Those who follow politics may feel like they spend most of their time waiting for the nation's laws to catch up to the morals on which they were raised.
When so much seems stagnant, small changes in policy often feel like big steps toward closing the chasm between what is and what should be. Nowhere is this clearer than in the issue of immigration reform, where promises to fix a broken system are made every election cycle and then rarely kept.
Democrats and Republicans alike have watched, often with differing reactions, as trends in immigration enforcement have changed since President Barack Obama came into office.
Now, two years later, a clear direction has emerged. While the deportation of illegal immigrants has increased by about five percent from 2008 to 2009, deportation of illegal immigrants with no criminal records has dropped by 24 percent.
Officials have explained this shift with the simple reasoning that they must prioritize dealing with undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. With 142,526 illegal immigrants who have been convicted of a crime sent back to their home country in just the last 10 months, it is no wonder the authorities are not prioritizing the deportation cases of illegal immigrants who have not committed crimes or who have been in the United States since childhood.
University President Lawrence Bacow earlier this year came out strongly in public support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, discussing it with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.). The DREAM Act would allow undocumented immigrant students who have been in the United States since they were children to remain in the country and attend college or serve in the military. Bacow wisely noted that individuals who enter the country illegally as children come with their parents, without any choice in the matter.
While the DREAM Act has not passed, it is nice to know that the government has found both a moral backbone and some common sense and is using them to pull Americans' attitudes toward illegal immigration issues in the right direction. This recent trend comes as a great relief because it is a sign of positive progress toward more sophisticated immigration enforcement.
Some members of Congress have protested that we should not weaken enforcement against illegal immigration. Some, such as Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.), have complained that Obama is encouraging selective law enforcement.
But sitting in a gray zone on this issue goes further to safeguarding the ideals on which our country was founded than would throwing out this policy. Lawmakers should instead focus on putting our laws clearly in sync with the Obama administration's progressive directives.
Opponents of allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the United States argue that these immigrants take away jobs from tax-paying citizens. But their argument does not hold water with regard to the children of illegal immigrants who are pursuing college degrees, determined and prepared to work for our country.
With the Obama's administration's admirable policy shift, national policies have taken the lead in upholding the values of our country and doing the right thing.
