Chapter 16 from the book Mexican Migrants by Hellman talks about how he started seeing life differently when he met Francisco. When he met Francisco he noticed he was a very reserved man. He believed that the actions immigrants do reflect on everyone, for example if they see immigrants being criminals now everyone will think everyone is like that. I agree with Francisco because some people might meet the wrong and bad Mexican immigrants and will judge everyone out of one person, then later this becomes hard to make that person believe that not everyone is like the first person he encounter with. The problem with esquineros was that they stood all day hoping to get picked to go work with a contractor on a construction site.
As can be seen in documents A-H, from 1880 to 1925, immigration went from being the staple of the American culture to the common enemy of “native” Americans. In 1880 and before, immigrants were welcome to the United States with open arms, which is shown in document A with all of the foreigners flooding into the wide open gate of America. The purpose of document A was to advertise the acceptance of immigrants into the United States and all of the great things they would find when they arrived here. Document B displays that even until 1888, immigrants were viewed by the established Americans as a “double advantage”: helpful to the economy when needed and conveniently out of the way when unnecessary.
Response to “Our Fear of Immigrants” In “Our Fear of Immigrants” Jeremy Adam Smith takes a neutral stance on the immigration and anti-immigration argument. Smith begins by telling the story of a 4th grade class at Jefferson Elementary School in Berkeley, California who try to fight back against immigration laws after a classmate of theirs was deported back to his home country. Smith then goes on to compare the 4th graders to the adults of their town who fight for stronger immigration laws asking his readers what qualities the children possess that the rest of the citizens do not to make them react so differently.
Throughout time diverse regions have considered other societies to be barbaric, causing them to have the desire of “civilizing” them. Likewise, During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the American nativist groups, possessed a similar perspective towards immigration. Nativist’s opposed immigration, as they believed that it would negatively impact the United States socially, morally, politically, and economically. Socially and morally, the nativists feared that foreigners were a threat to the American society, as they were culturally inferior, possessed many ailments, and committed crimes. Politically, the ethnocentric nativists believed that immigrants would corrupt the government and negatively influence American politics.
Immigration to America had its benefits and downside. America was the place to go in the 19th century people all around the world immigrated to the US. The US needed rules and regulations on entering the country due to types of things that were happening in Document 2. The positives of immigrating to the US was too good to pass up.
With a topic as polarizing as the United States’ policies on immigration and open borders, a writer would need to make consistently strong and accurate points in order to convince people to side with them in the situation. This is especially true in the case of an argument that is pro-immigration as many people consider pro-immigration arguers to be biased liberals, much like how many consider anti-immigration arguers to be biased conservatives. With this being said, Eliane does a decent job of making a logical plan for the United States to follow and refuting her original point, she should have made a more effective and less frequent usage of quoting, as well as avoiding the ad hominem fallacy usage. Eliane’s most effective paragraph, argumentatively,
The central idea of the readings is to explain why illegal immigrant 's can 't afford a good life or a better life in America. One important detail that supports this idea is that "many immigrants who entered the U.S. unlawfully find it difficult to afford a college education". Finally, the article shows that immigrants are trying to get help for college from the Congress but they are unsuccessful because Congress would have to forgive all the illegal immigrants that are in America and the ones that are coming in. This has become a problem for many illegal immigrant and college students that are immigrants . Because of this, many of the cant afford college or a job .
Many white Americans do not believe that legalization should happen to undocumented immigrants because they assume that immigrants committed a crime before entering the United States illegally. They also believe that immigrants are stealing their jobs. In the article “American Without Migrants” by DW Gibson, he mentions that “before, I speak no English, I have no license, and I find work. How do these people speak English, have a license, and they don’t have work? I don’t get that” (qtd in Gibson 24).
For this paper, my research 's main focus will be on Immigration Policies, like ICE raids. I will investigate and analyze how ICE raids affected and still affect Latinx/Chicanx communities. On top of the negative impacts it causes, I will be looking into the history of how ICE was formed and how it is an oppressive system that is known to target mainly undocumented Latinxs. Although ICE was “founded” in 2003, I will be including history of alternative methods the country used before ICE was established. The most deportations occurred under Obama 's presidential term and given the new administration, that is upfront and clear about being anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican, communities have no idea what to expect.
Case Study #1 The first case study I chose was “Mexican Government Advises Migrants.” (United Nations Association, 2014). I feel that globalization has made changes in these people’s lives by them seeing the opportunities from a different country, better schools, and technology access that their own country does not have. These people are mostly poor and seek a safer place to live.
Within the United States, one of the hardest things to do is motivating people to participate politically. A normal American frankly is not interested in the actions taken by a politician on a day-to-day bases. People naturally think as individuals instead on what is best for the group. The documentary “Immigration Battle” tracks the actions taken in Washington to attempt the passing of immigration reform and shows how low political participation is an issue. Currently Immigration reform is still stuck in government but there is still a multitude of people attempting to get something passed.
Robert W. Merry, a political editor of The American Conservative, wrote the article “A Profound Question Behind the Immigration Debate” as well as other articles relating American History like James Polk and the Mexican War. The author claims that the immigration debate is the main reason why America is changing how it functions in the world. He provides arguments from both sides of the debate: those against and those for the immigration policies. Also, he says “definition of America” to support his claim of how immigration is changing America. The author’s intended audience is the people in America because he targets both views on the issue.
As I walked down the street, I saw this huge line for what seemed like a mere simply hot soup lunch. As I shifted closer, I saw they were having a charity day in which they provided free lunch for the needy. The sheer number of people needy, however, struck me in awe. I realized that the recent talks of mass immigration was no rumor, immigrants were increasing every day; they came here and devalued work, forcing us citizens to quickly transition from a steady income to this competition for the simplest jobs. I stopped walking and thought about if I really wanted to spend the extra dollar to buy a satisfying lunch.
Immigration has always been a major part of American history. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people travel to the United States in search of a better life. Of the 1.49 million immigrants who traveled to the United States in 2016, 150,400 immigrants were from Mexico. There have also been many people from Mexico who have immigrated illegally to America, with 5.6 million Mexican unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. in 2015 and 2016. The large scale of immigration, both legal and illegal, has brought up issues such as national security and the U.S. economy.
Everybody has a different perspective on this situation but everyone ought to help in any way they can. The Washington Post points out “Some eastern european politicians call for supporting the migrants and for voluntarily increased acceptance of refugees from war-torn areas. Other politicians oppose the settlement of non-European refugees in their countries, and want to accept only "easily assimilable" migrants” (Rovny). Explaining that eastern european politicians will only accept specific groups of syrian refugees that will blend in with the citizens, it’s very unfair because it’s discriminating. Something else the Washington Post has mentioned is “In some Eastern European countries, it's the left-wing that adopts socially liberal positions that lead toward greater openness to immigration” (Rovny).
