Many teenagers are concerned about the current political climate in the United States and the debate over immigration. Today we'll hear the perspective of a high school senior and his thoughts on immigrants coming to America.
My name is Julian Newberry. I'm a 17 year old student living in Dayton and going to Thurgood Marshall STEM High School.
Since a young age, I've always wanted to be a person in a position of power or control. I just want to be able to help other people. Like every child, I had big dreams, I wanted to be a politician or be someone in the field of medicine.
One day I was Googling some jobs that a politician does when I noticed that you could be the governor at age of 18 in the state that I live in. That was a big thing for me so I started to make a plan to see how I could become governor of Ohio. It was around election time between the two political questionable candidates, President Donald Trump and Secretary Clinton, when it suddenly dawned on me that there was a big problem with immigration in the United States.
I received a reality check one day I was walking in downtown Dayton when I noticed a vehicle that said Immigration Control or I.C.E., and this vehicle piqued my interest since it was pulling into the federal building which could only mean that they were picking someone up. So I started to do a little digging into news outlet websites and talking to other people.
As a 17 year old kid who lives in America and has been free all my life, not having to experience many downfalls, I think that the immigration policy that we currently have could use some revamping.
I do understand where the right-wing people are coming from, saying that they don't want people coming over whenever they want. As a person who would be in charge one day hopefully, what I would change about our immigration policy is the amount of people that are let in. I can understand if you're letting in thousands of people a day, but then you would also have people who illegally come over since they could not finish the paperwork or get approved to actually come to the United States. I would find a way to change that. If you're a criminal or you were convicted of a crime that's not a felony, then you should be able to be let in. I feel like we should let them in. I mean, you would want to be let in if you were looking for a new safe haven.
Julian Newberry is a senior at Thurgood Marshall STEM High School. Special thanks to Nathan Shields and Mary McKnight. Learn more at the school's website: https://www.dps.k12.oh.us/thurgood/ Support for Dayton Youth Radio comes from the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council.
