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Health & Fitness

Immigration: What is the Value of a Human Life?

Whether you are pro-immigration, anti-immigration, or living under a rock, just about everyone believes that our immigration system is broken.  The Senate Immigration Bill S. 744 has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and is under discussion in the Senate and heads to the floor next week. 

 Some people believe that the only reason that immigration reform is under consideration is so that the Democratic Party can claim more members.  Others want to erect a 19 foot high wall along the border between Mexico and the US, while others argue whether health insurance should be mandated for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who would begin the citizenship process.  S. 744 would require all applicants to pay back taxes. 

 Still others are concerned with the cost of a program to put 11 million undocumented on a path to citizenship.  The Journal of Health Affairs reports that immigrants in the US who are legal and undocumented, are helping sustain our Medicare program by contributing about $14 billion more a year to the federal health program for the elderly, than they use in medical services. 

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 Proponents and opponents argue economics, jobs, border security, finances, and party lines. 

 Recent college graduates in the US, our young generation, understand that we live in a global market today.  College students study abroad, attend school alongside international students, seek career placement not only inside the US, but in jobs abroad, and are sent abroad by companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Exxon, Toyota. Many graduates today are bi-lingual and multi-lingual, not just in Spanish, but in Chinese and Russian.  Businesses are aware of the burgeoning markets in Hong Kong, China and Russia.  Our children enter the military and serve alongside immigrants and the children of immigrants in our military.

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 The concept of Nationalism served our forefathers well.  We continue to have pride in our country today.  But, the new generation sees the United States not so much as a nationalistic entity unto itself, but as a global competitor, embracing the concept of a world economy, international markets, global conservation, and thinking in terms of “the Earth” rather than in terms of “the United States”. 

 The population of the United States is estimated at 313.9 million, including 11 million estimated undocumented.  All of us are in contact with immigrants every day, from our doctors and dentists, local small business owners, receptionists, gas station workers, pizza delivery and landscapers.  Our children attend school together; compete in spelling bees, athletics, science fairs, and the job market. 

 Our young generation must teach us to look at immigration as a Human issue, not solely financial, economic, or party-members.  We are relatives, we are colleagues, and we are friends.  Our children are driven by the parents of their friends.  Immigration reform must take on a human face, as well as an economic front.  

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