Dear President,

Whoever you are I hope that you are able to see the responsibility America has to the world. Being the most powerful nation this is a blessing or a burden we have to take on, however you view it. With that comes the heavy topic of immigration. There are so many things to be decided, who will be admitted, the financial burden it will add to our ever growing debt and supporting the ones at home before others.

Weighing out all the options: restricting immigration until we are in a better financial status. Immigrants have been entering the United States for hundreds of years, most of them have been working the low-wage jobs that Americans usually don’t. They have to support for their families in a foreign country so take what is offered to them. These are usually factory jobs, field work, etc. Immigrants make up about 42. 4 million of the U.S. population. Therefore, restricting immigration would burden our economy in a way.

However, if we opened our doors for everyone, this would definitely hurt us significantly. America as ‘powerful’ as it might be is not perfect. We would not be able to handle millions of immigrants, as much of need they are in, come into this country. This could also be a security threat in many ways, we would essentially be opening our doors for all of our enemies.

We could focus our attention on admitting certain numbers of people from countries that are top priority. For example, admitting in more Syrian refugees. Syria is crumbling and it is our job as a nation to become united for the sake of humanity. Sure it would hurt us financially, but would save the lives of so many people. We need to start coming about things in a moral standpoint rather than viewing people as statistics just because we can’t relate to them or were never in their positions. It is unethical to deny any refugee asylum in America.

If a person is undocumented in this country and is contributing to society in a positive way, and is not harming anyone, they should be given an opportunity to be a citizen, so that they can become a legally documented immigrant. Morally speaking this person fled their country to live a better life, a life that we glamorize as the American Dream. Who are we to deny those that seek that same lifestyle? Someone who doesn’t want to live in poverty or in the midst of war, and doing this in their home country is nearly impossible given their dire circumstances. Who are we to decide who is American or not? Is it a white man who speaks your standard english? Or a Native American whose black hair is plaited down his back? America was built by immigrants, there isn’t a standard ‘look’ for American. There is no defining it.

In conclusion, it is the United States of America’s duty to be a leader in immigration reform. We have to change for the better. Forge new alliances, repair broken ones. We have to heal as a nation, stregthen our economy and not forget the rest of the world along the way. We need immigrants to support this country. We need to support them. And it is your duty as President of the United States, that the rest of the world hears this message and we start viewing immigrants as more than just a statistic.

Sincerely,

Israh M.

Daughter of Immigrants