I am currently student-teaching in the fourth most ethnically diverse middle school in the country. I graduated high school from the third most diverse high school in the country. They are both in Anchorage. The most diverse elementary school, middle school and high school in the country are in Anchorage too. That is why it really bothers me to hear when our local elected officials play with this “I’m not politically correct” posturing, glossing over for a moment who the people they are representing are. Anchorage wants to be a refugee city. The people who live here, really do want to see it be more inviting, less violent, and healthier.
The plain fact of the matter is that most of the crime in Anchorage, and the crime rate really is high, is perpetuated by American citizens. The immigrants in this town, when you get to hear the stories, are nothing like what is being told in the news or by those who want to cut quintessentially American programs like DACA. In Anchorage, many of our students of from South Sudan. When you hear the stories of genocide there, is it beyond the scope of reasoning to think that those people don’t deserve a home somewhere that can help them (because the trauma is real and big, and they need help). Hmong immigrants are another large part of the population here. Similar story, the Hmong have never been able to secure their own sovereign nation in southeast Asia.
Dreamers are kids brought into the US illegally and have to qualify for an pantheon of special circumstances that make them absolutely beneficial to our society. That’s why there was legislation passed, because through no fault of their own, they are dispossessed of a homeland and have tried to do the best they possibly could.
Ending DACA is cheap political maneuvering and heartless.
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