The United States Should Not Have Open Borders

Star Parkers essay, “Se Habla Entitlement” was published in 2006 on the website WorldNetDaily.com. In the essay, Parker attempts to convince the reader that the United States should not have an open border policy. She uses the techniques of Ethos, Pathos, and logos to present a compelling argument to the reader, which in the end falls a bit short.

Parker begins the essay with the Ethos technique giving the reader her political perspective, when she states, “…I think of myself as a libertarian” in the first paragraph. She also presents herself as being directly involved by stating, “Anyone that lives in Southern California, as I do…” in paragraph 14. By giving the reader her political perspective and placing herself as a first hand witness, Parker establishes herself as being authorative on the topic of illegal immigration.

Parker attempts to persuade the reader by highlighting the flaws in the pro-immigration supporters and their demonstrations. In paragraph 3, she states, “There is something not convincing about illegal immigrants demonstrating to claim they have inalienable rights to come here, be here, work here, become citizens here-and make all these claims in Spanish”. She adds in paragraph 7, “The civil-rights movement was about enforcing the law, not breaking it. The Civil War amendments to the Constitution were not getting the job done in what has been a long struggle in this country to treat blacks as human beings. If Americans were kidnapping Mexicans and selling them into slavery here, I might see the equivalence. But these are free people, who chose to come here and chose to do so illegally.” With these statements, Parker attempts to appeal to the sensibilities of the reader to persuade them into her way of thin...

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...itlement.” This is an effective conclusion that supports her thesis.

The structure of the essay is well written, concise and to the point. Parker creates a compelling argument, and backs up her opinions with statistical evidence. However, the statistics are very one-sided. The opposing argument is not really considered, therefore, Parker’s argument is very biased. Parker also provides no solution to the problem, only states that she thinks illegal immigration is wrong. This ultimately creates a one sided argument, that while compelling, does little to fully bring the reader to her point of view. Had Parker presented the other side of the argument, and provided a possible solution, the overall effect would have been much greater.

Works Cited

Parker, Star. "Se Habla Entitlement." The Longman Reader for English 101. Pearson Learning Solutions, 2010. 566-568.