Obama Immigration Reform Will Win Obama the Hispanic Vote

Writer, activist, and openly undocumented immigrant José Antonio Vargas wrote this week’s TIME magazine's feature story about the broken immigration system. The Supreme Court is expected to decide on the constitutionality of the Arizona immigration law this month.

Romney, on the other hand, has focused on the economy as his main selling point to a Latino population that seems mostly concerned with job creation. With the Hispanic vote as a key determiner of this year’s election, the candidates are likely to continue grappling with immigration to win voters.

In 2010, the U.S. spent $5 billion deporting 393,000 undocumented migrants. Besides losing money through force-heavy policy, we lose immigrants who study in our schools, could represent potential tax dollars, and would add vitality to our neighborhoods. Since the late 19th-century, immigrants have fueled our economy, especially in urban centers. Instead of kicking them out, we should bring those who deserve citizenship -- those law-abiding, studying, or militarily serving young people who virtually are citizens already -- and focus on keeping only criminals or other undeserving people out. The DREAM Act has proposed a way by placing students and soldiers on track towards citizenship, but Congress has yet to pass it.