Introduction
Ever since the Republican nominee for the U.S. President’s office, Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the President of the United States of America, he has surprised the American public and the Republican Party with his proposals. One of the most surprising proposals is over the issue of immigration, which has been a throne in the throats of both party’s leaders. One of the proposals that have been offered by Trump has been over the issue of immigration. Trump believes that American mainland and the American people need to be protected, and the only way is to build a wall covering the Southern border, sending illegal immigrants back to their home country and banning Muslims from entering America (Trump). In contrast, Democratic presidential nominee has renounced Donald Trump’s proposal as she is proposing a comprehensive immigration reform that would keep immigrant families together in America and provide them a path to citizenship (Smeltz & McElmurry).
Trump’s Proposal
Trump’s immigration proposal is basically claiming that the current immigration reform proposals offered in the Senate place the needs of other countries ahead of the American needs. Also, in the wake of the recent attacks in Paris, San Bernardino and Brussels, and the ongoing terror activities of ISIS, Trump proposal is to ensure close American borders to outsiders until a solution is found to the current immigrant crisis and terror activities in the country. Trump’s proposal has been lauded by his supporters as the only way of protecting American interests, but the opponents have criticized Trump for being racist, anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican, and instigated division of the society. The supporters are going with Trump’s immigration stance as he also he also promises that his Immigration proposal will ensure that wages, security and jobs will improve for Americans living in the country legally (Trump).
The very first statement that Donald Trump made on immigration clarified his opinion. At a Presidential kickoff event, Donald Trump typecasted immigrants by saying, “They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people, it’s coming from more than Mexico. It’s coming from all over south and Latin America and it’s coming, probably, from the Middle East, but we don’t know because we have no protection” (Balsamo). By making this statement at his first press meet as the Republican nominee, Trump also clarified his position on the immigration issue by providing solutions. Trump stated that the best solution is to build a wall at the Southern border as many illegal immigrants are crossing the Southern border to enter America illegally. Trump also proposed that immigration reform needs to be tightened and illegal immigrants need to be deported. Finally, Trump added that Muslims need to be banned from entering America as they can pose threat to Americans (Epstein & Nicholas).
Effectiveness of Trump’s Proposal
Historical Point of View
Trump’s proposal seems simple on the eyes, but its effectiveness can only be proven with the passage of time. One way to evaluate its effectiveness is through looking through the history and going back to 1954, when President Eisenhower’s Operation Wetback was utilized for getting rid of illegal immigrants in the southern Border States. Through Operation Wetback, Mexican labours were plucked from ranches and farms in the South and sent deep into the interior of Mexico through cargo boats and airlift. According to Jake Tapper, Operation Wetback is reminisced as, “shameful chapter in American history” (Reston & Ramirez). Also, the Operation was a major failure of the government of the United States of America as they failed to solve the problem of illegal immigrants. Also, Trump’s proposal would cost billions of dollars to implement and it is highly probable that it would fail just like Operation Wetback.
Financial Point of View
Ethical Point of View
One of the biggest concerns about Donald Trump’s immigration proposal is the ethical perspective attached with it. By strengthening the anti-immigration regulations would guarantee that many families are broken. This proposal would ensure that divided families would need to live apart from each other beyond a wall. Also, banning Muslims from entering the country would mean that America would end up festering towards the Nazi principles which targeted the Jews. Finally, typecasting Mexicans as rapists, murderers and drug dealers is another form of racism that can be part of American values if trump’s proposal is ever accepted. Overall, from an ethical point of view, Trump’s plan is morose and would only cause trouble by ruining the reputation of the United States of America throughout the world (Mascaro).
Clinton’s Opinion
Hillary Clinton has an exact opposite opinion on the issue and views Trump’s proposal as against the American values. Clinton claims that she will stand against efforts to deport dreamers from the United States of America, as they vital to the country’s economic growth. Clinton has also claimed that, “I voted for comprehensive immigration reform in 2007” (Sherman). In her comprehensive immigration program, the current immigrant families would get the opportunity to work their way through the immigration system and earn their right to become American. Clinton believes that immigrant families need to be given an opportunity as they deporting them would break up families and impact the American economy significantly. She proposes that hard working immigrants should be allowed to stay and earn their citizenship, whereas immigrant criminals should be deported. In every way imaginable, Clinton’s opinion on immigration is different to the proposal offered by Donald Trump.
