The use of vilifying language to describe, label, and talk about undocumented immigrants and the prevalence of misinformation about them in the United States has resulted from nativist attitudes and hostility towards immigrants. The often-used terms “illegal aliens” and “illegals” delegitimize undocumented immigrants by taking away their humanity and labeling them like objects. As Elie Wiesel wisely stated, “No human being is illegal” (Haque-Hasrath 1). The extreme implications of the term “illegal” become even more obvious when compared to “asylum seeker”, “undocumented immigrant”, or “refugee”. It becomes clear how an “illegal” is implied to be a criminal that should be detained and locked up, and brings with it a sense of wrongdoing (Goyette …show more content…
They do not “steal jobs” either, since “most undocumented immigrants work in low-skilled jobs normally not filled by Americans. More important, though, is this surprising fact: Immigrants create jobs. It’s simple economics—if more people spend money, more jobs are created” (Eichenwald 1). As for the belief that undocumented immigrants live off of welfare and do not pay taxes, the complete opposite is true; “[they] pay taxes…They also pay significant sums into both the Social Security Trust Fund and Medicare, but because few of them qualify for benefits, they take little out. In fact, the Social Security Administration includes over $7 billion in annual contributions from these immigrants in its calculations of the trust fund’s solvency” (Eichenwald 1). When undocumented immigrants are shown to be beneficial to the economy and have a lower crime rate than native-born Americans, one must wonder why blatant lies about them are being circulated. Nativists attitudes have a historical significance, as they were once directed towards German and Italian immigrants in the same way undocumented immigrants (often implied to be from Mexico and South America) are being vilified
In Marcelo M. Suarez- Orozco and Carola Suarez- Orozco’s article “How Immigrants became “other” Marcelo and Carola reference the hardships and struggles of undocumented immigrants while at the same time argue that no human being should be discriminated as an immigrant. There are millions of undocumented people that risk their lives by coming to the United States all to try and make a better life for themselves. These immigrants are categorized and thought upon as terrorist, rapists, and overall a threat to Americans. When in reality they are just as hard working as American citizens. This article presents different cases in which immigrants have struggled to try and improve their life in America. It overall reflects on the things that immigrants go through. Immigrants come to the United States with a purpose and that is to escape poverty. It’s not simply crossing the border and suddenly having a great life. These people lose their families and go years without seeing them all to try and provide for them. They risk getting caught and not surviving trying to make it to the other side. Those that make it often don’t know where to go as they are unfamiliar. They all struggle and every story is different, but to them it’s worth the risk. To work the miserable jobs that Americans won’t. “I did not come to steal from anyone. I put my all in the jobs I take. And I don’t see any of the Americans wanting to do this work” (668). These
The United States is facing illegal complexities that are affecting the people. “Immigration Problem Is about Us, Not Them,” by Jo-Ann Pilardi poses some powerful arguments that get readers thinking about who the culprits actually are behind the illegal immigrants coming across the southwestern border. First she declares that citizens in the United States use the word “illegal” in a “narrow” way, therefore causing americans to oversee other “illegal” activities. Then she goes on to explain that it is the “INE’s” (illegal native employers) that are truly responsible for the illegal immigrants sneaking through in the first place and elaborates that these buisness owners aren’t getting proper surveillance for these illegal activities. She closes by unfolding the United States’s problem of demanding cheap labor that results in relying on illegal immigrants. The opening argument is ironically a stereotype in itself, but it is logically correct. However, the fault comes in the
In the U. S today, the approximated population of undocumented immigrants stands at averagely 11 million. Therefore, this has created a hot debate in Congress about the action to take over the undocumented immigrants. Those opposed to illegal immigrants suggest that, their stay in the United States effects U.S citizens on the job market negatively . In addition, illegal immigrants are viewed in certain quarters as takers in the sense that illegal immigrants benefit more from public resources than the american-born citizens of the U.S. However, the reality is that immigrants contribute positively to the U.S economy and pay significantly into the system compared to what they send back home. In addition, the contributions associated with undocumented immigrants involve sustaining the solvency of the SSTF (Social Security Trust Fund). In this sense, the use of cost benefit analysis by those supporting immigration restrictions are unfounded and do not reflect the facts on the ground (Nadadur 1037). The opponents of undocumented immigrants believe that having more undocumented immigrants in the U.S is costly; however, there are no solid reasons to prove that undocumented immigrants are a burden to the treasury. Instead, the undocumented immigrants play an important role in boosting the economy and in particular by taking up jobs those citizens perceive as demeaning because the money they earn goes back to the economy through taxes resulting from consumer spending when they send money back home.
