President Barack Obama spoke to the media Friday regarding a shift in immigration policy. The Obama administration is now welcoming the “dreamers” to the United States. According to Obama, the “dreamers” are undocumented people “brought to this country by their parents —sometimes even as infants,” and they “often have no idea they are undocumented.”
In other words, the “dreamers” are illegal immigrants brought to the United States by their illegal immigrant parents with some other criteria added in. The term “dreamers” comes from the name of the proposed DREAM Act. The acronym stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors.

Obama is trying to implement as much of it as possible via executive order, perhaps, in part, to woo Hispanic voters because no version of this legislation ever became law. Under Obama’s new policy, illegal immigrants will be protected from deportation and eligible for work permits if they meet some conditions.

Specifically, to receive immunity, someone must be younger than 30, have arrived in the United States before age 16, have been here for at least five continuous years and have no criminal record. Further, the person must be either in school, a high school graduate, a GED certificate holder or a current or former military member.

Up to 800,000 people may meet these criteria, according to the Associated Press. These people are in the United States illegally, but admittedly, deporting up to 800,000 people is likely not a practical solution.

However, Obama’s solution leaves much to be desired.

Just as Obama called his plan “the right thing to do” for a third time, he was interrupted by Neil Munro of The Daily Caller with a good question: “Why do you favor foreigners over American workers?”

Although interrupting a president is not exactly proper procedure, Munro’s frustration reflects that of Americans watching the president’s new policy unfold on live television. In fairness, Munro claimed he thought the president’s statement was over.

Because there is little time to ask questions before the president walks away from the podium, doing so quickly the second the president finishes seems to be the only way reporters have the chance to get answers. Whatever the case, there are several things that likely led to the reporter’s outburst.

For instance, Obama is standing behind the podium acting as though giving 800,000 people a free pass is a favor to all Americans. This is backward. All Americans are being made to sacrifice a little bit of their livelihoods so others can have opportunity in America.

The unfettered truth is that in return for giving 800,000 people a place to live, Americans get unemployment. America has no shortage of unemployed people running around with college degrees and no shortage of unemployed workers.

We have a job shortage. Adding more workers means more competition and a higher percentage of unemployment. It makes no sense to flood the labor market with 800,000 people who are looking for a college education and work, but this is what Obama is doing.

While we should not punish people who are here illegally by no fault of their own, the president could do several things to prevent future reporter outbursts and to fix this policy.

First, he could stop pretending these 800,000 young illegal immigrants are doing us a favor by being here. We are doing them a favor by allowing them to stay. American citizens are giving them a place to live, opportunities for education and job opportunities at our expense.

Second, he might consult the American people through our representatives in Congress about passing the DREAM act instead of just deciding not to enforce laws.

Third, he could be more comprehensive. Although the president says he is focused on border security, his administration has yet to stop suing states, such as Arizona, that seek to limit illegal immigration. While it might not be practical to deport almost one million people, it is practical and necessary to secure the border.

We should offer opportunities to immigrants and work hard to prevent future illegal immigration. Offering 800,000 illegal immigrants these benefits without emphasizing this is a one-time deal and without securing the border incentivizes future illegal immigration, and that is not in Americans’ best interest.


Michael Stikkel is a junior computer engineering major. His column appears online weekly. He can be reached at mcstikke@syr.edu.

Published on June 18, 2012 at 1:59 pm