President Obama and Governor Romney, as presidential candidates trying to win as much votes as possible, presented their cases as eloquently and as seemingly compassionate as they can, not failing to point out something discrediting about the other candidate about his policy-making abilities regarding immigration. But bottom line, both candidates agree that: 1) the present immigration policy should be improved, 2) illegal immigrants that are criminals should be deported, and 3) children of illegal immigrants should be given a chance, or a "pathway" to becoming citizens or legal visa/ green card holders.
During the short video (Burkey, 2012), the differences in their immigration policies were indicated by their complaint about the other candidate. Governor Romney kept on pointing out that President Obama promised to file legislation on immigration on his first year of term, but did not do it, indicating that, according to Gov. Romney, either immigration policies are not in the priority of the Obama administration, or that Obama does not deliver.
He mostly likely meant the latter, but in terms of policy-making, the first is more useful in the argument. In his accusation against Gov. Romney, Pres. Obama indicated the Arizona immigration policy, and showed his policies as better and much more compassionate. He showed empathy to illegal immigrants who work for their family.
Basing only on this video, President Obama’s policies appear more humane and open. However, to discourage law-breaking, dedicated work is required to execute his policies and still discourage illegal immigrants in the future. President Obama’s policies, when left unchecked, will encourage illegal immigration more because of the leniency of the policy. However, if they will be applied only to the present illegal immigrants, and vigilance is applied to prevent further inflow of immigrants, the system may just work best for the US economy.
Reference
Burkey, Patrick (Producer). (2012, October 16). 2012 Presidential Debate #2, NBC News. New York, NY: NBC
