Minor+children+of+illegal+immigrants

Home Debate Assignment Timeline Topics

5. Minor children of illegal immigrants are entitled to the same rights and protections as all American citizens.

Bella Many people do not believe that illegal immigrants should be treated with the same rights and protection of American citizens, but what about their children? When these people came to the U.S. with their families their children have no choice on whether or not they were aloud to stay in their home country. Recently, in the state of Alabama, these children have been prohibited from attending public schools. I don’t believe this is fair to these children because once again they had no choice about where they live. They have to pay the price for their parent’s choice of where to live. As a result many of these children will struggle to have a successful life, which is the very reason as to which their parents decided to come to this country. || QUESTION 5: PRO-B Alex Kern
 * QUESTION 5: PRO-A

I believe that the minor children of illegal immigrants should be granted the same rights that are given to other American citizens, including the right to and education and job. As children, these minors were brought to the United States by their parents. Basically, they had no choice but to come here illegally because as children, they had no say in the matter. They were forced to follow in the footsteps of their law-breaking parents. As these children become older, things get more complicated and the issue of whether they have rights becomes apparent. This is where affirmative action and the Dream Act come into play. Affirmative action is a very important part of this issue. In the video we watched in class, the girl in the video so desperately wanted to go to college, but there was some complications considering she was an illegal immigrant. With affirmative action, she can go to college and, according to the "Arguments for Race-Based Affirmative Action" sheet we got in class, be exposed to "a wider range of ideas and perspectives". Another opportunity that is given to these minor immigrants is the Dream Act. The National Immigration Law Center states that the Dream Act will cause a major change in the law: it will permit certain immigrants to be able to apply for a temporary legal status if they go to college or join the Army (NILC). This will give these minors a chance to have a future as an American citizen. || ELENA The National Origins Act of 1924 placed strict [laws against illegal] immigration [on] the United States (Moore 1) to prevent immigrants from coming into our country, illegally. Minors should not be entitled to the same rights and protections as American citizens because first and foremost, they are not U.S citizens. “Some Americans feel that [illegal immigrant students] take [opportunities] that would otherwise go to … citizens” (Brown 1) and college opportunities should go towards those who are citizens. Yes, it’s not the minors fault if they were brought into this country when they were young however, if we start accepting those who did not follow the rules years ago, then parents can come here illegally with their young children today and give their illegal children a fair chance as any U.S citizen and that’s not fair to us, American-born citizens. If we reward those who broke the rules, then we as a country have no backbone and we give outsiders the opportunity to milk to our system. I believe that minors should not be entitled the same rights and protections as American citizens. || ====== QUESTION 5: CON-B ======
 * QUESTION 5: CON-A

ELIZABETH

I believe that illegal immigrants should not have the right to an education or job. I believe this because illegal immigrants are filling up the spaces that U.S. citizens deserve which explains the huge unemployment rate at 9.1%. According to Victor Davis Hanson from World Magazine “Illegal immigration may actually explain high unemployment by ensuring employers cheap labor that will not organize, can be paid in cash and often requires little government deductions and expense”. This is portraying that illegal immigrants should not be offered an opportunity for U.S. jobs because the citizens of the United States deserve them. For education there was a study in Alabama that “officials have noticed that 5 percent of the state’s Hispanic children are absent from classrooms” (Griffee). This is saying that student are now leaving their schools because their families are worried that they are going to get in trouble by the law (which they should) from being illegal immigrants. This is why I believe that illegal immigrants should not have the right to their education or job. ||