Hillary has also made promises that within 100 days her election to the President of the United States of America, she would pass the comprehensive immigration reform. At many Democratic Caucuses and primaries, she has repeated her claim and said that comprehensive immigration reform is top of her list. By making an aggressive statement on passing comprehensive immigration reform within 100 days, Clinton has taken a major leap and showed the possible future America would head towards under her leadership. Unlike other candidates like Trump, Clinton has always shown positive gusto towards the needs of the immigrant community within the country living with documents. Hillary Clinton’s roadmap towards immigration reform has been opposed for years by the Senate dominated by the Republican Party. But, she has promised that if the Senate is dominated by Democrats she would make sure that Immigration reform is passed would help illegal immigrant families to become the naturalized citizens of America (Fang).
Clinton has for long been the supporter of the immigrant cause and strongly believes that immigration reform would help many illegal immigrants to finally work as naturalized citizens. Clinton has clarified her opinion on the issue by saying that current immigration laws are just, “turning down people who really want to work” (Jacobs). These people can be naturalized, which would help in increasing tax revenue and workforce within the country. Clinton has also identified that maintaining the current immigration system is only making sure that America is “missing out on economic opportunities because we haven't been able to agree on comprehensive immigration reform” (Jacobs). By letting illegal immigrants to become citizens America would increase its workforce and help businesses to maintain their current workers who have been part of their operation for years. Clinton’s ideas do provide an insight into the way naturalizing citizens, rather than deporting them.
In comparison to the ideas presented by Donald Trump on immigration, Hillary Clinton’s ideas seem logical and more vision driven. Clinton provides a framework for naturalizing illegals that would not cost American government billions of dollars to build and millions more to maintain annually. Clinton’s plan also ensured that it brings the community together, rather than taking away the unity is society through name calling and typecasting a whole community. Clinton’s comprehensive immigration reform would ensure families are not separated and send across a border wall, she is granting permanent citizenship opportunities for the deserving. Also, Clinton’s plan would not lead to a diplomatic disaster with other countries, whereas Trump’s plans have been vehemently opposed by world leaders. In every way imaginable, Clinton plan seems the logical option and Trump’s plan seems too risky to implement. In fiscal, political, ethical and historical perspectives, it would be logical to implement Clinton’s plan for building a better America.
Conclusion
When Donald Trump announced his nomination for the Republican nominee for the office of American President, he presented his immigration plan in the same announcement. He claimed that America needs to build strong borders by building a wall on the Southern border. He also proposed that the immigration system needs to be strengthened to protect American interests from illegal immigrants and banning Muslims entry as they are a security risk. This proposal has drawn widespread support from his supporters and anger from the opposition and both political parties. In summary, Trump’s plan would require spending 15-25 million dollars on the building the wall and millions of dollars annually in maintaining the wall. It would also be very difficult to build a wall due to the geographic location of some border regions and there is no guarantee that the deporting illegal immigrants would even work. In contrast, Hillary Clinton is proposing a comprehensive immigration plan that would provide all illegal immigrants path to citizenship and would deport only the criminals.
Works Cited
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Fang., Marina. Hillary Clinton Pledges To Take On Immigration Reform In First 100 Days. The Huffington Post. 19 February 2016. Web. 17 April 2016.
Jacobs., Jennifer. Clinton: Unnecessary regulations thwart business growth. USA Today. Usatoday.com. 15 April 2015. Web. 17 April 2016.
Mascaro., Lisa. Donald Trump's comments on immigration complicate GOP's 'Latino problem'. Los Angeles Times. latimes.com. 17 April 2016. Web. 17 April 2016.
Reston., Maeve & Ramirez., Gabe. How Trump's deportation plan failed 62 years ago. CNN Politics. cnn.com. 19 January 2016. Web. 16 April 2016.
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Trump., Donald. J. Immigration Reform that will make America Great Again. Donald J Trump. donaldjtrump.com. 2016. Web. 16 April 2016.
