On April 3rd, 2016, the
United States Congress passed a legislation which covered the topic of how to
refer to illegal aliens. In the past, Congress has referred to them by means of
calling them illegal aliens. However, after a group of illegal aliens fought
Congress on the term, Congress voted to then no longer use said term; the term
undocumented citizens is to be used instead. This has begged a question that
has been argued all across America for the following week after the legislation
was passed: with their absence or rights due to no citizenship, should illegal
aliens be able to influence government policy in America?
On
April 3rd, 2016, newspapers across America, such as the Cedar Rapids
Gazette, announced the passed legislation. While it has not been a front page
headliner, it has caused a bit of a stir across the nation. With the change of
wording from illegal aliens to undocumented citizens in Congress, American
citizens have started to question how policy gets changed in their nation.
The
topic was brought up to Congress by an illegal alien. The illegal alien, a
young women currently attending a college in America, brought up to Congress
how the term illegal alien was a derogatory and offensive term. This then got
attention from other illegal aliens in America, who all stated that the term
illegal aliens was offensive towards them. They lobbied for Congress to change
the policy, and ultimately won as Congress passed the legislation on April 3rd.
This,
however, caused quite an outrage from American citizens. Also shown in various
sources of news, depictions of citizens protesting the legislation around the
nation. Protests out in the streets were common. Signs were used by many of the
protestors. They all wanted to voice their opinion about how this legislation
should not have been passed. They brought up much evidence to help their
viewpoint.
The
Constitution is the law of the land in America, as it is called. The
Constitution was written by the founding fathers, and it is what all the laws
in America is based upon. Congress, when passing legislation, must make sure it
is constitutional. The Supreme Court makes sure that laws are constitutional
when they are disputed either in lawsuits or when someone broke the law.
Many
people think that the term illegal aliens should not be used as it is offensive
to those who are illegal aliens in America. As stated in the Constitution, one
citizens cannot excersize his or her rights in order to take away the rights of
another citizen. This leads those to believe that the term, illegal aliens,
should therefore not be put to use. However, if the Constitution were to be
read carefully, then they would notice that the Constitution refers to citizens
and the rights that the citizens of America have. If a person is illegally
living in America, what gives them the right to be able to gain the rights of
the currently legal citizens of America? By doing so shows that the Constitution
has no power over the land with the current interpretation, with that interpretation
being it belongs and maintains order for America and America alone. Via this
interpretation, the Constitution should refer to all of the world; America,
however, is not the world’s police. Therefore, even if the illegal aliens
believe that the term illegal aliens takes away their rights by means of it
being offensive, they have no right nor any power to be able to change American
policy.
However,
that is not what happened. The Constitution was interpreted in order to have it
to try and maintain order for everyone everywhere, not just in America and not
just American citizens. Via this passing of legislation, Congress has declared
that even if someone currently living in America is not an American citizen and
is here illegally, therefore breaking the law, which is a crime, they still
have just as many rights as those legal American citizens have. That
interpretation from Congress has a multitiude of flaws, as it could lead to
worldy conflicts due to America attempting to be the world police. Therefore,
as a person illegally occupying a territory within a nation they are not a
citizen of, they should not be granted the same rights as legal citizens of
that nation and therefore should not be granted the power to influence policy.
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