“No other city north of the border and only one city south of the border was home to more Mexicans” (Lytle Hernández, 2017: Kindle Location 2900-2901). Dr. Lytle Hernández allows us to see through her historical lens as she builds up the city of Los Angeles, allowing me to realise the severity of the racism, disposition, oppression, and unrecognition Latina/os have had to endure in US society by correlating it to the large dark history of incarceration Los Angeles has had throughout the years.
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.
“Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.” - Cesar Chavez. Mr. Chavez explains that even though immigrants have to leave much behind, they can become part of their new country and still keep some of their own culture. Many immigrants have to deal with the issues of other cultures disrespecting and calling them names and sometimes even getting harassed by others. Mexican immigrants are a big percentage of the United States’ population. About 57% of Mexico’s population leaves to the US to have a much better life. Immigrants are not bad people, they just want a better life, a life like we have.
The title of the document Welcoming the Stranger among Us: Unity in Diversity, word by word, tells us four elements: the action, the subject, the reality, and the purpose (goal) in order to approach the issue of receiving immigrants in the Church. The document defines, “Unity in diversity is the vision that we bishops, as pastors of the Church in the United States, offer to our people as they welcome the new immigrants and refugees who come to our shores”. The document contextualizes the call to “conversion, communion, and solidarity” in Ecclesia in America as the way to pursue the vision of “unity in diversity” with a “new evangelization.” The spiritual reason for the unitary call is to imitate the trinitarian
Immigration, as of the late, has been a fiery topic of discussion in our country. Not just fiery but controversial as well. This issue is one of the most discussed through the recent presidential debates. And it should be. Immigration has been an ongoing obstacle that has yet to find a solution or has yet taken a path to success. With that being said, the United States government should address this issue head on instead of avoiding a major situation that is affecting our everyday lives and economy, starting with an immigration reform. The article, “Immigration Policy” tackles the major issues by using the rhetorical devices of logos, ethos and pathos.
Samuel Phillips Huntington an American political scientist, adviser and academic. He spent more than half a century at Harvard University, where he was director of Harvard 's Center for International Affairs and the Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor. The professor wrote a article called One Nation, Out of Many. In his article he mentions how American came to be and how many immigrants came to America. The article makes some crucial points about immigrants. Also, it mentions how immigrants got to be citizen in the first place. Samuel talks how immigrants can deconstruct America or Americans. Throughout the article Samuel gives example supporting his argument.
“The American story is a story of immigration. I would be the last person who would say immigrants are not important to America.”— Phil Graham, circa 1960. This quote may be from the mid-20th century, but it keeps its significance with the everlasting controversy on immigration and immigration laws. However, this is not the only time that the United States has experienced immigration controversies. Immigration laws have had an impact on the past, as the Chinese Exclusion Act and the National Origins Act are two out of hundreds of laws that were made to limit immigration. Currently, similar laws and actions are taking place with regards to a wall on the southern border of Mexico, and the exclusion of immigration from Middle East countries. With immigration laws playing a huge part in our present, and an even larger part in our past, future laws and disputes are inevitable, and will continue to be hotly contested in the US. However, immigration laws and the discrimination against immigrants needs to change. Immigrants provide this country with an immeasurable number of benefits, and limiting immigration will only leave the United States at a disadvantage to other countries. Immigration laws have also been very controversial about their morality and their actions can outrageously impact families lives forever. The future of immigration laws is unknown, but prohibiting immigration is not the answer the United States needs.
“The Immigrant contribution” and “The Quilt of a Country” are two essays that share a similar focus, however, they cover two drastically different sides of the topic. Both of them share the main idea that America is a country made up almost entirely of immigrants. Kennedy’s essay, “The immigrant Contribution”, focuses on how immigrants have affected our country, whereas Quindlen’s essay discusses how people of many different cultures coexist and work together.The essays both concentrate on immigration in America and how immigration has shaped and molded our culture. The two authors describe the many different aspects of immigration in immensely different ways.
