Martin Parra

POLS 155 Sec. 27

Professor Morris

May 11, 2018

Immigration Memo

Part 1: Policy Background

The policy problem I have addressed is immigration within policy solution. The policy

solution I have proposed to address is that our state and federal government encourage the idea

of inclusion without reflecting discrimination by race or nationality. It is necessary to improve

the methods of approach that such agencies use to identify people in public or private places.

There need it be an improvement in regulation and standards that revolve around immigration to

offer a better service to the public that encourages safety and not violence.

I have reviewed my policy solution carefully, because of the interview process I was

unable to meet directly with a local representative, yet instead I went on a mission to find a clear

majority of documented interviews with federal officials that talk about their stand in the

immigration policy. Although it involved more than the focus on one person, this gave me an

opportunity to expand my knowledge by hearing multiple new ideas bounce back and forth.

Ultimately there was an interview that truly grasped my interest conducted to executive president

of the united states Donald J Trump, this interview tackled the topics of the travel ban that had

been immediately passed right after he was placed in power.

 My first argument in support of my proposed policy solution is that many people leave

their countries of origin in fear for their lives due to any live threatening issue that may be

happening in their community. Having that lack of an adequate security enforcing, they are left

with no choice but to leave with the sole purpose of survival of themselves and their loved ones.

This leads to the issue of family migration which is a touchy topic from our current president

vocabulary. To the defense of these said families, there are laws that protect their safety, these

are U.S. Refugee Law.

My second argument in support of my proposed policy solution is that currently

immigrants are becoming a booming help to the economy through their legal employments

thanks to the DREAM act that was signed in president Obamas’ term. They also contribute to the

country by paying their taxes and trying to walk the straight line (metaphor for the act of doing

only what’s right and avoiding crimes that would make them get out of their good path).

Immigrants attempt to do their fare share of responsibility and pay their due rather than

attempting to piggy back the system through government plans like food stamps. Most

immigrants are proud people that struggle to get to where they want to be. They deal with their

fare share of injustices and keep moving forward regardless of the governments actions.

My first argument in opposition to my proposed policy solution is one that has been

chanted in multiple rallies against immigrants. Its been written in multiple areas all over banners

and said in the news and social media. The idea is simple, most white citizens scream with anger

that the alien population, this term is what the immigrants are called as they are from different

nationalities that reside outside of the US borders. The reality they believe is that immigrants are

taking all the good jobs and lower the wages, yet they fail to see that the immigrants also take

some of the difficult jobs that are offered throughout the United States. Although America allows
inclusion, that limits based on the people’s views that the immigrants shouldn’t have great jobs,

they should only be looking into good jobs or low paying fast food jobs. Some of the American

people simply have this idea that they are above everyone else and that they should never look

up to an immigrant. There many years of slavery gave them the wrong perception of humanity

and although it’s still a long-term battle. Its our task to not fight, but to educate them.

My second argument in opposition to my proposed policy solution is that Americans

believe that immigrants are crime prone and that they pose a risk currently because of terrorism.

Although they may have reasonable cases that exhibit independent issues like the recent crime of

running 9 people to death and injuring 11 more. The culprit of this incident is in immigrant

named Sayfullo Saipov. Yet it is necessary to understand that after issue like this, agencies

reinforce their laws and focus on making immigration policies more difficult to qualify for.

Part 2: Updates on your Policy Issue:

President Obama introduced the DREAM act in 2012 with the purpose to give all

children the opportunity to have a brighter future by opening the door of a higher education and

an opportunity to work. This caused supporting wave to the kids that pushed them into colleges

and offered multiple clubs in and out of campuses that would aid the DREAMers. Some of these

agencies were LEAD which stands for Leaders Educating for the Advancement of Dreamers.

This support clubs have also been integrated into the campus of Chico State. For further

information, people go to the DREAM center which is also another aid to the student of Chico

state that is in the first floor of Meriam library.

The Agencies that work close to the DREAM act are the DHS and USCIS. These

agencies work close with one another by taking a close to the application of immigrants and
doing a thorough search of criminal activities and a background check to only accept those who

would benefit the community. Most applications are first sent to USCIS which stands for United

States Citizenship and Immigration Services. There are multiple offices scattered throughout the

US but the one that deals with immigration for DREAMers is in Nebraska. Here in this office the

application Is looked at and later sent to DHS or the Department of Homeland Security where

they do a very thorough search trying to catch any criminal cases or actions that might cause any

red flags.

Recently under the Trump administration multiple bans have been placed across the

immigration policy. The first was the travel ban that was placed in January 27 causing the denial

entrance of 7 middle eastern countries. This in return caught the attention of the entire nation to

come together to fight against this large-scale discrimination. This event unified a large part of

the nation and made the public get educated to be aware and understand the current situation.

