http://my.hsj.org/Portals/2/logos/__TFMF_oz132nfkwqqisg55qef1a4il_2ea748d8-93c7-4ce6-b092-2c1ffafd7929_0___Selected.jpg en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:30:51 GMT 15 By Cassidy Williams
The government has a lot on its plate. From a recession in full swing to bailout plans for education, time and effort is distributed to many different sects. These are all extremely significant, but subjects such as immigration and processes to gain citizenship are left untouched and poorly managed. Hopeful migrants save up a majority of their life’s earnings to provide their families with a better life, universally thought to come from the United States. During the Bush administration, these dreams were quickly shot down in assembly line denials, when asylum-seekers were tried and sentenced in groups of 40 to 60 at a time, for efficiency of course. Yet convictions for crimes such as theft, weaponry, and organized crime have plummeted, even though they are seemingly worse offenses then escaping to a better life. An Arizona attorney general called the situation “a national abdication by the Justice Department.” On the week of January 12th, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, in a horrendous last-minute ruling declared that immigrants do not have the constitutional right to a lawyer in a deportation hearing and thus have no right to appeal on the grounds of bad legal representation. This is in direct opposition to a decade-old practice designed to ensure strong constitutional protection for immigrants – one needed now more than ever. Some would argue that the United States is in no condition to accept and employ citizens of other countries, that in our aching economy it is crucial to provide jobs for Americans in hopes of pulling the country out of its lull. Have these blinded men and women forgot about the pilgrimage to Plymouth Rock in 1607? What about the thousands of Spaniards and Frenchmen that became Americans with the Louisiana Purchase? In order for our forebears to stretch this country from sea to shining sea, inhabitants of foreign territories had to be welcomed into American society, and they were. For that reason, it is completely unethical to restrict other hopefuls of pursuing a better life, a life of acceptance. Spending more time and money to correct the warped system of immigration needs to come hand-in-hand with other policies being ushered in by President Barack Obama, and would compliment America’s newfound sense of change in all of the right ways. If the United States continues rejecting and degrading hopeful refugees, our economy will plummet beyond what is dubbed unmanageable, as this country was built on immigrants and thrives on their eagerness and assistance. ]]> Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:56:18 GMT