The Survivor’s Guilt of a New American Citizen

We are one of very very few nations that automatically grants citizenship to people born on our shores, and yet you act like our country is failing a global moral litmus test in failing to grant citizenship to those smuggled in. Let's put aside the fact that it's deeply disingenuous to call a group "dreamers" if their average length in the country is over 2 decades (It smacks of the 12-year-old Treyvon Martin photo widely published). At that age, even those of legal age should be working on getting their legal citizenship. What incentives are there to acclimate and assimilate if just anyone just come, paying no mind to the rational set of laws and processes that hundreds of thousands of others wait in line to obey, if they can benefit from get all our social welfare programs, including subsidized housing, food, insurance, college, etc?

VisaVixen, you have literally hundreds of such friends? I wonder how you define friends. Do you know their birthdays? Their kids’ names? When did you visit their homes lately? Etc., etc. Are you sure you didn’t misuse the word?

I know I'm in the minority here, but I find myself frustrated when people who a) were born here and never had to take any "steps needed to become a citizen," and b) are ignorant of the processes and sometimes insurmountable obstacles involved in taking those steps, tell others what they should to do in order to be treated with humanity. To me, it seems that those born here are the ones who act the most "entitled" - not surprising, given that our laws do entitle them to citizenship, but still. Maybe acknowledge that some small factor (roughly 100%) of your citizenship is pure luck. Now, it may be that neither of these descriptors apply to you - perhaps you immigrated legally and in doing so were able to overcome the many administrative and bureaucratic challenges that exist for prospective immigrants, but even then it's presumptive to assume that you know everything others went through to get here. And regarding their "driving down our wages," this blame seems wildly misplaced. Are children responsible for driving down wages in Bangladesh? Do you blame (American citizen) minimum-wage workers for accepting minimum wage? After all, doesn't that depress wages as well? And what about those American businesses who outsource their labor? And those American citizens who buy the products of that outsourced labor? If you want wages to go up, here's an idea: a) get serious about requiring companies to pay fair wages, and b) be willing to pay the higher prices for it

Speak for yourself. There is no royal we in this nation of immigrants. You own nothing but your soul and if it is not welcoming, then it will whither and die on the vine.

DACA is not a path to citizenship. Those found eligible were granted the right to remain in the US for two years, along with work authorization for that period. This status could be renewed, but there was no possibility under DACA of achieving permanent residency or citizenship.

@Henry, the reason that DACA kids did not rush to become citizens was because there was no legal avenue for them to do so. All DACA did was confirm that the authorities would not deport them. In immigration law terms, it did not give them an immigrant visa, or adjust their status to lawful permanent residents, the latter being the first step to naturalization. To be allowed to implement that step would have requires an act of Congress, and Obama at the time could not get that done. DACA therefore left people in limbo, but a safe limbo. Now that Trump has undone it, the only legally viable solution is for Congress to act. whether you are for or anti-, one thing this Congress seems unable to do is get anything done, some I wouldn't hold your breath.

in answer to 3 : Concepción was probably allowed to become a US citizen without showing that she had extraordinary skills because her father had become a US citizen. Admittedly, why she had to apply at all is not clear to me. My husband and I became citizens in 2003 and as soon as we went through naturalization, our child that was born outside of the US automatically became a citizen without having to apply. He was 10 years old at the time. Can anyone else assist on this?

This sounds clever but it isn't smart. Smart is doing what promotes life, not what hinders it.

It's a classic example of trying to have their cake and eat it too. They need the masses to subscribe to their paper ergo the populism, but they also need the 1% or at least the businesses they control to advertise in the paper ergo the business friendly position on immigration, etc. However, note that even when they are "railing against inequality" they rarely offer any concrete solutions that might upset rich people.

There are hundreds of millions of legal immigrants that have lived in the USA over the past 240 years - including the author of this piece. I have no idea what you think a legal immigrant is.

Dora: I am having trouble seeing who exactly do you consider the hard workers in this Country and the people that benefit from those hard workers. Yes, many citizens in this country have some connection to an ancestor that immigrated to the U.S. BUT, in this modern day, the "legal" citizens who are starving and homeless MUST be our FIRST priority! This country can not allow more and more and more illegal border crossings, since this country MUST HELP the current population first! The U.S.A. can not save the world until every current homeless person or U.S. Veteran is comfortable here. That in itself is a huge task! So forget the sad plight of all the foreign people outside of this beautiful country! Look right now at your own neighborhood! There is plenty of work to do now!

Yes you could land in countries that would allow legalization based on social membership. Regularization programs are not uncommon in Europe, for example.

E-verify should fix that. As a bonus, an American can earn (and spend in America) the funds formerly being sent out of the country via Western Union.

