The Road to Citizenship for the Children of Illegal Immigrants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illegal Immigration

 

          The issue of illegal immigration does not just include the immigrants themselves, but the children of those immigrants as well. Currently, the Dream Act protects the children of the illegal migrants who are under the age of sixteen temporarily – so that they children can complete their education. There are also the group of children who are approaching adulthood who arrived in the United States as children before the Dream Act was issued. They, too, are fighting for their right to stay in America permanently.

 

Children of Illegal Immigration

 

          Cesar Marroquin, aged twenty two, of Wyndmoor is one of the millions of children of illegal migrants who came into America before the Dream Act was passed. Nontheless, he is fighting to be included in the provisions of the Dream Act. Looking forward, if the Dream Act passes for children permanently, “the measures put forward could extend relief to illegal immigrant parents, too” (Michael Matza, A1 and A10). In his words, Marroquin states, “My parents brought me here for a reason – to succeed. I don’t want them exiled.” (A10). Marroquin was educated at Montgomery County Community College, but had to drop out due to financial problems. He now works for a real estate sales company. When he was younger, Marroquin had repetitive nightmares about his parents being taken way by immigrant enforcement agents. To expel those awful dreams, Marroquin “publicly proclaimed himself ‘undocumented and unafraid’” (A10).

 

Education

 

          According to Matt O’Brien and Theresa Harrington from the Philadelphia Inquirer, “proof of being in school or having graduated from high school could be a shield against deportation” (O’Brien and Harrington, The Philadelphia Inquirer). Additionally, this proof is “the key to jobs for an estimated one point seventy six million young, illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). Therefore, the process of the immigrant children’s education is a huge step and influence in order to allow those children to stay in America forever. Vidal Gonzales, a mentor of a Latino high school in Oakland, told his students, “Now it’s up to you to buckle down and follow through because now you have an opportunity that you didn’t have a few months ago” to get them motivated to stay in school (The Philadelphia Inquirer).