Children of Illegal Immigrants in US
The number of illegal immigrants has been on the rise in the US in the recent past. This is in spite of the government rolling out programs to crack down on the illegal and undocumented immigrants. In doing so, the USA government has deported a good number of such foreigners to their countries of origin. However, the children are a facet of the illegal immigration debacle that seems to have escaped the public attention. Consequently, there is the question as to whether children of the illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States.
The USA government must open its doors to the children of the immigrants due to a vast array of reasons. First, this is due to humanitarian grounds. It must be noted that a significant number of the illegal immigrants escape from their countries due to deplorable living conditions such as perpetual wars, diseases, and famine. Closing the American borders to children of such immigrants is akin to condemning them to premature death. Given that the right to life is enshrined in the USA constitution, it is essential that the USA gives such children an opportunity to live by allowing them to stay in the country.
Secondly, the children of the immigrants are too young to feed off for themselves. In their parents’ absence, they face imminent death. It is therefore prudent to allow such children into the USA as this will make it possible for their parents to take care of them.
Thirdly, unlike adults, the children do not pose any threat to the security of the USA. Adults’ immigrants have been accused of having ties with terror groups such as Al Qaeda (Beare 16). Moreover, children are too young to engage in criminal activities such as robbery with violence or to harbor extremist religious ideologies and beliefs. It, therefore, does not make any sense to block the entry of such harmless segment of the population from entering America because they are a security threat.
One of the reasons for unleashing deportation threats on illegal immigrants is based on the idea that immigrants are taking over the jobs of the American population. This emanates from the fact that they are willing to work for wages far below the minimum wage acceptable to the American workers (Wilson and Portes 298). However, it is important to note that the children of the immigrants do not pose a threat to the job securities of the American people. It is a crime to hire children regardless of their nationalities, and as a result, the immigrant’s children will not be absorbed into the job market.Lastly, USA has a soft spot for the children as they are the future of the American nation. The barring of the immigrants’ children from coming to America will be akin to exposing defenseless and unarmed children to grave danger. In particular, when left on their own, such children are vulnerable to being sexually abused. Moreover, human trafficking cartels may take advantage of them and force them into modern day slavery.
It is apparent that the children of the illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States. Deporting them is akin to giving them death sentences as they will be rendered vulnerable to dangers such as rape, starvation and human trafficking. The family is the most reliable social unit. Allowing the children of the immigrants to join their families in the USA will cement this bond. On the other hand, closing the boundaries of the USA will not only rob the young ones of their parent’s love, but it will also lead to the breaking of the families.