The second large ban was the end of the DREAM act to limit progress and to begin

deporting unwanted immigrants in a large-scale plan with the aid of ICE Immigration Customs

Enforcements to go from job to job and begin deporting large number of immigrants. This was

an action that tore apart multiple families and left many kids in the foster care system due to the

deportation of parents. This action I believe was a step back to a better nation as this action alone

created a need for more welfare and other tax payed agencies throughout the nation to operate

above their limits for a short time while people and kids became re adjusted.
Part 3: How Can I Continue This Work? Action Plan

The first action I would take is to promote my policy solution would be to introduce it to

my local government which in this case would be city hall of Sacramento. My primary approach

would be to create a long-detailed letter where I address the problem of immigration in this

sanctuary state to the governor Jerry Brown of California. The letter would contain the research

and evidence that illustrates the problems that the federal government is trying to force upon the

state and the repercussions that would happen if the federal government was to succeed.

My second action to get a larger audience is by standing outside of supermarkets and

large public areas in the downtown areas to get signatures of people to show that there is a large

amount of people that want positive change and that are willing to act to make their voices heard.

In addition to standing around outside public areas, I would also start a petition on Change.org to

get more audience from people who I would most likely never get a chance to talk directly but

that shares the same viewpoints and political concepts.

My third action would be to create an interest group that would travel from community to

community to not only educate but also create a larger group with every community we are able

to talk to. An obstacle that I would be presented by would be hate groups that have a tendency of

making fear upon immigration agencies by writing threats online or aggravating some of the

supporters or speakers. Other problems I can be faced with is police agencies trying to force us to

stop as some events could possibly get raided by ICE supporters could be deported which would

cause my agency to shrink as people would fear deportation for trying to have their voices heard.

One way I could summarize my obstacles is the manipulation of fear through people or agencies

that are against immigration.

Part 4: What did you learn this semester?

This semester I was having the idea that I was just going to be forced to go to a political

science class and be bored to death, but instead it was a different experience. This class became

such a fun class that I would wake up earlier than my normal schedule to walk to class as it woke

me up entirely to be more focus in the class lessons that the amazing professor Morris would

have ready for us. I’m a student who is on a normal basis very lazy and simply likes to sleep in,

yet this class made me change that. One of the fascinations that I had in class was the fact that I

was not overwhelmed with the class topics because the class was instructed at a perfect pace that

would allow student to read the material on their own and come to class aware of what the

discussion in class would be about. I like this class because of all the personal stories the

professor shared with us.

For example, one of the earlier stories was the issue she had with the horrible BMW

driver who ran over and justifying why he ran over her little precious dog. The fact that the law

was on the guys side really filled me with anger to know that as a pet owner myself that one day

I would possibly go through around the same issue. Overall from her telling how she felt to the

outreach into the community I found out about several of the law aiding centers that are scattered

across the city of Chico. She helped me view the city of Chico as more than just a simple college

town, she enlightened the class to see the bigger picture and describe how it was that the city of

Chico operated under the political scope.

One of the best ways to understand a professor is by analyzing their reactions to history

and the political changes that have happened throughout the past century. We had the

opportunity to experience how the professor really felt in the topic of civil rights and liberties.

We as a class could really argue that we were taught by a professor who really cared and had
genuine interest in the bettering of the people and the end of oppression. Overall the class load

was healthy as we were taught as a good pace and then evaluated on our understanding through

quizzes and on a weekly basis along with writing assignment’s that gave us the opportunity to do

our independent research based on things that we found interested in the field of politics. This

semester I was able to work on occasions with groups of students from our class to help better

our papers by checking for the ideas and grammar errors. I was happy to know that the papers

that I was reading were from students who were really applying the lessons taught in class. I’m

happy to say that I am leaving this coarse with plenty of knowledge that will aid me as a growing

adult in todays society.

References

Schwartz, Ian. “Trump Full Interview With Ingraham: Dossier, Justice Department,

Immigration, DNC Primary & Sanders.” Video | RealClearPolitics, 2 Nov. 2017,

www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/11/02/trump_full_interview_with_ingraham_dossier_just

ice_department_immigration_dnc_primary__sanders.html.

Sun, Baltimore. “Immigration and Terror.” Baltimoresun.com, 1 Nov. 2017,

www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-new-york-terrorism-20171101-story.html.

“An Overview of U.S. Refugee Law and Policy.” American Immigration Council, 27

Sept. 2017, www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/overview-us-refugee-law-and-

policy.

Almasy, Steve, and Darran Simon. “A Timeline of President Trump's Travel Bans.”

CNN, Cable News Network, 30 Mar. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/us/trump-travel-ban-

timeline/index.html.

Nowrasteh, Alex. “Common Arguments against Immigration.” Cato Institute, 9 Aug.

2016, www.cato.org/blog/common-arguments-against-immigration.