US Congress: Reform our immigration system now

By Marivir R. Montebon

Looking at Los Angeles, we are now in a concerning explosive state of immigration crises. This has been a long overdue situation that cannot just be remedied by Pres. Trump's mass deportation and now deploying National Guards. It only creates unnecessary chaos. Sadly, we ask who are with at war with?

As we see the social unrest unfold in many parts of the country, this mass deportation approach ignores due process and has created fear without a solid solution in sight. Trump is scapegoating on immigrants.

Time and again, immigration experts have pointed out that the Executive branch of government alone cannot solve the burgeoning number of undocumented immigrants in the country.

Immigration lawyer Licelle Cobrador discusses immigrants rights in a legal forum in New York. (File photo)

The estimated 11 million undocumented individuals here is a result of a broken immigration system that has not been thoroughly reviewed and improved for the past sixty years.

US Congress must therefore meet to craft immigration reforms. Substantial measures to curb the problems on overstayed visas, seal the borders, resolve the status of DACA, and many other pressing issues must be passed.

People, whether undocumented or not, are a vital labor force in agriculture, healthcare, infrastructure industries, and a vast consumer market that has made the US economy vigorous. The approach to solving this immigration issue is legislative. Without legislative reforms, USA will continue to grow undocumented population. 

US Congress must do its duty immediately. Pass the much needed immigration reforms. Deportation is socially and financially costly for government and won't solve singlehandedly our burgeoning US immigration crises. #