Dear Madame/Mr. President,

Immigration made our country the melting pot it is today. I urge you to pass laws that support immigration reform. The ability for people from all lands to come to these United States is a right with which we were all privileged. These issue of immigration is closest to my heart because I immigrated from China when I was 12 months old. If immigration was banned, I would never have been allowed to not only enter the US, but to build a wonderful life here. Most important issues to address regarding immigration are families remaining together, border security, and welcoming refugees and asylum seekers from countries that are at war.

According to the website newyork.cbslocal.com, Hilary Clinton wants to create the first ever Office of Immigration Affairs. No matter who wins the presidency, I think this office is a great idea. In the office I hope the President will create policy that will allow families affected by immigration to stay together. According to previous cases, children’s parents have been ripped away from them due to the parent found to be undocumented. One source, Cheryl Ades, LCSW who happens to be my mother, has written several hardship reports for Hispanics who have been mandated to return to Mexico for 10 years before returning to the US because they were illegally here. Their children would have been traumatized if their father’s had to leave them and the entire family returning to Mexico with lots of drugs couldn’t be healthy for them. The best solution would be creating a path to citizenship for the undocumented immigrants. Traumatizing families is not an American value.

It is important that our borders are policed so that criminals don’t get into the country and harm people. Currently, we are doing a good job keeping most criminals out. I ask you not to build a wall on the boarders in Mexico because the boarders are already secure there. Our trade relationship would be damaged as well as our economics because Mexico is our thirst largest goods trading partner, according to ustr.gov. We traded $531 Billion in total goods during 2015. Mexicans are impoverished and make very little money daily. If we allow them an opportunity to make a fair wage after they are already here, they won’t have to struggle like they did in Mexico. Our border to Canada is well patrolled already.

Thomas Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence that, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” America is made made up of people of all religions. Some want to not allow Muslims to immigrate to the US because of the problems with ISIS. I strongly disagree that people not be allowed in because of their religion. Also, I watched a video in class on refugees and what they thought and they had very hard lives. Just because people may be Muslim doesn’t mean they are part of ISIS and they are being persecuted just because of their religion. I ask you Madame/Mr. President to let immigrants of all religions in our country.

In conclusion, immigration is a very important issue in the United States because our country was founded upon it. As I explained above, I hope you will support a legal path to citizenship, no wall between the US and Mexico, and that you will allow anyone without a criminal regardless of their religion into the United States.

Thank you for your time!

Lily A