Wetbacks: The Undocumented Documentary Analysis

The author, John H. Barnhill, holds a Ph. D. in American History from Oklahoma State University. His purpose in writing this article is to help assist the responsibilities the legislation holds in order to acknowledge immigrants to stay in the United States. The intended audience would be immigrants concerned in the current condition on the U.S.- Mexican borders. The source overall discusses the various ways people can immigrate to the United States; asylum or illegally. Background history regarding immigration is provided to help develop a better understanding on the effects it has on American society.

There are approximately 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States spawning from many different countries and continents. Illegal immigrants come to America to escape from many different kinds of mistreatment from their home country. When an individual moves they are often followed by others who are encouraged to find a better quality of life. Obtaining a citizenship is strenuously difficult to attain because of raised standards, language and education barriers, along with the fear of the United States government and society projecting bias towards immigrants. The feeling of being burdensome, unappreciated, and unintelligent due to the language barrier when communicating with others.

In group and out-group distinctions are made through ethnic boundaries, which Nagel describes as a mechanism to “determine who is a member and who is not” (154). Nagel writes further how there are a number of studies that show that, despite the fluidity in ethnic boundaries, there is a maintenance or increase in ethnic identification, specifically among whites (154). This is contrary to the expectations of many individuals in society, since many believe that increasing fluidity will decrease and break many ethnic boundaries, thereby decreasing in-group identification and establishing a practice of non-group formation. This dichotomy of ignoring ethnic boundaries while identifying to an in-group is rooted through the mechanism in which we form fluidity in our ethnic identity. Nagel also writes on how our ethnic identity is formed through our own perceptions of ourselves and the perception others have on us, thereby showing that our identities “depend on partly where and with whom the interaction occurs” (155), usually to avoid negative outcomes.

Additionally, as violence is an important issue in many Hispanic country, Latinos are often linked with violence, criminality and nastiness. They are often “portrayed as cynical, gang members, in despair, kidnappers, macho, mean, prison inmates, racists, scraggly, tire

Many tend to migrate towards those of the same affiliations. This can lead to some people feeling left out or unwanted by certain groups. The world is changing and we are learning new information about people and cultures. Things continue to change and our “knowledge about new immigrants will challenge our public schools (Allen-Meares, 2013).”

Cohen’s fourth thesis talks about the differences among groups of people in areas of race, gender, etc. and how those differences can create monsters in society. Unauthorized immigrants often get placed into a “different” or “unwanted” group and that causes them to face unfairness in society. “How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” correlates to Cohen’s thesis because unauthorized immigrants can be made into monsters due to differences in race and legal status. The group of unauthorized immigrants can become alienated in society, and the people themselves are sometimes referred to as “illegal aliens.”

The first is ruler and subject an example of this would be that the ruler would be expected to be kind and generous to his subjects, and the

a.) Success as defined by a society b.) Religious affirmation c.) Accumulation of wealth d.) Colletion of peers

A top-to-bottom relationship among the items in a database is recognized by a a) Hierarchical schema b) Network schema c) Relational schema d) None of the above Answer: a 38.

Social categorization theory developed by Turner (1978) describes the categorization of people based on salient attributes like gender, ethnicity or age, resulting in stereotyping on the basis of these differences. Social categorization theory posits that similarities and dissimilarities of demographics can lead formation of different group with resulting effects on member of in-group favorably themselves to the detriment of members of out-groups social (Turner, Brown & Tajfel, 1979). Self-categorization theory explains when individuals categorize themselves by assigning to themselves the manners, actions and other characteristics they link with association within a specific group (Schmitt, Branscombe, Silvia, Garcia, & Spears. 2016). By means of self-categorization and membership of a group, people cultivate a social identity that functions as a social-cognitive scheme (customs, standards and attitudes) for their group associated action. The tendency is for the perceiver to consider these attributes as vital to his or her own personality and thus use these attributes to label others (Hoffman Harburg, & Maier, 2014).

In states like Arizona, the program SB 1070 allowed state officials to profile individuals who presumed to be residing in the state without legal documents. Needless to say, this was a tool used to regulate migration and also a way to differentiate legal residents from illegal residents, which resulted as an inhumane and degrading way to treat these individuals. For that reason, it has become unreachable for immigrants to assimilate into our American society because they are characterized as either aliens, criminals, or

They’re rapists.” Innocent people are shot at the borders, their only crime is wanting a better life for themselves and their families. Latin Americans are discriminated against by employers and police. Their new lives in America are quite difficult. According to a study by Prison Policy Initiative, Latinos make up a third of the U.S. prison population.

Majority of forced migrants flee for reasons not recognized by the international refugee regime, and many of them are displaced within their own country. It can also be called as displacement and deracination. Trafficking refers as the recruitment, transportation, transfer,

Throughout the course of history, Mexican Americans have had a burdensome experience in how to identify in the United States. Beginning from the American colonization to the span of our current time period, Mexican Americans had been brutally shun from society and labeled inferior to the white race despite all effort to assimilate into the American ways. Spanning from 1846 to 1848, the Mexican American war resulted in the seizure of Mexican land thus changing the lives of thousands of Mexicans living on those lands. These lands, now American soil, were inhabited by Mexicans and through the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, there inhabitants were granted an option of American citizenship or the movement back to Mexican territory. Through these terms those who stayed to gain the citizenship were to be categorized as legally white yet socially tagged inferior.

The Contributing Factors The following factors are vital for cooperation to be realized: • Adaptation of the refugee in the community of resettlement and vice versa. • Economic and employment opportunities available. • Ability to get a source of income which is accelerated by levels of education or life skills. • Integration ability such as culture and language to enable in integration.