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Immigration Reform
Immigration reform in the United States has undergone multiple changes in different administrations. Immigration reform advocates believe that the system is broken and should be changed.

The Obama administration began to have conversations surrounding Immigration reform and established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012. DACA helps immigrants who are in the United States unlawfully gain legal presence in order to avoid deportation. DACA, however is not an opportunity for these residents to acquire a United States citizenship. The immigration reforms set by the Obama administration encounter some critiques. Some of which some groups believe that the reforms should be more scrutinized to limit the number of people living in the United States illegally.

Between 1986 and 2009, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was passed to stop employers from hiring illegal immigrants and providing consequences to employers who do so. As a result of this, many immigrants migrated into the United States illegally and research shows that about 70% of them were from Mexico. This caused President George W. Bush and Vincent Fox, the president of Mexico at the time to discuss on how to change the illegality of the situation. They passed the Border Protection, Anti -Terrorism, and illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 and the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 but neither bills passed into law.

Another aspect of immigration where we see changes is through the media and the economy. Each time the media covers immigration topics, it heightens people’s fears and people begin to have more conversations about it. Politicians and people against immigration and its reform are those specifically in this category. There are also studies that show that legalization of undocumented immigrants actually helps the economy grow. This is because people can now have access to higher wages which in returns helps the growth of Gross Domestic Product. Many undocumented workers were not able to earn decent wages because of their immigration status but after being legalized, that is no longer the case.

Speaking on the immigration in the state of Ohio, immigrants comprise a percentage of 5% of Ohio residents with the manufacturing and Health Care industries housing the largest number of industries. Immigrants who live in Ohio are also likely to be educated as research shows that over 42 percent of adult immigrants hold a college degree. To ensure, that these immigrants are participating in the federal and state revenue, they pay their taxes like other American citizens. In fact, $3.8 billion in federal taxes and $1.9 billion in state taxes came from immigrant households which is a significant amount. There are bills that are currently talking about revising the old DACA law. The Dream Act of 2021 and The Dream ad Promise Act of 2021 will both provide a path to citizenship to immigrants who came to the United States as children.