Is The DREAM About To Come True?

President Barack Obama has been re-elected. This is his second chance.

Now, going into his second term, a plethora of issues await. One of which is how to deal with a broken immigration system.

It was a promise that he didn’t deliver in his first term; but he vows to get it done during his second term.

But he will have opposition in the way. Years of this argument and a mischaracterisation of the people in question has lead to this argument becoming a polarized and often nasty fight.

Let’s get one thing clear, this is not a Hispanic/Latino issue—no matter how much people tell you—so securing our southern border will not solve this issue. Sorry Arizona.

There are European undocumented immigrants who’ve overstayed their visa, there are Canadian undocumented immigrants that have crossed the northern border, there are Asian and African undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants come in all shades and from all countries.

So let’s get this idea of Mexican gangs crossing into New Mexico out of our heads because that identifies a small number of who we’re talking about—and frankly I don’t think anyone is in support for violent people to stay in the U.S.

Stereotypes only worsen the argument and it creates politicians who have this idea of violent gang members crossing the border to smuggle drugs and fail to see that the problem is more complex than that and distracts progress from helping the ones in need.

Sadly, too much hate has been injected into the conversation. Some people fail to see the humanity in helping those who were just thrown into a bad situation.

That above all else, is the obstacle President Obama needs to get past in order to gain enough support.

States and cities have already begun to implement their own relief.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick directed state colleges and universities to offer tuition rates and fees to undocumented students who obtain work permits under the Obama Administration’s executive order.

The Illinois Senate approved a bill that would give undocumented immigrants access to temporary driver’s licenses, becoming the fourth state to do so.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City of Los Angeles now offer ID cards for undocumented immigrants. These card issued would be considered a full-fledged photo ID.

Now we need a federal solution to deal with the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants.