A Critical Examination of the Dream Act

The United States, country of all hopes, the land where all dreams are possible, where life should be better and where opportunities are given to everyone regardless their background. As the historian James Truslow Adams has, describes, That dream of the land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement . . . That dream or hope has been present from the start. It has been known to all most everybody that the United States of America is a country where someone with nothing could end up successful. This ideology is known as the American dream and has been adapted to million people who consider the US now as their home.

As such, it should be understood that this fundamental dream provides the indigenous people of America as well their immigrants a wide opportunity to pursue their goals in life as a way of acquiring the desired success (Kiuchi & Villarruel, 2016). Many people have found themselves in the US through different ways with different goals. However, the economic goals which see many individuals leaving their cradle lands for widened green pastures in this democratic country provides a common reason for their motifs. Currently, the existence of the dream act has seen a plethora of determined minds achieve their goals in the United States. Different people live in this country to serve in different economic sectors as doctors, physicians, academicians, mineworkers and engineers (Hillman, Tandberg & Sponsler, 2015).

However, it should be noted that there is a specific group of people that has not yet benefited from these advantages. A good example of such people I a group of children of immigrants that came to the US illegally when they were little with the hope of a better life. In 2001, senators Dick Durbin from the Democratic Party and Orrin Hatch from the Republican Party first introduced a legislative proposal in favor of the children of immigrants under the 107th congress called the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors and the objective behind this proposal is to grant to the children of illegal immigrants of conditional residency and upon meeting further qualifications, permanent residency.

Since its first introduction, the DREAM Act has been reintroduced several times and has received tremendous attention over the past years (Hillman, Tandberg & Sponsler, 2015). Although a large group of people may think that granting those innocent and blameless children with permanent residency and advanced education would be the right thing to do, some firmly believe that this act would bring more negative impacts than positives. They contend that it would be costly to the government, reward illegal immigration, and invite frauds. The US migration law requires all immigrants to be assessed and examined fully before being granted a chance to migrate into this country (Kiuchi & Villarruel, 2016). Many governance analysts argue that effective assessment of immigrants is an essential step undertaken by the US immigration department to ensure that all vices are curbed.

Kiuchi and Villarruel (2016) aver that this democratic nation has suffered from a number of terror incidences whose control requires active implementation of the well-developed immigration laws. A good example of incidences lies in the September 11 attack, which saw the collapse of the world trade center coupled with substantial loss of lives and property. Post analysis and investigations into this issue revealed that most of the terrorists who were involved in the attack had acquired their citizenship illegally and had stayed over ten years in the country plotting the attack. However, those who oppose the DREAM act should understand that its benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Since the most prominent role of the government is to secure the right and freedom of all individuals, the DREAM Act should be passed because it would ameliorate the economy of the country by transforming these young immigrants into taxpayers, the national security will be enforced, these young immigrants will give back to the country by being enrolled in the military or serving in the public service (Zamani-Gallaher, 2014).Nevertheless, the implementation of this act will also reduce the dependency ratio as these young people will be granted economic freedom that will not only allow them to participate in economic activities such as business but could also be used as role models to other immigrants who may be suffering in the US (Hillman, Tandberg & Sponsler, 2015). This paper provides a critical examination DREAM act with a detailed overview of entire proposed policy issue, practical argumentation and an examination of the ethical prepositioning.

Examination of the Proposed Policy

As mentioned earlier, each year 65,000 young Americans graduate from secondary schools to join the actual world. Additional research findings indicate that the US has continuously recorded an ever-increasing number of students who complete their high school education to pursue their desired career in higher education (Romero, 2016). Such students are compelled to pay out-of-state and other times out-of nation tuition fees for college despite the fact that they have spent their entire lives in this particular state. In a situation where the Government fails to settle such matters quickly, a significant number youths get confused and may suffer from stressful moments as they try to find ways to support their education due to lack of funding from the government.

