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Undocumented Children in America

Everyone deserves equal opportunities. My cousin was brought to the United

States at age 1 and since then he has grown up in America. He speaks perfect English and

he's a straight-A student, but It hurts seeing my family mainly my cousin is going through

such a horrible experience just for being undocumented and for wanting to have a better

future for himself and his family. ​Undocumented children should stay in America,

they just want a safer life in which they don’t have back in their home countries,

Better education opportunities, and they help the future generation of America.

Undocumented children come to America for many reasons. The first reason in

why they should stay and why they came to America is for a safer life. According to Kirk

Semple, families fear of gangs in their home countries (Semple 2016). This shows that

families leave their home countries because they are scared of the violence there and they

just want to keep their families safe. According to Alberto, he says “what can I say? This

is a horrible reality that our country is living now.” This quote shows that families bring

their children to America for a safer life. Well, that being said undocumented children

should stay in America.

Families risk their lives when coming to the United States. According to Flakus

Greg, migrants cross the border, but the México border is rocky, dry and mostly a

desolate area (Flakus 2016). Therefore immigrants risk their lives when coming to

America by facing a hot desert. According to Diana Hoelter of human borders “a lot of

times they do not have the appropriate footwear they should have, then they get blisters

and so on. It is very bad But the main thing would be the dehydration” (Hoelter 2016).
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This quote shows that not many immigrants get to cross the border to get to America,

most of them die from being dehydrated or get injured along the way, but not many make

it to America.

Undocumented students should stay in the United States because most have no

role in the decision to come to the US. Often undocumented youths are brought into the

US by their parents or relatives. This shows that it's usually a family decision to move to

America, and students may be small when this happens. According to college.org, “ in

2000, approximately 2.5 million undocumented youth under 18 were living in the US.”

This quote is supporting the argument that undocumented youth should stay in America.

Undocumented families bring their children to America for safety purposes.

The second reason in why undocumented children should stay in America is

because they want better education opportunities. Research says that undocumented

students are often high performers. Therefore, although undocumented students may not

have access to the same resources as legal US citizens, they often do very well in school.

According to college.org, “many undocumented students are honors students, student

leaders, and athletes with high academic achievements.” This quote is supporting the

argument in which undocumented children should stay in America. Undocumented

students work hard for a better education and therefore, this is why undocumented

students should stay in America.

Finding and getting into the right college and university can be a daunting task,

but it can for career and personal advancement. According to Bestcollege.com,”there are

many national programs and state laws that allow undocumented students to attend the
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college of their choosing” This shows that students have many options available for them.

According to Bestcollege.com “undocumented students with excellent grades, ample

volunteer experience, high test scores will find their path to earning a degree may not be

as difficult as they expect.” This shows that if you work hard for what you want, you'll

succeed.

Undocumented students should stay in America all they want is a better

education. Undocumented students want to research their educational goal. According to

Bernarda Elizabeth Garcia, she says, “actively fights for immigrants' rights, especially

when it comes to funding higher education.” This means there are organizations that are

dedicated to helping those students pay for college education. According to the college

board, “though there is no federal state law that prohibits undocumented students from

being admitted or attending U.S colleges.” Students have many options for colleges.

Therefore, undocumented students should stay in America.

My third reason why undocumented children should stay in America is that they

help the future generations of America. According to HuffPost “immigrant populations

keep the engine of growth moving forward”. This shows that immigrants benefit

Americans by keeping the growth moving forward. According to HuffPost, “white

Americans are having fewer children, so it is immigrants' families ( with higher birth

rates) that are filling the Labor gap.” Therefore, immigrants are largely responsible for

keeping pension fund and social security well-financed; while driving the US economy

forward into the next generation.

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This graph shows the immigrant growth in the United States from 1900-2014

Immigrants help the future generation of America therefore, they should stay in

the US. Immigrants help create and build buildings for future businesses and housing.

According to the Small Business Administration, “immigrants are 30 percent more likely

to start a business in the united states than non-immigrants, and 18 percent of all business

owners in the United States are immigrants.”(Gray). This shows that undocumented

immigrants always work hard. According to Jason Furman and Danielle Gray,

“immigrant-owned businesses create jobs for American workers.” Therefore, the small

business owned by immigrants employed an estimated 4.7 million people in 2007, and

according to the latest estimates, these small businesses generated more than $776 billion
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annually. Immigrants are also more likely to create their own jobs, for example,

construction work, food stands, and etc.

How immigrants help the future of America and should stay in the US is many

undocumented immigrants decide to serve the US military. Immigrants serving the united

states military have deep historical roots. And non-citizens have fought in the US Armed

Forces since the Revolutionary War ( Powers 2016). This shows that non-citizens serve

the US military. According to One America,”nationally, each year around 8,000

non-citizens enlist in the military.”(Powers 2016) Therefore, immigrants join the military

voluntarily, it benefits them a lot and America.

Undocumented youths should be able to stay in the United States Of

America, Because they came to America for a better lifestyle, unlike back in their

home countries. For better educational opportunities, and They are an important

part of our future generations of America. ​In other words, it's important to remember

that many undocumented students are victims of the circumstances beyond their control.

Most are brought to America by their parents at a very young age. They’ve learned

English, completed high school, integrated themselves into their communities and they

consider themselves Americans.

Undocumented students need us. We need them.

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​ Citations

Flakus, Greg.“Migrants Continue To Risk Lives Crossing US Border From México.”

VOA. July 26,2016 Accessed date: March 13,2018

Flores, Antoinette.”Undocumented Students Deserve Greater Access To Higher

Education.” Center For American Progress. November 18,2016. Accessed date: March

13,2018

Laguatan, Ted.”Immigrants Are Human Beings Who Just Want a Better LIfe.”

Inquirer.net Feb 16, 2017. Accessed date:March 13,2018

Online College.org.”15 eye opening Facts on Undocumented Students.” online

college.org. Oct 19, 2011. Accessed date:March 13,2018

Rod, powers, “immigrants in the US Armed Forces.” The balance.com. September 08,

2016. Accessed date: March 13,2018

Semple, Kirk. “Fleeing Gangs, Central American Families Surge Towards U.S. The New

York Times, Nov 16, 2016. Accessed date: March 13,2018