Dear Future President,

Hello my name is MaryHelen Prince. I am a 14 year old student at Northview High school. I wanted to talk to you about Immigration.

We are deporting people instead of helping them become legal citizens? Why can’t we help instead of hurt them? If you are willing to risk your life to sneak over the border just for a shot at a new life with no plans, only hope, aren’t those the people we want in our nation?

Contrary to popular belief the immigration rate has actually stayed at roughly the same and even declined since 2009. Undocumented immigrants are the problem, not immigrants. About 11.4 million undocumented immigrants live in the united states at this year. This year we’ve gotten another 484,072 legal immigrants. I know why the numbers are so different. Do you know what it takes to become a citizen? It costs 200 dollars to apply. Just to apply! If your application gets accepted you then have to take an exam that consists of 100 questions. The questions are about facts that most citizens don’t even know. For example, How many justices are on the Supreme Court? Who was the president during WWI? Name one American Indian tribe in the United States. The House of Representatives has how many voting members? I don’t know any of these and I have been citizen my whole life.

Why are we making it so expensive long and so hard for people to become a citizen that they have to sneak in? I believe that by cracking down on immigration laws we are taking away another human being’s chance to live and thrive in our great nation. Why are we closing the accepting doors of America? Do we want to be the bratty country that immigrates to other places but closes our doors in the time of need? I hope that we are better than that.

Immigrants come to America with hope for relief from war, poverty, hunger. They also come with the hope of seeing their family, falling in love and getting married, finding a job. I come from a family of immigrants. My Grandmother and her six-person family lived in the Netherlands until she was two years old. They left with a dream: The American Dream. Work your way up to the top. My great uncles Sid and Henry Baron wrote and edited 5 books that are sold on Amazon and in bookstores. They never would have had this opportunity if they hadn’t come to America.

We should help these people become citizens. For your presidency I hope you will make a difference in these 11.1 million people's life.  

Sincerely, Mary Helen