Research Paper on DREAM Act
According to the Pew Hispanic Center , there had been 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants residing all over the United States as estimated as of March 2010. In their estimates from 2000 to 2010, the trend was increasing with exemptions for the years 2008 and 2009. Moreover, based on their Current Population Survey, Pew Hispanic Center estimated that the unauthorized immigrants comprised 3.7 percent of the entire population of the United States and approximately 8 percent of birth both in 2009 and 2010 was accounted to the unauthorized immigrant-parents.
These 11.2 million or so unauthorized immigrants had been waiting for a legislation to be passed to allow them to work freely without the fear of discrimination and worse, deportation. The DREAM (The Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors) Act was first proposed in the Congress by Representative Luis Gutierrez of Illinois in 2001 as the “Immigrant Children’s Educational Advancement and Dropout Prevention Act of 2001″. However, it was not until 2012 that a legislation similar to this was passed by President Barack Obama through an executive order. Under President Obama’s Executive Order, those who are eligible under the DREAM Act will be granted 2 years of work permits in the United Stated without having the fear of deportation.
With the aid of President’s Obama’s executive order, these immigrants will be granted 2 years of working permit once they fit the selection criteria under the DREAM Act. But how will it affect the economy of the United States? According to Jeneba Ghatt in her article in The Washington Times, many Americans are against the legislation of this Act fearing that these immigrants will take away their jobs and that the Government must start supply them with benefits in the form of welfare and food.
On the other hand, some says that the passing of this legislation will actually benefit the Government and the economy in general. According to the national Immigration Law Center, as cited in the article of Edilsa Lopez in the Business week, the beneficiaries of the legislation will help fill up the job vacancies, both present and the future, that will endanger the US economy. Furthermore, the Government will have higher tax revenue brought about by the increased in income tax of the DREAM Act beneficiaries with their legalized status. Aside from this, the increased income of these individuals will encourage spending and investment. Also, since these people are raised in the US, the government doesn’t have to import labor force overseas, therefore ,US doesn’t have to compete for skilled workers with other countries (Lopez, 2010).
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