Argument Essay

P r e s id e n t D o n a ld T r u m p is ta k in g a h a rd lin e o n p e o p le liv in g in th e U.S. ille g a lly . W h a t d o e s th is m e a n f o r m illio n s o f u n d o c u m e n te im m ig r a n ts a n d t h e ir fa m ilie s ? b y b r o o k e r o s s

N A R E C E N T E V E N IN G in Phoenix, Arizona, protesters

surrounded a van as it was pulling away from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office.

The activists were demanding the release of the woman inside the van, who, they feared, was about to be sen t o u t of the U nited States. G uadalupe Garcfa de Rayos, an u n d o c u m e n t e d imm igrant from Mexico, had been detained earlier th at day after reporting for her annual meeting with immigration officials. She’d been required to attend the meetings since a 2008 a rre st for using a fake S o c i a l S e c u rity n u m b e r, which is a crime.

Rayos, a custodian, says she was

just trying to get a job to support her two kids, who were both born in the U.S. (and therefore are citizens). Despite the dem onstrators’ efforts, the van departed. Rayos’s family

didn’t know where she’d been taken until she called the next morning— from Nogales, Mexico. She had been deported.

Rayos was one of the first immi­ grants to be rem oved from the country since President Donald Trump announced new policies on illegal immigration. On January 25,

he issued an executive order that gives immigration officials greater authority to carry out deportations: Any undocumented immigrant who has com m itted any crime, even a

minor offense such as a traffic viola­ tion, can now be deported.

This is a sharp contrast from for­ m er P resident Barack O bam a’s policy, which prioritized deporting dangerous criminals, such as m ur­ derers. T h a t’s why Rayos—who w asn’t considered a th reat—had been allowed to stay in the U.S.

“This goes fu rth e r than any o th er p re s id e n t.. . . If som eone is here illeg ally,

th e y are targ ets fo r rem oval.”

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From le f t to righ t: Im m i g r a t i o n o lf i c e r s a r r e s t a s u s p e c t e d u n d o c u m e n t e d i m m ig r a n t ; P r e s id e n t T r u m p h o ld s a n e x e c u t iv e o r d e r o n i m m ig r a t io n ; s is te rs in L os A n g e le s p r o t e s t t h e a r r e s t o f t h e i r f a t h e r , w h o is u n d o c u m e n t e d .

Because undocum ented immi­ grants technically break the law just by living in the country illegally, experts say th a t T ru m p ’s order could easily be applied to the esti­ mated 11 million of them who are currently in the U.S.

“Every administration has to pri­ oritize who they will go after,” says Steve Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell Univeisity in New York. “This goes further than any other president. To make it sim­

ple: If someone is here illegally, they are targets for removal.”

TOUGHER RULES The m ajority of un d o cu m en ted immigrants in the U.S. come from Mexico and Central America. (See box, p. 8.) However, their numbers haven’t increased since 2009, thanks to tougher border security and an improving Mexican economy.

The Trump administration says that u ndocum ented im m igrants

YOU? ACTIVITIES arcuse. s u s p ic io n .

I NEEP TO <EL Yo u r im m ig r a t io n

PAPERS...

b e f o r e . o r AFT ER I FINISH Yo u r l a w n ?

S o m e p e o p l e v i e w u n d o c u m e n t e d im m ig r a n t s as c rim in a ls ; o th e r s c o n s id e r t h e m t o b e h a r d w o r k e r s w h o d o m a n y o f t h e jo b s A m e r ic a n s d o n ’t w a n t t o d o .

“victimize Americans” and disre­ gard the “rule of law.” Trump says the new deportation policy fulfills part of his campaign prom ise to crack down on illegal immigration, a plan that also includes building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. (See JS, March 13,2017.)

In addition to expanding who can be ta r g e te d for d e p o rta tio n , Trum p’s executive order calls for hiring 10,000 m ore im m igration enforcement agents. He also wants to enlist police officers throughout the U.S. to help the agents identify the undocumented.

People in favor of Trum p’s plan say undocumented immigrants take jobs from Americans, drain the country’s resources, and commit crimes. Others point out that the deportation policy simply strength­ ens laws that already exist but have not been consistently enforced.

“The message is, the immigration law is back in business,” says Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Imm igration Studies, which su p ­ ports immigration restrictions.

