Immigration: a continuing debate

Immigration has always been a controversial topic in both the United States and across the globe. However, over the last couple of years, there has been an increased interest in issues like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall. Today, even the average college student is likely to have an informed perspective on the topic.

Whether it be through groups like North Central’s Latinx Student Association, or more traditional political groups like the College Democrats and College Republicans, students are finding ways to stay informed.

Grant Tuider, ’19, a member of the College Republicans, finds that his conservative views fall in line with President Donald Trump and his administration’s views on the issue. “I would say that they definitely follow similar ways that I view immigration in the sense that there is a right way and a wrong way to immigrate,” he said. “I believe that every nation should have secure borders while maintaining a safe, reasonable system that works to benefit its citizens the best.”

On the other hand, Brian Ultreras, ’20, a member of LSA, does not feel that his views are reflected by Trump’s administration. “(Since Trump’s presidential campaign) there’s just been a lot of anti-immigrant rhetoric and so that’s been a big factor on the Hispanic community,” he said.

For Cynthia Ramos, ’20, president of the LSA and a member of the College Democrats, Trump and his administration’s views on immigration do not match her own. Through LSA, Ramos works to bring awareness to issues like DACA and let students affected by the uncertainty of the program’s fate know that they are not alone.

Because the March 5 deadline for DACA recipients (known as Dreamers) has passed, the status of Dreamers is still up in the air. This affects a number of students at the College, who are a part of the roughly 800,000 Dreamers in the United States. The program, which protects immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation, allowed Dreamers renewable visas to gain employment and work toward higher education. Despite these benefits, the program did not give immigrants a path to citizenship.

Trump, who called for the end of DACA in September 2017, has confused Americans with his fluctuating approaches on the subject, saying both that he would handle it with “great heart” as well as tweeting “NO MORE DACA DEAL” on Easter morning. Trump’s frequent use of social media, Twitter, in particular, has been a controversial part of his presidency. “(It) is a bit exaggerated and unprofessional at times, but it keeps people up-to-date with his thoughts and decision making,” said Tuider.

“It shows who he really is, too. It’s not anything that’s filtered and I think that’s important,” said Ultreras.

Through Twitter, Trump has repeatedly expressed his views on immigration. As a part of his Easter morning tweet spree about migrant caravans, Trump said:

Trump’s proposed wall was a staple in his presidential campaign, and he has continued to push for stronger border control in this way. This has been a divisive concept — some see it as a way to secure the border between the U.S. and Mexico, while others see it as an expensive, ineffective tool.

“Apart from the symbolism behind that — a literal wall — it would be very expensive, and to me, it seems inconceivable just with the length of the border and all the ecology you would be harming,” said Ramos.

Ultreras believes that the idea of the wall is talked about too much in the national discussion about immigration. “If they really want to combat immigration, I don’t think a focus on the wall or on the border is the way to go,” he said.

Ultreras attended the College’s spring break “Sankofa” trip to San Diego where students learned about immigration issues, spoke with a border patrol agent and did a water drop for immigrants who were crossing the border.

“I was like ‘this sucks, the terrain sucks.’ It was raining and it was cold,” Ultreras said. “Nobody would do this unless they had to.”

Rather than focusing on the wall, Ramos wants to focus on the immigrants who are already living in the U.S. “I wish there was more talk about something that would benefit the 11 million undocumented immigrants (here) because, yes, we do have a lot of undocumented people, but there are a lot who are here paying taxes, contributing to our society and they don’t have a path at all for any sort of legal status,” she said.

Where Ultreras and Ramos are hesitant to say that the border will ever come to fruition, Tuider believes that funding will eventually come along.

“I hope we do tighten up immigration and pass reform, but definitely within reason,” said Tuider.

However, all three agree that a change is needed in order for an agreement to be made — even if that change is uncertain. “I think it would be more beneficial if people came together so it wouldn’t be ‘us versus them,'” Ramos said. “If people came together we could have a better consensus, and if people did come together, the general public opinion would shift and people would be more accepting.”

Working together is something Tuider also mentioned. “I hope Trump and the Democrats can come to an agreement that can have some satisfaction within both parties,” he said. “No one will get everything they want in these types of situations and it is foolish to believe you will. These types of deals require compromise in order to ensure a reasonable decision is made.”

For Ultreras, the question of ‘what’s next?’ does not have a clear-cut answer. He said that “we just don’t even know. That’s a huge problem, we don’t know where immigration is going, we don’t know what the status of immigrants is going to be. We don’t know.”