Personally, I consider the right to legal represantation to be a basic human right, and I thought most Americans did too. But maybe, people believe that legal representation is the right of American citizens, but for everyone else our government accuses of a crime, it's "benefit"that non-citizens do not deserve. Maybe.
But, my guess would be that, if you surveyed Americans and asked "Is the right to a lawyer a basic human right?", the result would be an overwhelming yes. But, if you asked "Should illegal immigrants facing deportation be granted a lawyer?", you would see significant amount of people who answered no. In this way, I think that this American value contradicts many American's opinions and actions.
One such American is Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. He argues,“The broader message [of this new immigration plan] is that we don’t take our immigration laws seriously" (Semple). I agree that we don't take immigration laws seriously, but maybe not in the same way. Because serious to me means that we don't just believe in our rights, but we extend them to all people accused of a crime by the US government. In fact, I think that even after this plan is put into place, our immigration laws won't be "serious" enough. After all, "since october, more than 47,000 children traveling without parents have been caught" (Semple). How are 100 lawyers supposed to give legal representation to all those kids? And harder still, how will they give good legal representation to those kids? Additionally, why should families and adults not be apointed lawyers as well? It is downright unfair to make the right to a lawyer some twisted type of lottery, and we, as Americans, need to start standing up for the rights we supposedly believe in.
2 comments:
I think how you point out that the average American view contradicts the law is very interesting. To me, as soon as i though of unfair treatment in court my mind directly thought of Guantanamo bay where inmates AREN'T even tried and consequently are sent to the prison camp. it doesn't surprise me the US govt would treat non-American citizens this way because they have been doing it for so long already.
Erik,
Thanks for illuminating this often "invisible" issue of our current history.
Clearly, this is yet another example of how badly the USA needs immigration reform. It's unfortunate that it failed in Congress when Bush attempted it and it seems bound to fail again under Obama. I like how you turned around Semple's quote to make your own point. And how you critically examined how opinions change when questions to the public are framed in different ways.
Post a Comment