Dear Future President,

My name is Ayleen Torres and i am a student at Olney Charter High School in Philadelphia, PA. Immigration Deportation is important to me because its an issue that my family has dealt with. It is considered to be controversial but is it really? Why should there be a debate to decide if everyone should be allowed to be in the U.S no matter where you're from? People get affected by this unreasonably because at the end of the day, you can't control or choose where you get to grow up. One unfair example of this is what happened to my uncle, Sam. We weren’t the closest, but hearing what happened to him really had an impact on me. It already had been a rough year for him. He went through economic struggles, infidelity, and to top it all off, he got separated from the one person he loves most in this world, his newborn baby girl. All Sam wanted was new opportunities, but in return for wishing, he got deported. The thing about deportation is supposedly it was enforced to ‘’protect us’’ but on the contrary, it is tearing more and more families, like mine, apart.

While we're on the topic of children, how are they affected by all of this?‘’U.S has deported more than half a million parents since 2009’’(Depillis: When Unauthorized Moms and Dads Disappear, Their U.S Children Suffer). That was seven years ago, can you imagine the number now? It so easy said than done, what if you were one of those parents that were forced to leave your kids behind? In what hands are you leaving them in? ‘’At least 5,100 children in 22 states are currently in foster care’’ (Gravett: 5,100 Children In Foster Care After Parents Are Deported). How does this leave them? At risk. ‘’A survey conducted on unauthorized immigrant families, shows that the effects of losing a parent to deportation are basically the same as what happens when a parent goes to prison.. Children refused to eat or had persistent stomachaches or headaches," the author writes. "Others turned to more self-destructive outlets such as cutting themselves or abusing substances’’(Depillis: When Unauthorized Moms and Dads Disappear, Their Children Suffer). This proves that the circumstances around you influence you including not having a parent around. As you can see, this is why we need to put an end to immigration deportation, we need to protect our children.

Still hesitant? Hear the facts from an expert. One benefit of having immigrants stay in America is an increase in our economy. Paul Ryan, the 54th and current speaker of the U.S House of Representatives, says ‘’ Immigrant-owned businesses employ 4.7 million of people’’ that is a huge number and it proves the more people working the more money we earn, which isn't bad considering we are not at our best right now. ‘’The U.S economy firmed up.. But growth was still disappointing’’ (U.S Economic Outlook). Other things we need work on is our system. Paul also has stated in his page that, ‘’Our system is broken, and the evidence is overwhelming. 11 million undocumented immigrants are living in the U.S.. Family sponsored Visas take up to 11.5 years for them to be processed’’. You could wait eleven years, more than a decade, to get a pass for you to come TEMPORARY no wonder people are forced to cross the border they don't have a choice. Not everyone is that patient, be honest with yourself, would you be willing to wait that long?

Speaking of things that need change, I feel the need to address and suggest improvements toward the way undoccumented people are treated. First off, i believe we should get rid of the term ‘’Alien’’ as a way to refer to them it is straight out disrespectful.For instance, hear Gustave Flaubert’s story, ‘’When I first came to the U.S in the late 1960s, I carried a green card offically labeled ‘’alien registration card’’ Not knowing English, ‘’alien’’ meant nothing to me. Now i find the term inaccurate and also deeply offensive’’(Its the Act, Not the Person, That is Illegal’’). This was one story but there are thousands of people that find that word offensive. I also want to go in detail in the conditions people face in the deportation centers . James Lyall, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, who filed a complaint last week with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, calling conditions at the stations “inhumane and inadequate’’ said that, ‘’The lack of oversight and transparency is part of what has allowed these abuses to continue. This current situation is a recipe for abuse of vulnerable children’’(Unsanity Conditions Seen at Immigration Deportation Centers). I think they should have more supervision and that immigrants should be able to express ways to improve the conditions if the centers aren’t shut down. I am not asking for them to be treated like royalty, some of them do deserve to be there, but i am asking for a more stable environment. After all, we are human, we can only be put through so much.

Therefore, i hope you have realized, if not already, that you have to put a stop to Immigration Deportation. Like i mentioned before some people are in these centers for a justified reason, but believe it or not, the majority aren’t. ‘’83% of deportations were carried out without appearing before a judge’’( U.S Deportations of immigrant reach high record in 2013). Immigrants don’t even have a chance to explain or defend themselves. What ever happened to someone being ‘’innocent until proven guilty’’? This is another example of how they are treated as outisiders. Not everyone takes this serious but they should, the decisions made or about to be made toward this issue will affect us as a whole. I believe the best way for this to be solved is to finally give papers to people who weren’t born here. For security, if it is PROVEN with evidence and all that someone commited a crime then proceed to legal actions like everyone else. To move forward, to truly empower diversity, we need to let problems of the past go like racism and immigration deportation.

Sincerely, Ayleen Torres