“The virtual personas of Latino immigrants (represented as a threat to the nation) make the authority that has accumulated for real immigrants in their role as workers and consumers vanish” (Chavez 47). In the public eye Latinos are depicted as noncompliant and dangerous citizens and noncitizens of the United States. “The virtual lives of ‘Mexicans,’ ‘Chicanos,’ ‘illegal aliens,’ and ‘immigrants’ become abstractions and representations that stand in the place of real lives” (Chavez 47). It is depressing to understand that the majority of the United States strictly sees Latinos as these distorted images. At the end of the day each individual’s life matters, we all need to become more compassionate for one another. Latinos are making drastic changes to the Latino threat narrative and making a difference in education and politics. The empowerment of the Latino population is derived from education; continued education for all generations is the key to success for Latinos. Latinos will strive and change standards for their population in the United
The negative stereotype that Latinos are indefinitely stuck in poverty is created by the tendency to average the progress of new immigrants to those of older immigrants. “Since Latino immigration continues, averaging together the poverty rates or homeownership levels of large numbers of people who arrived recently with those who have been here for decades can provide a skewed view of progress,” (America’s Assimilating Hispanics). However, longitudinal studies, when properly measured and displayed, show that Latino immigrants are making economic progress.
America is a country with a history founded on people looking for a new start and emigrating from the old world to fulfill their dreams. Immigration is not always happiness, rags to riches, and the American dream. Major immigration periods happened from 1607, 1820-1870 and again in the early 1900’s. Immigrant numbers were growing so exponentially that the National origins Act of 1921 and 1924 was enacted to put a quota limit that blatantly discriminated against immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Immigrants that made it in faced many hardships such as learning new languages, abandoning family, and accepting the American values. But the perilous, extensive uprooting may not have been worth it in the long haul. While moving to America proved itself worthy for those escaping persecution and tyranny, it caused problems in the long run for others due to the isolation and poverty.
Beadle, Amanda Peterson. "Top 10 Reasons Why The U.S. Needs Comprehensive Immigration Reform." ThinkProgress. © 2016 - Center for American Progress, 10 Dec. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.
Statistics show that over 11.5 million immigrants migrate to The United States in search of a better life for themselves and their children. Yet, throughout the course of the years, a negative stigma has been associated with the arrival of immigrants in The United States. They have been discriminated against and have been labeled with abasing words. However, the majority of people fail to realize that the individuals who risked their lives coming here, the ones who left their family and friends behind are the most hard-working and persistent people I have come to know because these individuals are my parents. My parents left El Salvador and immigrated to a new country in hopes of a better academic future for me. Sadly, they were not granted
Recent events in the past decade has cause many people to portrayed immigrants as terrorists, illegal immigrants, gang affiliated members, drug dealers, etc. This raises questions regarding closing the border or limiting the number of people that can migrate to America. Politicians and law makers are too concerned about this matter and had propose solutions and issue laws in attempt to stop foreigners from coming to America. However, as both sides pushes for their ideas on the issue, it is ultimately up to the younger generation to decide the future of immigrants living in America. Being well informed and understanding of the issue is essential when it comes to choosing whether something is right or wrong. Therefore, articles and texts have been made to discuss the issues of immigrants living in America. Articles likes “Donald Trump Immigrants Myth” has raised awareness to the misconception of immigrants. While attempting to address the issue by using Trump as the focus of the problem, the text falls short on appealing to young audience as its content is too focused and too biased, making the text narrow. Subsequently, the
The population of America is one of the most diverse. Millions of people have immigrated to the U.S. from countries such as Japan, China, Ireland, Poland, etc.. The chapters from, “Mexifornia” by Victor Hanson, touch on the immigration issue, especially in California. It is not too uncommon for towns such as Selma, California, where Hanson grew up, to be made up of so many cultures. Hanson uses this personal anecdote to set up his authority and credibility for his argument. Selma was a town of many cultures but Hanson explains that due to the mass amounts of Mexicans immigrating to the U.S. it became 90% Hispanic. This experience leads to his discussion on immigration itself. Hanson details that he never hears English spoken in Selma anymore