A Dream Postponed
Immigration: A Balance Analysis
WHEN Esteban Espinoza turned 50, he decided to move to the United States to provide a better life for his family. He left his home and profession behind to ensure that his wife and two young kids live a better life than his. When he arrived on 2006, he soon came to realize that the American Dream wasn’t so much of a blessing. The freedom he had hope for, the wellness for his kids turned out to be just cruel criticism and racism. Finding a job was much harder than what he expected, and the one’s he did find were hard of labor with minimum pay and all because he was “different.” The topic of immigration has been a huge debate for the past decade or so, and the stigmatism of immigrants is rising everyday by the hour. You can be for or against, and no matter what, the possibilities are endless about your position on the topic. Whether its morally right or wrong to think about the immigrant populist in a certain way, one question still arises, How are more specified programs effecting immigration in the United States and are they beneficial for the country? Some of these programs include the generous act given by DACA, a nonprofit organization, helping young adults achieve their dream. Other programs, include the building of a wall to keep out all who are not native born to the country, and protect those who are. Nevertheless, immigration is drastically changing how we see our world today.
I held three interviews to determine the major stance in immigration between the people. The first interview was held with a young native-born girl with a Bangladesh background, who asked to be remained anonymous for security reasons. Another with a young White male, attending college, with a White family background called Richard Thomson. The third was with an undocumented immigrant father called Esteban Espinoza with a family of three and an Argentinian background, and finally one with an immigration activist at the Immigration Center at the City College of New York who was more than willing to oblige for the interview. Through each of their points of views, we will get a general idea of what the population thinks of the immigration matter.
DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is an executive action taken by former President Barack Obama that allowed undocumented immigrants under the age of 16 to stay in the country free from deportation, and to be allowed to work and study (Kopan). Through the recent events, the DACA Act given to those young undocumented adults is now being abolished in early March due to now President Trump’s executive orders. Because of this, the question of whether DACA is supported or not was asked to the four selected individuals. The Bangladesh girl’s parents, like many others were not born in this country and only remain here to provide for their family and thus cannot receive said accommodation. She was first asked what here opinion was about the soon to be abolishment of DACA, which she responded with “I hate it… my brother is actually a DACA recipient, so that’s the only thing that holding him down, that’s the only thing that’s helping him survive.” Just like the girl’s brother, an estimate of 800 thousand people is protected by the program since 2012 according to CNN’s Kopan. The CCNY Immigrational activist stated that he was “sad to see” the attempt in trying to abolish DACA. He said that some of his friends and colleagues are supported by DACA and thus supports it as well. He went on to state that because we have a “political system in which its really difficult to get things done, even when there is a wide support for a particular issue,” then going for change will be hard. Because of this refusal for change, it brings about the worst in people when they are most desperate.
What would you do if all you could do is hope, while you watch your own family and friends being torn apart from you. For some, this would be aiding the country, getting rid of all those unwanted immigrants. But for others, this is torture and a separation of family. These morally correct or incorrect acts are done by the ICE Organization. ICE is the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a U.S. federal government law enforcement agency under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security. According to the Democracy Now article, 600 people have been raided and have then deported. These people are said to be criminals, trafficking drugs and people and bringing about violence. The immigrant father Espinoza was asked what he thought about the situation, and his stances about the matter. He stated, “because these people are coming into our homes, practically hunting us down like animals, our kids and families have to live in tremendous fear and hide within the shadows.” He then continued by saying “in their eyes it doesn’t matter if we are criminals or not, if they see our faces and recognize our nationality, then we become targets to them. Like this man, many agree with his ideals and opinion about these tremendous ICE raids. In the article called ICE Raids 2017, author Mathew Rodriguez stated, “These arrests do nothing but tear families apart, hobble our economies, and corrode the bonds of trust that tie our communities together — all under the false pretense of ‘public safety.'” Through these both accounts, a percentage of the community of the United States are for immigration and against these acts, but are them being of Hispanic background make it biased? Because of such question, I then asked Thompson, a man of pure white background, because it is stereotypically known that people with a pure white background are normally against immigration. I interviewed him to know his opinion about the ICE raids and their outcome to morality. He stated “Are they doing the right thing in trying to control illegal immigration? Yes. Sometimes the way they go about some of their raids is morally wrong.” Unlike the other two interviewees, he is strongly for the abolishment of illegal immigrants, but he does agree that in the end, the way they do it is wrong.
One such program that was rumored to happen by President Donald Trump is the erection of a wall around the United States and Mexican border. President Trump stated that by building a wall, the country would achieve a great decrease in immigration, but is building a wall truly a smart thing to do? President Donald Trump said he would force the people of Mexico to build his vowed border wall to keep immigrants out of the United States, warning that if his order was not fulfilled, he would do something “severe” (Brand). Building the wall is one thing, but is threatening to harass or attack Mexico correct? The interviewees stated their opinion about the matter and how they felt about said project. Espinoza stated that the building of the wall is way to absurd, that the President should focus his power and money to provide and give for the country like a better education for the kids, or health for the population, rather than just throwing it all at a wall. The Immigration Activist had a different opinion about the wall. He stated “I don’t believe that we’re going to have a wall. But Trump’s strategy, in my opinion, is to have this extreme position (the border wall) so that anything less extreme will look somewhat reasonable – for example, increased border security in exchange for legalization of DACA recipients.” The building off a wall can bring about a positive and negative change, but is it all worth it in the end?
