President Obama gave a speech about his immigration plan on Nov. 20, focusing on border security and delaying deportations of illegal immigrants. The first point he made was about giving additional resources to the border patrol. I think that this is good because it will stop immigrants from coming to the United States and return more illegal immigrants to their countries.
Today immigrants that are apprehended stay in detention centers for sometimes for more than six months while waiting for their deportation. During their stays in those centers they are usually in small cells with other people in unsanitary conditions. If border patrol hastens the return of illegal immigrants, the U.S. government would spend less on imprisoning them. As a result, illegal aliens would suffer less.
Obama’s second point was about high-skilled immigrants and entrepreneurs.
He said, “I’ll make it easier and faster for high-skilled immigrants, graduates and entrepreneurs to stay and contribute to our economy, as so many business leaders proposed.”
Many business leaders like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have mentioned the importance of immigrants in the fields of technology and computer science.
“For those (immigrants) who wish to stay and work in computer science or technology, fields badly in need of their services, let’s roll out the welcome mat,” said Bill Gates in a letter to congress in July of 2014.
I think that high qualified immigrants can improve the current services produced in the United States and also create new patents in this country. These two actions will expand the economic pie and create jobs.
Another thing we must take into account is that Latin American millionaires are moving to the United States because of general insecurity in Latin America. Since Chavez came to power in Venezuela and started to take properties from the wealthy, rich Venezuelans have started buying condominiums and bringing their businesses to the United States.
According to the New York Times, the Miami Downtown Development Authority study found that more than 90 percent of the demand for new residential units in neighborhoods like new downtown and Bricknell came from foreign buyers; 65 percent were from South America. If the U.S. government made it easier for Latin American businessmen to move their businesses and families here, more residential units would be built, which would be good for the housing industry. We also must take into account that if investors and entrepreneurs are able to bring their families to the United States, they will contribute more to the economy, since they will spend most of the money they earn in the here and will send little abroad.
In the third point of his speech, Obama said, “So we’re going to offer the following deal: If you’ve been in America more than five years, if you have children who are American citizens or illegal residents, if you register, pass a criminal background check and you’re willing to pay your fair share of taxes, you’ll be able to apply to stay in this country temporarily without fear of deportation.”
This deal Obama mentions will bring more social benefits than economic benefits.
I am sure this deal will bring peace to millions of families that fear the deportation of their parents and siblings. This action also guarantees the protection of American children that now will not have to worry about being separated from their parents. Newspapers like the Washington Post and US News mentioned that Obama’s deal will delay the deportation of four to five million immigrants.
I think that this deal is a very good one for the government and immigrants because the government will receive more revenue from immigrant taxes and because illegal immigrants will be able to work without fearing deportation. Stopping deportations of immigrants that have families here creates a good image of the U.S. government and gives hope to the Latin American community that loves contributing to the progress of this nation.