In most cases, this withdrawn government support mainly in monetary terms is based on the assertion that these youths are pure immigrants who found themselves in the U.S through illegal means (Hillman, Tandberg & Sponsler, 2015). As a result, federal and state departments withdraw support from them with the belief that educating them would be infringing the rights of the natives and could also be a way of supporting illegal acts such as fraud and terrorism. As such, the country finds itself in an ethical dilemma of deciding on the correct to be undertaken. Additionally, those who fail to support such children neither cling on the assertion that there is no any evidence to show that the DREAM Act will be passed and adopted nor receive any form of substantial response from the legislative arm of government.

Therefore, it always becomes difficult for these administrators to be negatively influenced by any action that may be taken (Erickson, 2011). These continuous challenges calls for the adoption and implementation of the DREAM Act as a fundamental step towards the enhancement of the lives of the current generation of unrecorded young immigrants to get the citizenship of America because the nation will profit from it. Implementation of the DREAM Act will result in positive outcomes. First, the act will give its beneficiaries an opportunity to improve their living standards and increase the overall revenue earned through taxation.

In this case, all illegal immigrants who will acquire American citizenship through this act will have a chance to contribute to the nation building through businesses and related activities and increased investments. The Act will thus also reduce the dropout rate among the immigrant students through effective establishment of unrecorded number of students to spend their time in school while serving under their professions until graduation (Zamani-Gallaher, 2014). The Act will also help in retaining talented students such as musicians, athletes, and footballers in the country who may become a major source of foreign revenue in the future.

A Practical Argumentation for the Position: Benefits of the DREAM Act to the US Economy

According to Schwab and Gearhart (2013), most of the American citizens are products of immigrants who settled in the US during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. This continuous immigration of people into the United States has resulted into an increased population with a plethora of the immigrants being issued with American Citizenship. These adopted citizens in collaboration with their native counterparts have improved the national economy through paying taxes or by participating in economic activities accounting for the current economic growth experienced in the country (Adrian, 2008).However, U. S has recently experienced illegal migration of people which resulted in increased number of youths staying in the country as students pursuing different levels of studies in different institutions. This action has worsened the democratic situation of these young people as they are in a dilemma of defining themselves in a foreign land. Nevertheless, the DREAM Act encourages such young immigrants to be considered blameless because they were brought to the US at a young age and they could not understand that this act was illegal (Moffett, 2016). As such, they should not be pursued by the government because, in the first place, they have been residents in the country for many years while studying in those institutions. Currently, the United States economy is full of illegal migrants working in various institutions under illegal circumstances. Such cases have drawn criticisms from different quarters in the judiciary who have spoken on the consequence of illegal employees in the country. The survival of these illegal employees is threatened with the fact that they are not contributing any income tax to the registered tax collection institutions.

According to Schwab and Gearhart (2013), this situation implies that the government offers services to employees who are not contributing to the economy. It is worth to note that the inception of the DREAM Act will enable such to pay taxes to the government as their native counterparts (Moffett, 2016). In this way, they will help the economy since the taxes will be used to improve service delivery in the country. It should also be understood that the government might also lack the human power to do certain economic activities that will bring success to the economy. The economy may also lack enough people to do certain casual jobs that may be beneficial to the country. In essence, most migrants will be glad to participate in public service in the country and could be highly beneficial during such critical times (Hillman, Tandberg & Sponsler, 2015).

Enforcement and Improvement of the National Security

Schwab and Gearhart (2013) argue that most of the illegal young immigrants in the United States usually live in a shadow of blinded minds and a decision to adopt them, as legal citizens will boost its national security. Most of them are considered illegal by the government denying them motifs to come out and participate in vital economic issues such as provision of security. In 2007, the US military faced a serious recruiting crisis despite the fact that there were so many young immigrants who could be adopted and recruited to serve in these security dockets due to their desire to serve their country. This recruitment crisis was heightened by the fact that most of these young migrants do not want to be associated with government activities as they could be discovered by the Department of Homeland Security and deported immediately (Stock, 2010).

If the government allows them to live openly and contribute to the society, the national security would be strengthened. This assertion agrees with the US secretary of Education Arne Duncan best statement that the The DREAM Act will give the military the opportunity to recruit students who are eager to serve at a time when theres a growing shortage of potential soldiers (Duncan, 2010). Similarly, the Department of Defense identified the DREAM Act as a smart way to he...