Almost every American has ancestors who were immigrants, many undocumented, many legal and most were not criminals. Today, hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants live in our country. Most come seeking better lives, taking advantage of policies and border access our government has failed to adequately manage. Americans must take responsibility for years of loose border policy that helped create this situation.
Too little is being said about creating pathways to citizenship. Instead, the conversation has turned to rounding people up, stripping them of human dignity and warehousing them in detention facilities with the sole intention of throwing them out. This approach is causing untold trauma leaving children to grow up separated from their parents, in broken families, with broken futures. There must be a path to citizenship rather than broadly labeling undocumented immigrants as criminals.
We know these families, they are our relatives, our friends and our neighbors: fathers, mothers and children. Many have already paid a heavy price by working lower-paying jobs, living without access to higher education and contributing to an economy from which they receive no Social Security or health benefits in return. They should not live in fear because our country has failed to create a fair and timely path to citizenship.
Those who are productive should be given forgiveness and a clear path to citizenship, which they have already earned through years of honest work and sacrifice. This is a better alternative for all Americans rather than the civil upheaval that is steadily growing. I am not suggesting we abandon border security. Let us secure our borders, but let us also be reasonable, humane and honest about our responsibility to those who are already here and contributing to our great America.
Helen G. Stone,
Salt Lake City, Utah