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Daca, Immigration and Nationalism

Posted by [email protected] on September 6, 2017 at 9:30 AM

With Donald Trump's recent announcement to end the DACA programme, immigration has once again become the political hot topic. Not that it was ever far away from being so, after all, building a border wall and putting 'American first' were signatures of his campaign. Across the pond, immigration hysteria was one of the key factors in prompting the referendum and Brexit. As a British citizen, I know first hand of the great services immigrants provide to our country for huge institutions such as the National Health Service (NHS). Their contribution to maintaining this, despite the Conservative partie's apparent determination to privatize, is invaluable. Likewise, immigrant workers in the US are huge contributors to the American workforce, economy and GDP. I don't believe there is really much of an argument for people crossing borders to simply try and scrape by on benefits, foodstamps and welfare. I believe that the vast majority of people anywhere are willing to work and to create a better life for themselves and their family. This is why I find it immoral for the President to suggest that people who arrived in American as children, brought in by their parents, should be deported; as they, raised as Americans, have every right to follow pursue dreams in America too. This does not negate the fact that immigration remains an issue, as both the UK and the USA remain among the best countries to live in the modern world due to their living standards, tolerance, freedom of speech etc.; their is a large amount of people who would like to reside there. However, as we have seen, an uncontrolled influx of people into a country which has finite amount of jobs and housing can cause problems. If there are far too many people in competition for a smaller number of jobs, the wages will inevitably be driven down and this has a negative effect on everybody living there. In the US, this includes immigrants who are already living there. Whether or not these people arrived legally or illegally, or whether or not they have legitimate citizenship seems to be besides the point. Everybody living and working in America today would be affected by the arrival of large numbers of people looking to compete in the job market. This brings us back around to the point, immigration in the modern world in which the national population is so vast is an issue, certain countries provide better opportunities and this promotes a desire for people to move there. In an ideal world everybody could be accomodated or every country would be equal enough to balance the issue. This is not the case and it would seem unrealistic at this stage to think the former could be achieved. A change in immigration policy would certainly seem necessary, but the deportation of those already in America, many of them brought as children, is not the answer and seems inherently cruel and unfair.  A nationalistic movement is not unsurprising in times of economic hardship when the reigns on immigration seems to be held rather loosely. The two issues are inextricably linked. However, it would seem unwise for us to allow the decisions of one administration or one President to divide the people of one country. We are all, quite literally, in the same boat. Discuss immigration policies such as DACA with everyone around you, educate and debate. Raising wages and living standards for all working class people is necessary for prosperity and happiness. This is part of the solution, not outcasting and scapegoating those who share the same values and desires as you.

Categories: Political

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