Every week the editorial board reflects on a current issue in Our View. The position taken does not reflect the opinions of everyone on the Hilltop Views staff.

On Nov. 20, President Barack Obama proposed a plan to reform the United States’ current immigration policy.

Obama laid out what he called a common sense proposal, a proposal which plans to shield four million illegal immigrants from deportation. There are four pillars to his proposal, according to the White House 

The pillars are: strengthening border security, streamlining legal immigration and earned citizenship.

“The President’s proposal gives law enforcement the tools they need to make our communities safer from crime, enhances our infrastructure and technology, and strengthens our ability to remove criminals and apprehend and prosecute threats to our national security,” the White House said about Obama’s plan to strengthen border security.

Though the vocabulary the White House uses makes strengthening border security sound easily done, much of proposal is blocked by meaningless words. 

In order for law enforcement to get the tools they need to make our communities safer from crime, more money would be needed. 

The options to get the money are either reallocating it from other areas, or higher taxes. 

None of these options sound needed seeing as Obama’s speech claimed that illegal immigration is lessening.

Another clouded part of Obama’s proposal is the streamlining of legal immigration.

“Legal immigration should be simple and efficient,” the White House said. “The President’s proposal provides visas to foreign entrepreneurs looking to start businesses here, helps the most promising foreign graduate students in science and math stay in this country after graduation, and reunites families in a timely and humane manner.”

Legal immigration should be streamlined. The two most important proposals in Obama’s plan are on earned citizenship and cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers.

“The President’s proposal holds them accountable by requiring they pass background checks, pay taxes and a penalty, go to the back of the line, and learn English,” according to the White Hosue.

This is necessary to Obama’s plan because it means illegal immigrants will be seen as citizens and be able to take part in everything America has to offer. 

It also means that people who complain about immigrants not paying taxes will have less to complain about.

“The President’s proposal is designed to stop businesses from exploiting the system by knowingly hiring undocumented workers,” according to the White House

Obama’s reform will fulfill his presidential campaign’s emphasis on immigration. 

Throughout his campaign, Obama stressed that he would try to provide undocumented immigrants with a path to citizenship. 

Because of Congress’s inactivity toward reforming U.S. immigration policy, Obama’s action is appropriate. Without it, illegal immigrants are left in limbo, fearing their deportation.