America is a nation of immigrants; we always have been. Yet for a long time, especially during this presidential election season, that crucial fact has been forgotten. According to the Pew Research Center, our country currently houses about 11 million “illegal” immigrants from Mexico and Latin America or otherwise. The easiest, most popular, and most immoral solution is that they be punished and deported. This unjust punishment, however, would subvert all morality, fairness, and freedom that our country supposedly stands for.

These immigrants are not criminals; they came here because they value America, and sought a free and improved life. They broke the law to come here, yes, but they broke an unfair, unjust and discriminatory law specifically designed to impair a group of people. Breaking an immoral law should not be regarded as dishonorable, rather, it should be admired as an act of courage. Many of these undocumented immigrants came to America because they were being persecuted, or could no longer survive in a less fortunate country, or perhaps they simply wanted to improve the lives of their children. In the majority of cases, obeying anti-immigration laws would mean a lifetime out of the U.S., which for some is a death sentence.

It is common belief that legalizing the 11 million immigrants would hurt the nation’s economy; however, some evidence indicates that granting their amnesty may actually be a benefit. Many of the immigrants are not currently paying taxes, for fear of being caught and persecuted. Their amnesty would augment tax revenues by a high margin, and according to the Center for American Progress, the government could see an increase of $4 to $5 billion in taxes over three years. They would acquire jobs and receive income, which profits businesses and other workers. Strict state immigration laws are actually damaging to state economies; states that have passed stringent laws to curb the amount of undocumented immigrants within their borders are holding back and hurting some of their key industries. Legalizing illegal immigrants will benefit the United State’s capital, and maintaining unjust laws to prevent that is only making it worse.

The biggest reason people are hesitant to grant illegal immigrants amnesty is fear. Fear that they will “steal” our jobs, ruin our culture, and somehow damage a perception of “purity.” These fears are classical, they have existed throughout countless eras of time, but they must be suppressed. And they must not be exploited. The illegal immigrants in the U.S. have been used as a vessel for fear; they have been scapegoated for existing problems and preemptively blamed for future problems in our country, and people have been exploiting these common fears to do so. We must not see fear override our morality, and the principals on which the United States was founded on. The only difference between U.S. citizens and these illegal immigrants is that we were lucky enough to be born here, or somewhere else where they were allowed to travel here. We need to put aside our gross entitlement and assist people less fortunate than us. Today we look back disparagingly at events in our history such as our rejection of Jewish refugees and our internment of  Japanese Americans before and during World War II. Do we want history to look back on us as the generation who deported and denied honest and disadvantaged immigrants, or the generation who finally put an end to their mistreatment? Let us stop repeating history. The long-oppressed illegal immigrants in America not only deserve amnesty, they deserve an apology.