UF students and faculty are reacting to President Barack Obama’s announcement on major immigration reforms.
On Nov. 20, Obama announced his three-step plan for immigration reform, which includes providing additional resources for border patrol officials, allowing graduates and high-skilled immigrants to remain in the U.S., and dealing with about 4 million immigrants who have been living in the U.S. illegally.
“After all, most of these immigrants have been here a long time,” Obama said in announcement. “They work hard often in tough, low-paying jobs. They support their families.”
The plan allows immigrants who have been in the U.S. for more than five years without permission or who have American-born children to pay taxes and pass background checks in exchange for temporary residence for three years.
UF political science and African studies senior Brianna Williams is an executive board member for UF Dream Defenders. She said the plan is a “step in the right direction,” but there needs to be a long-term plan in motion.
“He basically just put a temporary stamp on it and, in three years, when this deferred action goes out, then people will be in this same situation,” the 20-year-old said.
The plan could impact immigrants now in colleges across the country who were brought to the U.S. as children.
Obama said people who have been living in the U.S. without permission who excel academically and professionally in the U.S. should not be forced to leave the country.
Paul Ortiz, a UF associate history professor, said some UF students belong to families living in the U.S. without permission and constantly have to deal with changing immigration statuses.
“What we’ve recognized here is that this issue of immigration affects far more of our students and members of our community than we understand,” Ortiz said.
There is also fervent debate around terms and dialogue used to discuss immigration reform, such as “illegal immigrants.” Some people like Williams consider the term discriminatory and a misinterpretation of immigrants’ motives.
“I hate these labels that they put on people that dehumanize them,” Williams said. “They’re human beings that came here to look for a better life.”
Ortiz said a long-term solution to immigration reform should include the U.S. returning to the Ellis Island system in which immigrants would pass through customs and inspections upon arrival.
“Let’s apply the same values to our immigration system now that we applied at an earlier time when we made the naturalization process much easier,” he said.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 12/1/2014]
