Gutierrez On Immigration Analysis

The Devil’s Highway, by Luis Alberto Urrea is the true story of 26 men who attempted to cross the Mexican border through the bleak Sonora Desert in May of 2001. Urrea describes the lives of the men who attempted to cross, what happened to them, and the response of the people working on the border and who encountered them. He explores the issue by describing both the personal experiences of people trying to emigrate from Mexico to the U.S., and of people working on the border. The story was made both realistic and compelling through the information gathered and research conducted for a full year prior to writing the story.

The Mexican–American War, also known as the Mexican War, was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States from 1846 to 1848. The Mexican War between the United States and Mexico started from the annexation of Texas in 1845. The war resulted in the United States’ acquisition of more than 500,000 square miles of Mexican territory extending westward from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean America’s dedication of War on Mexico. There were many pros and conflicts following this war, which will be the main focus of this paper.

Chapter one combines the historical and sociological framework to describe the transformation of Mexican California. Through highlighting the historical accounts of racialized groups, fear of potential threats to white workers creates white supremacy. He continues by describing the peopling of Anglo-CA from 1848-1900 with the immigration of Irish, German,

Muñoz (2013) begins his paper by describing early waves of Mexican immigration into the United States. Muñoz (2013) states the main reason that Mexican immigrants migrated to America was to take advantage of the vast agricultural labor opportunities. According to Muñoz (2013), this insurgence of immigrants led many Americans to fear that Mexican migrants were taking their jobs. This fear ultimately manifested into racist and xenophobic anti-Mexican legislation and rhetoric, including the segregation of schools, mass deportation, and the perpetuation of the idea that Mexican immigrants were socially and culturally inferior and a threat to the American way of life (Muñoz, 2013). Muñoz (2013) gives a vivid example of the sort of racist rhetoric some Americans spewed during this

In Rachel St. John’s book, “Line in the Sand: A History of the Western U.S.-Mexico Border,” the author offers up “a history of how and why the border changed” (St. John 1). This is her central thesis that she presents, providing evidence and historical context concerning the border and its changes over the course of the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. In seven chapters plus and introduction providing more general information and a conclusion that brings the U.S.-Mexico border situation into the present day, Rachel St. John’s focus is both periodical and geographical. St. John moves across both space and time in her book, looking at how region and era affected the border situation and how these effects differed in significance.

During World War II, there was an increase of Mexican immigration in the United States, which greatly increased the population. There were significant incidents of racism between Mexican Americans and Americans that affected the view on World War II. Mexican Americans were drafted into or volunteered for the U.S. army. Since there was an increase of immigration, Mexican Americans had more opportunities of getting jobs in the United States, especially in the west. World War II had many effects on Mexican Americans, and that changed the perspective of Mexican Americans nationally and worldwide. Opportunities and tensions from World War II caused Mexican Americans to be victims of racism in public, they were treated differently in the workplace,

Samuel Huntington’s article The Hispanic Challenge argues that Hispanics, specifically Mexicans, are not true American citizens. According to Huntington, Americans are people who believe in the American creed. However, he believes this creed is being threatened. For some time now, large influxes of Hispanic immigrants have been coming to the US and have brought their own culture with them. The writer of Speaking in Tongues, Gloria Anzaldua, believes that Hispanics have the right to hold onto their culture in America. Both readings claim that Hispanics are here to stay, but with opposing views on how this affects society.

However, the fact is that most Americans have the impression that Hispanic immigrants are perceived as a threat for not assimilating into the American mainstream, more so into the Anglo-Protestant values. Why is that? Is it for fear that the Spanish Language may overrun the country? Similarly, Neil Foley, author of, Mexicans In The Making of America, asks the same questions, why fear? In his prologue chapter, Foley makes a point by proving the fact that in the past, Mexican immigrants were not a concern but were, “ let in to provide the labor force for the rapidly expanding economy”(2). So why treat it any differently now that we are in the present? And how it is that immigrants are supposed to assimilate when most Americans believe they are

In her novel Borderlands, Gloria Anzaldua explores the nuances and complications that come with being a member of the Mexican-American community. Her physical home is the border between Mexico and the United States, but she acknowledges that the “psychological borderlands, the sexual borderlands and the spiritual borderlands are not particular to the Southwest” (Anzaldua 19). “In fact,” she continues, “the Borderlands are physically present wherever two or more cultures edge each other…”(Anzaldua 19). Such is the focus of her text, the often uncomfortable meeting space between mainstream white culture in the United States and the indigenous culture of Mexico. The clashing of these two civilizations is personified in the mestizas, people born of both the United States and Mexico, of which Anzaldua is one. The novel presents readers with the often unheard side of a well-known story: the mestiza’s point of view on the issue of the U.S./Mexico border, as well as their struggle to form an identity when they partially belong to

The Mexican-American War marked an enormous symbolic impact for both nations which changed people’s lives. There’s many similarities and differences between these two countries, the combat that began during 1846 between Mexicans and Americans has brought catastrophe and teared many families apart. The war commenced because Mexico claimed the Nueces River and its northeastern boarder while Americans demanded the Rio Grande River. Overall they had problems with land property, Mexico started the battle first and launch fire on April 25, 1846. This is when all the problems and fight’s begin and how Mexican’s and American’s became great enemies that can’t stand each other.

Describe the “New Immigration”, and explain how it differed from the “Old Immigration” and why it aroused opposition from many Native-Born Americans.

With westward expansion becoming more popular, and with people thinking it was their manifest destiny-or God given fate to go west, populations increased. But conflict arose with our southern neighbor Mexico. This conflict could’ve been prevented, or resolved, but instead it grew worse. This conflict is often called the “Mexican American War” but in Mexico it is called the “US Invasion”. On April 24th, 1836 63 American men and officers went just south of the Rio Grande when Mexico attacked. 16 Americans were killed. Both sides had different view on the attack; Mexico believed the United States invaded, but the United States believed Mexico invaded. But alas, the United States did not have valid reasons to go to war with Mexico; even after this. The United States was not justified in going to war with

The Mexican War was a battle between the Americans and the Mexicans when there was a disagreement between borders between the two countries. America went to war against Mexico and fought for almost two years. However, it all started when Mexico declared their independence from Spain. They became close to America. They allowed Americans to settle in Texas, but Americans began overwhelming Texas. Soon, Americans in Texas wanted to declare independence from Spain because of the prohibition of slavery. After a war, they annexed Texas to America, and Mexico was angry at America. America went further and declared war against Mexico. But was America justified to wage war against Mexico? America was justified to declare war against Mexico because Mexico

Although the two ethnic groups which make up the Mexican Americans are similar, each group possesses different traits which differentiate them from each other. One clear difference between the two groups is that Mexican Americans oppose the influence of Anglos and their view of being having a superior standing above that of the Mexican Americans. Also, Anglos view the furthering of the educational levels of the Mexican Americans as being as having a detrimental impact, which would be pushing Anglo’s out of jobs and then hiring the Mexican Americans to replace them, often at lower paygrades.

“Aztlan, Cibola and Frontier New Spain” is a chapter in Between the Conquests written by John R. Chavez. In this chapter Chavez states how Chicano and other indigenous American ancestors had migrated and how the migration help form an important part of the Chicanos image of themselves as a natives of the south.