But others are alarmed by Trump’s stance on deportations. They say undocumented immigrants improve the economy and often take — ►

JUNIOR.SCHOLASTIC.COM 7

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low-paying jobs that few Americans want. Many experts also disagree with T rum p’s claims that those here illegally frequently commit crimes. According to the Migration Policy Institute, only about 820,000 undocumented U.S. immigrants— less than 8 percent of them—have been convicted of a crime.

“We’re living in a new era now,” says Phoenix immigration lawyer Ray Ybarra Maldonado, “an era of war on immigrants.”

A N EXCEPTION? One group that may be exempt from Trum p’s executive order is people covered un d er the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In 2012, Obama issued an executive order temporarily protect­ ing from deportation young people who’d been brought to the country illegally as children. Those who qualify for DACA have renewable two- year permits to work legally in the U.S.

On the campaign tra il, T rum p said DACA was unconsti­ tu tio n a l, a n d he vowed to abolish the program. But he seems to have soft­ ened his tone since taking office, referring to the young immigrants as “incredible kids." Trump’s depor­ tation order does not affect DACA.

Still, m any of the m ore than 750,000 people protected under DACA are uneasy about their futures in the U.S. (See "My Parents Were Deported, ’’ right.)

SAFE SPACES In response to Trump's order, dozens of cities have designated themselves as sanctuary cities that vow to protect the undocumented. From New York City to Seattle, Washington, cities are providing safe zones where such immigrants can seek refuge, includ­ ing churches and schools.

Also, m any local governm ents have ordered their police officers not to assist immigration officials in rounding up immigrants. They say it will make people afraid to report crimes and takes officers away from their primary duty of protecting people.

Trump has threat­ ened to w ith h o ld federal funds from sanctuary cities in response. U.S. law gives the president th e pow er to set immigration policy, so Trump says he has th e a u t h o r i t y to decide who should be deported.

But many cities are p rep a re d to fight. “We will not give in to th r e a ts ,” Ed Lee, mayor of San Fran­ cisco, said in a recent statem ent he issued with two other Cali­ fornia mayors. “[We]

will stay... united against any and all efforts to divide our residents, our cities, and our country.” ♦

W ith re p o rtin g b y The New York Times

CORE QUESTION w h a t a r e s o m e a r g u m e n t s f o r a n d a g a i n s t a l l o w i n g i m m i g r a n t s

i n t h e U .S . i l l e g a l l y t o s t a y ?

M y P aren ts W e re D e p o rte d Paola Benefo (rig h t) is a student a t Berea College in Berea, K entucky, w ho is p ro te c te d by DACA. She explains w h a t it’s like to be living in th e U.S. w ith o u t her m o th er and fath e r.

In D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 5 , I w a s h e a d i n g t o t h e l i b r a r y h e r e a t s c h o o l t o s t u d y w h e n I

g o t a c a l l f r o m m y m o t h e r ’ s

l a w y e r . H e s a id s h e w a s

f i g h t i n g h e r d e p o r t a t i o n

t o G h a n a , W e s t A f r i c a , a n d

I w o u l d n e e d t o w r i t e a

s t a t e m e n t e x p l a i n i n g w h y s h e

s h o u l d b e a l l o w e d t o s t a y in

t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s .

T h e p h o n e c a l l s e n t m e ,

z o m b i e l i k e , a c r o s s t h e

q u a d t o m y d o r m . I s a t a t

m y c o m p u t e r in a d a z e

o f a n g e r a n d s a d n e s s . I

c o u l d n ’ t b e l i e v e t h a t t h i s w a s

h a p p e n i n g — a g a in .

M y f a t h e r h a d b e e n

d e p o r t e d a b r u p t l y t h r e e y e a r s

e a r l i e r , w h e n I w a s s t i l l in h i g h

s c h o o l . H e w a s e x p e l l e d a f t e r

o v e r s t a y i n g h is t o u r i s t visa, t h e s a m e r e a s o n m y m o t h e r

w a s f a c i n g d e p o r t a t i o n . H is

a b s e n c e w a s u n b e a r a b l e ,

Top Countries of Origin for

Undocumented Immigrants in the U.S.

MEXICO 6,200,000

GUATEMALA 723.000

EL SALVADOR 465.000

HONDURAS 337.000 CHINA

268.000 SOURCE: Migration Policy Institute

8 A P R IL 2 4 , 2017

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