Guest Post: Mike Quinn, America Needs A DREAM

There are many ways the US would benefit from the DREAM Act. From new companies that provide jobs, to more income tax revenues, not to mention a more committed military protecting our national interests. This forward-thinking idea could have been paying rich dividends to this country for over a decade now, and could have helped point us to more successful immigration laws as a result.

Instead of progress we are stuck bickering about maybes and what-ifs. Instead of putting ideas like the DREAM Act to the test, and then fixing and refining the idea until it produces a desired result, we are stuck in a sink-hole of contradictory statements about the possibility of future consequences. The paralysis of analysis does very little to instill a positive outlook for growth. Instead of having a bright national future, we are stuck with the failures of our current immigration policy and our lack of ability to fix it.

Today, Hi-tech entrepreneurs, college grads and our military personnel who are not citizens of this country, have no real incentive to help make this country better. When they get their final notice to leave the country, they will inevitably return to where they came and work to make those countries stronger and more competitive. By sending them back home, we are creating more competition for ourselves.

Deporting highly educated and motivated people would seem to run contradictory to statements portraying a need to focus on the economy first, or to give every available job to an American, while in reality, it is the lack of action that harms our economy as well as our current job situation. As we slowly pull ourselves out of this financial mess, we will see plenty of room for STEM job graduates, more than our own colleges are currently producing.

Adding complexity to this paralysis problem is the notion that we need fifty different immigration policies coming from fifty different states. We are seeing firsthand the negative consequences of imposing draconian measures on our police force and creating mini fascist republics: Crops are being left to rot in the fields schools are reporting drops in attendance; crimes are going unreportedlocal economies are reporting losses of revenue.

Another glaring problem that could have been avoided by passing the DREAM Act are embarrassing international consequences such as the huge Mercedes Benz fiasco. Alabama spent considerable time and resources lobbying that company to put a manufacturing plant in their state, only to arrest one of their executives who was driving to work one day. This is no model for promoting foreign investment in our country, nor is it an example of how to lead our weak economy to a speedy recovery. A successful DREAM Act could sew the seeds for more positive immigration initiatives, and foster better attitudes towards our immigrant citizens.

The DREAM Act Lite plan being promoted mysteriously by some Republicans, is a purely political move. It is predicted to target and exclude any new Democrats from entering the voting community. If this proves to be true, then the Democrats will have no incentive to vote for a Republican-only authored bill, and we will again be left arguing what-ifs and doing nothing. We should strive as a society to distance ourselves as far from a politically based decision as possible, keeping only our country’s, and our citizen’s best interests at heart.

Legal permission to be in this country for undocumented immigrants is a fine first step, but an incomplete idea. It is imperfect in its basic design for either of the two categories of people this act will benefit: foreign students and foreign US military servicemen. Each of these groups of immigrants has particular needs if they are going to become an asset to our country and the communities where they will live.

It is a well known fact that a contract is only as good as the person least willing to abide by its terms. We should seek an immigration policy that has something for everyone: STEM students; military candidates; entrepreneurs; and US citizens. The DREAM Act, as it was originally intended, does exactly that. It gives young immigrants the goal of citizenship to work for. It gives America new, committed, respectable citizens that will pay taxes and contribute to the general well being of our society. It takes an extremely narrow and self-centered viewpoint to see otherwise.

Doing nothing about our current immigration problem, so far, has only gotten us agitated, defensive and confused. Doing nothing still, will get us more of the same, and Americans seem to be ready for some change.

Passing the DREAM Act, and not a rumor of an idea of one, is what this country needs to help get this country back on the road to economic growth and security, as well as pave the way for more broader immigration solutions for the rest of our immigrant citizens.

Now that we know what it is we need, it’s time to get organized and get this thing done! If you haven’t registered to vote, do it now, and this november, let’s send a message to Washington: Work together and give us results — or go home!

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Mike J. Quinn is a father of a multi-national family and has been trying for over 5 years to unite his family with US citizenship. He has also employed thousands of immigrants of various immigration statuses, in over 25 years as a restaurant manager. Currently he is the Author of America Needs A DREAM and the upcoming novel, “The Dishwasher’s Son,” about an American teenager who accidentally gets deported, and his incredible journey getting back into his own country. He blogs about immigration at http://www.southoftheborderbook.com.