The policies implemented by the United States to strengthen the border and enforce immigration policies have led to the abuse and profiling of undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants live in constant fear of deportation and are subjected to multiple human rights violations as they are abused, exploited and discriminated against. Immigrants are racialized and stereotyped. The US government has passed laws that discriminate against undocumented immigrants, making it harder for them to live and survive in America. These laws are due to the perception that undocumented immigrants are a burden on the US economy, but on the contrary undocumented immigrants provide an economic benefit to the US, and due to the benefit they provide society
Immigrants were first welcomed in the late 1700s. European explorers like Walter Raleigh, Lord Baltimore, Roger William, William Penn, Francis Drake, John Smith, and others explored to the New World for religious purposes and industrial growth. The first European settlers that settled in the late 1700s were the Pilgrims. After the Pilgrims first settled in Virginia, the expansion of immigrants started. Then in 1860 to 1915, America was growing with its industries, technology, and education. America’s growing empire attracted many people from Europe. The factors that attracted many people to the American cities where job opportunities with higher income, better education, and factory production growth. As the population grew in the American
The theme of education and undocumented students has been a key issue for many decades. Undocumented students are often deprived from higher education because of their migratory status. They not only have to face discrimination and fear of deportation, but also after high school, they have to face the crude reality that their dreams of success and educational achievement are far from becoming a reality due to their lack of opportunities. Many personal stories shared in William Perez and Douglas Richard’s book “Undocumented Latino College Students: Their Socioemotional and Academic Experiences.” Relate to their fears, difficult conditions, emotional challenges, limitations, and other circumstances that multiple undocumented students live daily
For centuries, migrating has been a life changing decision for people that choose to enter the United States in search of a better future. Therefore, immigration is the permanent residency of people that choose to move to a new country. There are debates concerning the immigrants who enter the United Stated illegally and as the daughter of immigrant parents, I am fortunate to be born in this country.
“I am not the ‘Illegal’ you think I am, and immigration is not what you think it is” Why do people cross the line illegally? there are many reasons for undocumented immigrants to cross to the united states do to the poverty in the country, high level of education in the united states, and the better opportunity of jobs. Many immigrants decide to emigrate from their country of birth to seek a new opportunity for all the family but analyze the information is not only one culture a lot of different cultures immigrant to have a better life in the united states. Undocumented immigration is a big issue in the united states because many immigrants come to live the “ American Dream”. Immigrants from all around the different country
Illegal immigration has become a controversial topic in politics within the US. Some believe that undocumented immigrants are vital to the U.S. economy because they take the jobs Americans do not want. Others, however, have the opinion that undocumented immigrants should be punished for doing things illegally, arguing that undocumented immigrants are taking the jobs of the American people and abusing them by not paying taxes. Although there are speculations that support the claim that immigrants should be punished, there are several counterarguments that state why they should be allowed to stay. Undocumented immigrants are an important factor in the development of the United States of America, and immigrants have supplied a widespread example of economic, social, and political growth.
predicts that undocumented immigrants paid 12 billion dollars in Social Security Taxes in 2010 by using false or duplicative Social Security numbers(). Undocumented immigrants actually pay many types of taxes like state income, sales tax, property tax, and excise tax. In California alone, it is predicted that 280 million dollars were paid in state income taxes (). This information disproves the popular belief that undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes, and it also proves that the undocumented immigrants are making a positive contribution to our economy and society as a whole. The fact that with the contributions the undocumented immigrants have made with little to no benefits from their efforts proves that we should at least give them a chance in the American society.
I am an immigrant, which I sometimes view as a privilege and other times not so much. It felt wonderful when my relatives were kind to my family because we got our visas to come to the United States. I was born in Bangladesh in a small village in my tiny house. Not the typical story you hear from many of my peers. My birth is very important to me, not because I ever celebrated my birthday. It wasn’t until I came to the United States that I realized that people actually celebrates their birthdays, but I never argued about celebrating because I knew my parents were not aware of birthday parties and because we were always financially unstable. My desire to have a birthday party made me realize that my family was economically inferior.
As many immigrants arriving from Mexico and other Latin American countries are young males with little to no formal education or skills, they fall deftly into classic American stereotypes of criminality – meaning that much of the public baselessly associates Latino immigrant populations with higher levels of criminality and incarceration than the U.S. average. The mass media has wrongfully portrayed Mexican immigrants as foreign desperados; shaping public opinion using generalized case studies rather than aggregate data, the American public would be led to believe that immigrant crime – especially against U.S. citizens – is incredibly high and a dire threat to our national security and way of life. Contrary to these assumptions, first generation Latino populations in fact have significantly lower incarceration rates than all U.S. born ethnicities – including non-Hispanic white. This low incarceration rate holds true even for undocumented Latino populations within the U.S. – a commonly stereotyped group in regard to
Today, in most cases, people don’t spend very much time thinking about why the society we live in presently, is the way it is. Most people would actually be surprised about all that has happened throughout America’s history. Many factors have influenced America and it’s society today, but one of the most profound ways was the way the “Old Immigrants” and “New Immigrants” came to America in the early to mid 1800s. The “Old Immigrants were categorized as the ones who came before 1860 and the “New Immigrants” being the ones who came between 1865 and 1920. The immigrants came to the United States, not only seeking freedom, but also education. Many immigrants also wanted to practice their religion without hindrance. What happened after the immigrants
their higher education since it is hard for them to return back to their home countries (229). In
The thought of arriving immigrants in any host country has been accompanied by reactions of exclusion, and continues to expand throughout the years. During any social illness, immigrants tend to be the first to be held responsible by their recipient societies. Most crimes are associated with immigrants due to the fact that they may not posses the same socio-economics status as natives. Another contributing factor is the media that conducts numerous stories that highlight the image of immigrant crimes to recall the alleged difference between native and foreign born. Undoubtedly, the correlation between immigration and crime has become one of the most controversial discussions in current society. As we enter a new era, immigrants will have more impact on society than ever before (Feldmeyer, 2009).