01.02 What is Citizenship? (Honors Extension) FLVS Essay

The bill, titled to provide discretionary authority to an immigration judge to determine that an alien parent of a United States citizen child should not be ordered removed, deported, or excluded from the United States, â€Å"amends the Immigration and Nationality Act, in the case of an alien subject to removal, deportation, or exclusion and who is the parent of a U.S. citizen child, to authorize an immigration judge to decline to order such removal if the judge determines such action to be against the child’s best interests†. It also states that â€Å"such discretion shall not apply to an alien when the judge determines that the alien is, one, excludable or deportable on security grounds, or two, has engaged in sex trafficking or severe forms of trafficking in persons†. This bill was originally introduced to the House Committee on the Judiciary in late January of this year. It was later referred to the subcommittee of Immigration and Border Security in February. Representative Jose Serrano introduced the bill to protect the parents of US citizen natural born children from being deported or removed from the country, who are at illegal status, at discretion of the immigration judge. If the bill was passed, many of the illegal immigrants who have children who are citizens of the United States will be able to stay and be legalized into the country, just because they have a child born on U.S. grounds. The people it would affect are illegally residing on U.S. grounds, but have children who were born here. The government will be positively affected through this bill. The numbers of immigrants in the country will decrease by a significant amount if this bill is passed. Many citizens may find this to be a controversial issue. On one hand, the bill allows for these families to be kept together and not separated from one another, but other citizens may argue that there are too many immigrants residing in the country as is, and permitting the parents of these children to stay would be a mistake. Family is a very important thing in life. Immigrant or not, family is family. Intentional separation of a family is unmoral and wrong. This bill would make a positive impact rather than a wrongful one. It gives this group of illegal parents of citizen children and opportunity and a chance to make a good life and provide for their children. If these parents can prove that they deserve to be here and that they can provide a good life and are willing to work to deliver and meet all the necessities of their children if given the chance, why would it be a negative impact on our government or society to pass this bill? Equality makes the United States the so-called â€Å"land of freedom† it is. A mother is a mother, a father is a father, and a child deserves to grow up with the warmth and love from each one. Every child, immigrant parents or not, deserves this opportunity. That is equality.