BY NAIEKA RAJ ’19
Mount Holyoke College students have recently been hit by President Trump’s withdrawal from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. First issued in the summer of 2012 by President Obama, this program was able to provide some level of relief for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children by allowing youths to defer their immigration case for a period of two years. This meant young people were able to further their educational and professional goals and become accomplished community members. According to state records, the program has been a successful exception to an otherwise broken immigration system. Today, thousands of “Dreamers” face the prospect of losing the only home they’ve ever known, as the country’s attitude towards immigrants and ethnic minorities grows increasingly hostile each day.
Firstly, it is important to note that President Trump’s decision to repeal the act is overwhelmingly unpopular, with two-thirds of the nation currently in support of the DACA program. Several news and media sources have also estimated the economic losses of this mass deportation at approximately $280 million, which seems counter-intuitive to the goals of a self-seeking capitalist society. So why has this all-round awful policy received enough support and political backing to follow through? One reason of course, is America’s irrational yet incredibly persistent fear of losing their jobs and livelihoods to the growing immigration population. Instead of addressing the moral implications of this claim, let’s ask ourselves the more rational question: do Dreamers make ideal candidates who could facilitate the job market and prevent the materialization of this very fear? Logically, the answer is yes.
A higher level of education creates more doctors, lawyers, artists and tax-paying employers, all of whom are essential in maintaining the stability of a nation and ensuring the wellbeing of its citizens. Whatever image some Americans hold of a lowly immigrant mooching from the security blanket created by the documented citizens of their nation has, in fact, been thrown in their face. In “Dreamers” we see evidence of the “ideal” citizen in every sense of the word, someone who is paying taxes and a yearly registration fee, staying out of any trouble with the law and generally working towards a noble goal. If we are ready to deport these individuals, then the irrational fear towards the immigration population at large has proved to be entirely baseless. Nobody really cares what or how you are contributing to this country, they just want you gone.
This leads to a greater issue surrounding the feeling of entitlement and ownership of those Americans in favor of President Trump’s movement. If Dreamers and the like are contributing the same amount, if not more, to the nation’s overall well-being, then why are they required to justify their claim to a community they are already an essential part of? If the answer to the question lies in time, which is to say that ancestral immigrants who came into this nation on the Mayflower are more “legitimate” than those crossing the border today, then the beneficiaries of this claim become highly obvious. Sending the Dreamers “back” to improve Mexico would be to send President Trump “back” to Germany. If this country had closed borders years ago the same way it is doing today, then most of us would not and should not be here.
I’m not implying that other undocumented immigrants should not be here — measuring the overall productivity and worth of an individual is not easy. Instead, this argument is made only to discredit the anti-immigration policy as a whole. If people can’t see the merit of people who look so good on paper, then the problem is more deeply-rooted and requires less of a fact-based response.
It’s time we acknowledge the people who uprooted their entire lives and moved to a different country in hopes of a better future. Not simply asking or demanding it, rather working within the system in order to improve it. As Mount Holyoke College students, we should extend this sentiment to every vulnerable member of our society because ultimately, all immigrants are dreamers.