The final program involving immigration is the prevention of immigration of certain foreign countries. As of now, there are 7 listed Middle Eastern countries not allowed to enter the United States, also now including the South American country Venezuela. But why do we not let these people in? President Trump states that he’s putting a bar on Muslim immigration until the nations leaders can figure out what’s going on. (Healy Patrick, Michael Barbaro). Trump hopes that by doing so, a huge percentage of violence in the United States will diminish. His justification for his action on the ban is because of terrorist attack like 9/11, and now the recent France attacks. But, can all Muslims be prosecuted on the actions of the few that do act in terrorism? When I asked Richard about his opinion on the subject, he said “Should we allow our gates to be open to all those of the world? No, we should not, you can’t just allow anyone in the world to enter a country without proper background checks, documentation etc.” Similarly, like Trump, he doesn’t want just anyone to step into the country without a background check, although Trump’s measure is more extreme. The idea of halving the number of legal immigrants to America would have stunned founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and George Washington (Digest). Not letting immigrants in would be like not allowing the founding fathers in the United States, as said by Espinoza. Not only that, but, the same article by Healy and Barbaro states, “It would be particularly bizarre to have an immigration test based on religion given that the country was founded by people who were fleeing religious persecution.” Because of this ban, many people are forced to stay in their countries and live in fear of what’s to come tomorrow, but according to our government, its beneficial to our countries safety.
Internal Outcomes
All these programs in effect or under progress and there still one final question left unsolved, what are the impacts on our country by these immigrants. Some argue that these immigrants bring nothing but trouble, like said by our current President. But others say that immigration bring about a good impact on our nation. There has been a constant fear that the immigrant population would bring a negative impact on our job and economic basis, but that has been proven wrong. According to The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration, immigrant labor allowed more goods to be produced cheaper and at a better rate (Issues in Science and Technology). Restricting immigration to America was a centerpiece of King George’s plan to weaken our nascent republic, which is why the Declaration of Independence emphasized that affront, if that’s the case, why should we follow in the footsteps of our past (Digest). Wouldn’t diminishing our numbers decrease our economies growth in the process? People have been seen in the streets with the same ideals. Protestors are out in the streets day and night carrying their signs hoping for their cries to be heard. And what do these signs say, “We pay taxes too” and “The American Dream needs DREAMers.” The Immigration activist Joseph stated a similar thing when asked what his opinion is on the impact of immigration on our country. He stated that the immigration population is bringing about a great positive change in our net. “With these Immigrants, these DREAMers, we can achieve greater things.” But what if some these immigrants not possess a useful skill? Through a survey done on 500 people, the article “Immigration and Its Impact on American Cities” states that having said immigrants in would only bring about them bring in more immigrants whether they are family members or not. Although that may be the case, skills that these immigrant posses differ substantially by nationality (Salvo). While talking to some senators, President Trump explained that he wanted to cut the annual rate of immigration from a million per year to five hundred thousand because it would help “minority workers competing for jobs against brand-new arrivals.” Even so, if that were the case, it wouldn’t make any sense. If the immigrant population of ours were half starting at 1776, our now population of 300 million would be a lot smaller and weaker. To our founding fathers, more people meant power. Through a larger population we would achieve a stronger military and a huge economic growth and diversity. (Digest).
In conclusion, immigration has sparked a huge debate within our country and our lives. Hundreds of people come each year to this country in hope to start anew and escape their current lives to start a better one. In the end, these same immigrants have through go through various immigration policies to get by. These policies included DACA abolishment, ICE raids, Trump desired wall, and immigration banned on certain countries. “These injustices will keep on going until we look at what we all have the same instead of what we have different,” said Espinoza as he is now a proud father of his two children in college. Whether these acts are morally correct or not is up in the air, the same can be said about their impact on our society and nation. Only time can tell the answer, and soon enough, time will bring change.
Bibliography
Kane, Tim. “Population Power: Ever since America began, immigration has meant strength.” Hoover Digest, no. 1, 2018, p. 54+. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A526575460/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=7b270969. Accessed 8 Apr. 2018.
“Immigration: who wins, who loses.” Issues in Science and Technology, vol. 14, no. 1, 1997, p. 87+. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A20390808/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=69dabeb2. Accessed 8 Apr. 2018.
McCue, Clifford P., and Dorothy Norris-Tirrell. “The impact of immigration policy on communities: an introduction to the symposium.” Policy Studies Journal, vol. 30, no. 1, 2002, p. 53+. Global Issues In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A89397982/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=0fa8e20a. Accessed 9 Apr. 2018.
Salvo, Joseph J. “Immigration and Its Impact on American Cities.” International Migration Review, vol. 32, no. 1, 1998, p. 241+. Global Issues In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A20576423/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=fe7f6401. Accessed 9 Apr. 2018.
Kopan, Tal “What is DACA and Why is it ending?” CNN Politics, Tue January 2, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/02/politics/daca-explained/index.html
DEMOCRACY NOW! “ICE Arrests 600 in Nationwide Raids After Trump Order Expands Criminalization of Immigrants.” Democracy Now Independent News, February 13, 2017, https://www.democracynow.org/2017/2/13/ice_arrests_600_in_nationwide_raids
Rodriguez, Mathew “ICE Raids 2017: Latest news on immigration raids that resulted in 680 arrests last week” Mic Network INC, Feb. 14, 2017, https://mic.com/articles/168559/ice-raids-2017-latest-news-on-immigration-raids-that-resulted-in-680-arrests-last-week#.mPcMuk8dV
Brand, Anna “Donald Trump: I would force Mexico to build border wall” MSNBC News, June 28, 2015, http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-i-would-force-mexico-build-border-wall
Healy Patrick, Michael Barbaro, “Donald Trump Calls for Barring Muslims From Entering U.S.” New York Times, First Draft Political News, December 7, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/12/07/donald-trump-calls-for-banning-muslims-from-entering-u-s/
Link to Article
https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21728667-president-leaves-fate-undocumented-immigrants-congress-donald-trump-ditches?zid=309&ah=80dcf288b8561b012f603b9fd9577f0e
