Immigration law is not Jim Crow

Should illegal immigrants be admitted to U.S. high schools? Should they be able to enroll in our colleges or enlist in our military? And if they get a degree, should they be able to apply for any job for which they are qualified?

The answer to all these questions is yes, according to the Dream Act, a federal bill that would impact 16 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.

Claremont Graduate University professor Will Perez, Ph.D, reports on the Dream Act and the United We Dream Coalition, advocating for passage of the Act and detailing the social and economic benefits of granting said rights to undocumented immigrants. He presents a solid argument, listing the challenges faced by these undocumented students and stressing that many of them came to the United States with their parents; they had no choice in the matter. Should they be punished for their parents actions? Perez says no.

Perez draws on his research to show that undocumented students are some of the most socially active today. Pair this with increased economic output from allowing them to get into higher-level, and higher paying, jobs, and you have greater returns for all of us, he says.

So what are the problems with Perez's assertions? For one, I'm not sure he's going to convince any anti-immigration stumpers that the Dream Act is right and good. You can present all the arguments in the world, but at the end of the day, these students are not American citizens. I consider myself pretty pro-immigration, pro-amnesty and pro-education, and this essay was even hard for me to wrap my head around. Unless Perez focuses more on personal relevance for the anti-amnesty camp, those against the Dream Act will continue to prevent its passage.

The other, more glaring problem with this article is Perez' comparison of the Dream Act to another fight for equality: "The similarities between the civil rights movement and current immigration reform movement are numerous," he writes.

I disagree. While the general theme--equal rights--may carry through both movements, the circumstances are not comparable. Under the 14th Amendment, African Americans living in America became U.S. citizens. Under the 15th Amendment, blacks were given the right to vote. Undocumented immigrants have not been granted citizenship or voting rights. The civil rights movement was a fight for rights granted by U.S. citizenship, while the Dream movement is a fight for the extension of citizenship rights to non-citizenship in America.

While the idea of granting undocumented immigrants the rights of citizens may rile anti-immigration groups, the comparison to civil rights may distance the pro-amnesty/immigrant rights groups from both his argument and the Dream Act itself. A well-meaning article then becomes its own worst enemy, to the detriment of 16 million.

Photo Credit: The Orlando Sentinel