New Immigration Reform - Other Perspectives

I just posted about President Obama's plan to reform immigration, now I want to share different perspectives on the proposed plans.

Click here to read about Bruno, (picture above) a young undocumented immigrant who has qualified and will be applying for the Deferred Action program.

"As far as going to the hospital and enrolling in school, I use a fake name at hospitals and school never really questioned, unless it's college."

I also read a blog post by a respected Chicago teacher who talked about the speech with his students. Below are a few quotes from his students. 

“I believe Obama’s executive order is a good thing.  It gives immigrants a chance to work with a permit and travel.  In addition, the immigrants won’t get deported with a valid permit.  Furthermore, immigrants must have been in the U.S. for at least 5 years.  On the other hand, I don’t agree with people not being included because they do not have children.  It also does not legalize immigrants or give them a green card.  I also don’t like the fact that parents of DREAMers don’t qualify because they try their best to support their kids.”          --Julie

“Immigration has always been a topic to talk about or have an argument about.  I agree that, for decades, we haven’t done much about it because it just creates more conflict.  Obama called on illegal immigrants to “come out of the shadows” and “to get right with the law.”  However, how do we know if immigrants will be treated fairly or be exploited?  He says we welcome immigrants, but do we really?  Over the years, there’s been a large amount of immigrants deported and treated unfairly.  The executive order provides a 2-year permit but it does not benefit people without children.”          --Jazmine

“It was great to hear Obama finally talk about our broken immigration system. As he said in his speech, he had committed to fix the broken immigration system and he finally came to an executive order. It was time to fix the lives of many immigrants who live in fear and want to embrace the same American responsibilities. We all agree that immigrants should pay fines for the laws that were broken. We also want special resources for the border. Although after years of living here, only people with U.S born children can benefit from this. How about single responsible immigrants?   In addition after two years, what happens when Obama leaves the White House?”           --Lisseth 

Finally, here is a story broadcast on NPR with thoughts of immigrants in Texas.

"I think it's a great thing because it's an improvement on your immigration laws, says Juan Orozco. He's a 28-year-old, unmarried construction worker from Mexico who says he's been in Texas for eight years. But it doesn't go far enough, he adds, because there are many people in my situation, who have a good record - nothing criminal - but who don't have kids."

Hot Tamale Activities - Complete one or more of these activities as a advanced/Hot Tamale blog post. Title your post the title of this blog post.

• Respond to one of these perspectives that you disagree with. Explain why you disagree.
• What questions would you ask these youth? Write a letter to them.
• Select another quote from Bruno or the Chicago students, include it in your blog post as an indented quote, and explain why you agree or disagree with their statement