Heartbreaking student paper on migration and deportation: In November 2007, approximately two weeks before Thanksgiving, my father was taken away from us. I was a freshman in high school. My father was trying to become legal, to do things the right way, but his efforts failed when he was taken into custody. We walked into a building for his hearing expecting to be able to walk out of it united and ecstatic. We waited and remained hopeful until the doors to the hearing opened and we saw our lawyer walking back to us without my father by his side. I was so confused. I thought that it was a mistake, I was living in a nightmare and what was happening was not real. We walked out of that building fatherless, broken, and filled with worry. My father was sent to a detention center in Wisconsin. He was not able to say goodbye or to hold us. The only way I was able to see him was while he wore his orange suit and the only time I could communicate with him was through a transparent wall. This situation completely destroyed my family and I. I rarely saw my mother because she worked over twelve hours a day in order to cover the bills my father was no longer going to be able to pay. My grades also started slipping because there was no way I could focus on school while my father was in a detention center about to be deported. My sister began getting panic attacks all the time and I had to become the shoulder for her to lean on. Not having my father around made me insecure about my family’s finances and wellbeing. I constantly battled with the thought of my father not being there when I got my driver’s license, went to prom, or graduated. This situation was probably the worst struggle I had ever dealt with so now, when I hear such ignorance and hatred towards immigrants, and when I hear support for deportation and every other method intended to rid America of illegal immigrants my blood boils. I, an American citizen, suffered as a result of my country’s own legislature toward this growing issue. I do not agree with this country’s legislature and methods of limiting immigration for three reasons: one, it is unjust to try to limit the entry of immigrants into this country when no one has stopped America’s entry into foreign countries; two, the methods used do not work; and three, nothing positive results from them. Immigration is not the problem, American politics are. Immigrants, specifically the Latin American immigrant, have become the scapegoat for every negative situation in the United States. People believe that by creating a big wall, enforcing stricter border patrol, and sending a huge number of immigrants back home things in this country will get better, but this does not make any sense. The reason these people are here, the reason that these people sacrifice and leave everything they love and know behind, is because America’s corruption is deeply rooted in their country. As James Petras explains to us, in US-Latin American Relations : Measuring The Rise or Fall of US Power, the United States has basically bullied or seduced Latin American countries to favor “US economic and political interests” (Petras). This favoritism towards the U.S ends up making the U.S richer and Latin America poorer. For example, “In Mexico, Carlos Salinas, following a fraudulent election, privatized over 110 public enterprises, opened the borders to subsidized US agricultural exports – ruining over 1.5 million corn, bean, rice and poultry farmers and peasants – and signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, giving license for the US takeover of retail trade, real estate, agriculture, industry, banking and communications sectors” (Petra). After the U.S ruins the Mexican farmer’s and peasant’s jobs and lifestyle, they leave them no choice but to go somewhere else and do the same type of work. This ends up leading them to the U.S, in search of the American Dream, but instead they are forced into exploitation and modern day slavery, as Jeff Imig’s documentary shows us. It is unjust for people to demand immigrants back to their country when no one has demanded U.S politics, markets, and trades to be left in the U.S. Latin American countries are good enough to make the U.S richer, but their citizens are not good enough to enter the U.S. This way of thinking makes absolutely no sense and is unjust. Any method used to kick immigrants out of the United States, while their countries are just making the United States richer, is unfair. The United States wants things in a specific way. They want to be able to abuse and take everything Latin America has to offer, but they don’t want to give anything back. Instead, the United States thanks citizens of Latin America, who are considered illegal in the U.S, by making their lives very difficult, by oppressing them, being racist, and giving them an unfair wage. Methods to prevent immigrants from coming into and staying in this country have become very strict, but don’t really seem to be working. Immigration has always existed in the U.S. According to uncp.edu, America began in 1607, when “100 men and boys sailing from England landed in present-day Virginia and founded Jamestown” (Canada). Since the beginning of America, immigration has existed and it will never die. Everyday people from all over the world try to illegally get into the U.S, and everyday there are people that stay in the U.S despite their Visa’s expiration date. How will preventing something that has always occurred, and that will continue to occur, help the United States? Regardless of all the anti-immigration methods that the U.S comes up with, immigration will never cease. Instead of doing some good, all that anti-immigration methods have accomplished are negative effects. If they chose to create a wall around the border, we would be stuck paying for it. Also, since immigration will never stop, immigrants would face a more dangerous journey in crossing the border. ACLU.org states that increased enforcement on the border “[resulted] in a tripling of the death rate at the border and decreased apprehensions” (American Civil Liberties Union). Also, if the U.S were to be successful in kicking out all the illegal immigrants, we would lose a huge number of consumers and producers. Kicking out illegal immigrants that work in agriculture would force companies to start paying American citizens minimum wage for the same job, and that would definitely affect how much we pay for our groceries. Aside from the financial negative affects, anti-immigration methods have also further strengthened racism. State laws, such as Arizona SB 1070, have created unjust racial profiling. Hunting illegals has become the government’s favorite sport and as a result, people that do not have light skin are oppressed and abused. Lastly, eliminating illegal immigrants would also negatively affect the future generations. Like me, everyday children are stripped from their parents because they aren’t legally residing in this country. Like me, these children will suffer from stress, depression, worry, anxiety, and trauma. And like me, these children will begin to feel some type of resentment towards their own country for forcing their families apart. I was lucky enough to get my father back, but there are many children and families that will not get the same outcome. According to colorlines, “between January and June of 2011, the United States carried out more than 46,000 deportations of the parents of U.S.-citizen children” (Wessler)—that is 46,000 American citizens that are already being set for failure. More than likely these children will be sent to foster homes, will be raised in poverty, or will be forced into growing up in a foreign country with their parents at their sides. There is no easy fix to immigration, but I am sure that the methods that are currently being used are unjust, unethical, and are definitely not working. If the U.S really wants to get rid of illegals, they need to start by allowing countries, specifically Latin America, to prosper by their own resources. If the U.S gave Latin America the chance to prosper, there would be no reason for immigrants to cross the border. Secondly, these methods will never accomplish their goal because immigration will always exist and lastly, the methods that are being used are only creating negative results. As a result of legislature, racial profiling has become constitutional and orphaned American children have become the newest accepted trend. America has been using immigrants as scapegoats for so long that Americans actually believe that every crisis will disappear as soon as immigrants vanish. American legislators are not thinking properly and are not taking into consideration all the negative outcomes of their methods. They have forgotten the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, “give me your tired, your poor,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,/The wretched refuse of your teeming shore./Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me,/I lift my lamp beside the golden door” (Lazarus). Present day legislations and anti-immigration efforts go against those American words. With the use of all these different methods America has turned its back on itself and forgotten who it is, a melting pot. Works Cited Canada, Mark. History and Culture. Colonial America, 1607-1783: History. Mark Canada, 24 Sept. 2001. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know about This Iconic Lady. How Tall Is the Statue of Liberty? N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014. Imig, Jeff. Immokalee: A Story of Slavery and Freedom. YouTube. YouTube, 07 Apr. 2010. Web. 02 Apr. 2014. Immigration Myths and Facts. American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU, 2 Apr. 2014. Web. 11 Apr. 2008. Petras, James. US-Latin American Relations : Measuring The Rise or Fall of US Power. Information Clearing House. N.p., 01 Nov. 2006. Web. 02 Apr. 2014. Wessler, Seth F. U.S. Deports 46K Parents With Citizen Kids in Just Six Months - COLORLINES. Colorlines News for Action. N.p., 3 Nov. 2011. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 15:54:22 +0000
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