Immigration/DREAM act

Immigration policy is yet another issue that our government has to tackle. Last week, California passed what is known as the DREAM act. This act will allow immigrants who entered the United States illegally as minors the ability to receive state funds to attend college. This act is basically a California version of Obama's DREAM Act. Obama's bill would have provided illegal immigrants who entered the country as minors, or who have completed college or service in the military a means by which to become U.S. citizens. I believe that this bill would have solved a lot of problems in people's lives, and provided a means for many hard working, productive individuals to become fully legitimized members of our country. I think it's unfortunate that the DREAM Act was not passed. However, I think it is good that California has found a way to provide aspiring immigrants with equal opportunities to education.

Now, I think readers should be reminded that these students will only receive funds if they have been accepted into college. I am pretty sure it is hard to get into any college if your legal status cannot be verified.. It is obvious that these students are dedicated to bettering the quality of their lives. Although I think that this is a good plan, I believe it should provide some means of a path to citizenship. An example of this would be if students were provided with limited funds and an extended visa, as long as the individual promised to apply for citizenship once completing college. Regardless, I think that more efforts should be spent integrating current immigrants into our economies instead of spending large amounts of money in attempt to identify and deport them, and that we should change our policies to prevent future waves of undocumented immigrants. We should make use of our current immigrants and improve our economy, before we are the ones who are knocking at the doors of other countries in search of work.