion. There needs to be a helpful and supportive but also fair way of making illegal immigrants into citizens. We can't just ship them all back, but we can't just sit back and let whoever we want go wherever they want, work wherever they want, or take advantage of the rights granted to U.S. citizens and immigrants who have followed processes and done things honestly and correctly. I don't think that illegal immigrants are any less deserving of natural rights or certain freedoms than I am, but there has to be some respect for the law and some consequence for breaking it.
This editorial does a great job of highlighting both the liberal and conservative perspectives on immigration. It really made me think about equality within our democracy and the importance of having laws set in place to regulate things such as immigration. I agree that both parties as well as illegal immigrants are going to benefit from the conservatives coming together and reaching a compromise on an immigration plan.
It's time to view our country as the melting pot that it is and work together to prevent future problems with illegal immigration.
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