The budget deficit is one more reason why I think we should be doing something on immigration. There are 12 million people in this country without documentation. A portion of them are already paying taxes, but imagine if all of them did? There are 65,000 undocumented kids a year graduating from high school without a means to work and contribute to the economy.

Aswini Anburajan is a writer for Feet in 2 Worlds, an ethnic media reporting project supported by the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School.