There are those in this country who want nothing more than to kick illegal aliens off of American soil. These people are usually thick-blooded, hard-working citizens who have every right to be angry when they are losing jobs and paying taxes to support those who have snuck into the country. In the case surrounding a New Britain resident, Mariano Cardoso was not one of those aliens who deserved to be shunned and send back over the border.
The DREAM Act, which was first introduced to Congress in 2001, would protect those in similar situations to Cardoso’s. Like many aliens seeking citizenship in this country, he has no recollection of his actual birthplace. Cardoso has been an ‘American’ for nearly his whole life. He knows nothing of his past and this was taken into account when his case was brought to light.
It is this light which not many in his situation can rely on. Senators and governors don’t often stand up for illegal aliens to be allowed to stay in this country. In Cardoso’s case, he received help from both Senator Richard Blumenthal and Governor Dannel Malloy, in addition to the local community that came out to support him.
This case is obviously a sensitive and unique one, but our staff feels like this can’t be the only instance of a student in this situation facing deportation. Cardoso did the perfect thing in reaching out to the CCSU LASO group, the Latin American Student Organization, to get his case more of a following in the community.
Our staff feels that this case, and cases like this, should be an obvious indication of the need to pass the DREAM Act. It would allow more students, who are trying to better themselves and give back to the communities they come from, to stay in the country and become citizens.
Many will argue that we shouldn’t be quick to giving out citizenship like free samples at a supermarket, but the lawmakers have made a solid proposal which keeps getting stuck in legislation. In order to actually gain this citizenship, one needs to get a degree or give themselves to military service. Both of these options will be hard to argue against.
As a country, we are worried about losing jobs and spending our tax dollars on those who don’t deserve it, but the people who will benefit from this act won’t fall into these groups. These aren’t the people jumping fences and performing low-level labor jobs their whole lives, but instead those going out and working to get their degrees to help strengthen their communities.
The United States was founded on the basis that everyone deserves freedom, among other things, and we shouldn’t be quick to forget that at one time we were all once searching for a better life. Let’s allow those who try and prove themselves, such as Mariano Cardoso and others like him, to be part of the social system and not quickly label them with a harsh tag such as ‘illegal alien.’