How do preschoolers compete for legal immigration places? What kind of hard work do they do?

Wake up! It has been well documented that children of immigrants 1) attain a higher-than-average educational level (typically through the hard work and suffering of their parents), and 2) go on to have higher-than-average earnings - which means paying higher-than-average taxes. Do you want to continue your cheap restaurant meals, etc.? Much of that work and so much else is being done by hard-working individuals who will do the jobs that others will not stoop to, and definitely not for the wage being offerred.

Jeffrey, you are referring to research on legal immigrants, not on ones who are living here illegally. Most illegal immigrants came here from rural Mexico and Central America. As a group, they tend to favor large families more than education. They have the highest rates of school drop-outs and teen pregnancy in the U.S. Your country has been able to restrict non-refugee immigration to educated people who can easily assimilate and can contribute economically. Read about the UCLA longitudinal study written up by sociologists Telles and Ortiz of generations of Mexican immigrants in the U.S.. While the first generation, to go to school here, went for more years than their parents had back in Mexico, succeeding generations did not continue their trend. Many of their own children and grandchildren attended school for fewer years than they had. Consequently, their earnings suffered. In general, there are many substantial differences between legal and illegal immigrants.

Dear Olivia, I take it that you are an American Indian. Glad you spoke up, but you may be a few centuries late. Both sides of my people arrived here before 1650, illegal immigrants for sure, given that this land already had a million people on it, but they didn't know any better, and other people followed. When I learned the history, I was sad for what happened to the Native Americans, but I was born in this country, and like most children I simply accepted that it was mine. But you're quite right: your people were here first, way before the 17th century, and we of European origin displaced you from your rightful sovereignty here. Still, given that the Europeans barged in and took this country to be theirs, it seems fitting to allow others in. But before that, it definitely is crucial to allow those who have been here from childhood to be legally recognized and have the same rights as everyone else. After all, this country was built on the backs of immigrants (some of them unwilling immigrants, i.e., slaves), and new immigrants continually add to our wealth and culture. Here are the figures presented in Fortune magazine earlier this year. "According to the CATO institute, deporting these recipients could cost the government at least $60 billion. Overall, rescinding the program would reduce economic growth by $280 billion." Wow! Talk about tax money. I admire your ancestors, but as someone who also lays claim to this country, I'm not willing to lose that kind of growth.

E Roach, the American middle class who pay for the Dreamers and all of the other illegals in this country are not narrow minded as you state. We're just tired of paying for these people who get subsidized housing, receive food stamps, welfare, free health care, free education, and social security that they never paid into. And don't tell me that they can't get any of this because they're illegal. They use stolen identities and false social security numbers to do so. And then they have kids here who are entitled to receive welfare because they were born here. ENOUGH.

Yes, those born here should not receive any benefits. All citizenship should have to be earned. No matter your parents' citizenship status, or how far back your family history goes in this country. Which is to say, good luck in your citizenship application, Olivia! For your sake I hope the evaluation committee don't take empathy into account!

It is inappropriate to equate Dreamers with legal immigrants. To do so insults those who chose to follow the law.

K Bronson: You write like a thoughtful person, but your reasoning here fails because being in the country without a valid visa is not a crime. Entry without inspection is a misdemeanor. Re-entry without inspection after previously being deported is a felony. Being here without one's documents in order is not an illegal act. It's an administrative irregularity, akin to not having changed the address on your driver's license or renewed your tags before they expire. About 40% of undocumented persons entered the US lawfully but have expired visas. Their lack of documents is punishment enough for not being administratively in order, because there are so many things they cannot do due to lack of papers. ....Your economic reasoning has some validity, but is mitigated by the segmented nature of labor, such that many low-skill immigrants are not competing with (nor driving wages down for) lower-skill native-born workers.

Workers could not put bread on the table without being paid, no matter how well, for their manual or intellectual labor need to consider where their real competition comes from. It's not from workers in Mexico, India or Bangladesh. It's not from legal or illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic or Colombia. It's from Wall Street and corporate big shots who see their one and only mission as generating wealth and income for themselves.

Nancy, are you aware that the PEW Trust has found that only 5% of illegal immigrants work in agriculture. The federal government could again make it easier for farmers and ranchers to bring in temporary workers (without their families) on a seasonal basis. The workers' wages would go further in their own countries where the cost of living-of-living is lower. The Harvard economist George Borjas has conducted research that shows many low-skill immigrants are competing for non-agricultural jobs with natives. It found that the rate of Black employment dropped as the number of illegal immigrants increased. It also showed that illegal immigration reduced the amount of wages paid to our lower-skilled citizens by 8%.