American history is important to the Americans. Nevertheless, in the debate of un-documented immigrants many Americans forget that immigrants were the ones who were the founders of the United States of America. Immigration is a debated issue all across the world. Former President of The United States of America, Barack Obama, held a speech at The White House on the 20. November 2014. In his speech, he ad-dresses the subject of immigration to the American people. The reason why he is bring-ing up immigration is the circumstances in America at this point. The immigration system is broken and many Americans feel the immigrants are the root of all evil. Barack Obama’s intention in his speech ‘Address to the Nation on Immigration’ is to show the American people that he is able to solve the broken immigration system and that immigration has been in their history for decades.
His main claim is that immigrants are an important factor for USA. He urges his po-litical colleagues to compromise on a solution to the issue. His arguments are referring to America’s history and the foundation of the country of immigrants. He also uses Astrid Silva’s story to reach his audiences’ emotions.
Barack Obama uses elements of all three modes of persuasion in his rhetorical. Obama uses logos to strengthen his own ethos and to show the development America has been under the former years. ‘(‘) over the past six years, deportations of crimi-nals are up 80 percent.’ He uses facts and numbers to empathize that there is a prob-lem and that the problem is actually increasing.
In his speech, he mostly uses pathos to appeal to his audience. By using pathos he ap-peals to his audiences’ feelings and self-conscious. ‘I’ve seen the heartbreak and anxi-ety of children whose mothers might be taken away from them just because they didn’t have the right papers’ (l. 108-109). He shows that he sympathize with the illegal im-migrants and acknowledge the hardly conditions they have to live under. By looking at the issue in that light, he appeals to many immigrants or people with an immigrant genealogical tree. On the other hand, he acknowledges the Americans’ point of view, which makes him persuade the American society as well. ‘(‘)it’s important that all of us have this debate without impugning each other’s character. (‘) we have to remem-ber that this debate is about something bigger. It’s about who we are as a country, and who we want to be for future generations.'(91-94). By facing both sides of the prob-lem, he reaches out to a large group of people.
The language used in the speech "Address to the Nation on Immigration" by Barack Obama is standard American English, rather formal and solemn, to reflect the im-portance of the President’s address. ‘My fellow Americans, tonight, I’d like to talk with you about immigration. For more than 200 years, our tradition of welcoming immi-grants from around the world has given us a tremendous advantage over other na-tions.’ (l. 1-3). By choosing a language that is standard American English, he appeals to a larger portion of the American society and the illegal immigrants. However, by using a solemn and formal language, he keeps the audiences’ focus on the issue, but if one is too formal, people might lose interest in his address.
Rhetorical questions play an important part in engaging the audience. ‘Are we a na-tion that kicks out a striving, hopeful immigrant like Astrid, or are we a nation that finds a way to welcome her in?’ (l.126-127). As a result of rhetorical questions, the speaker is making the audience reflect on the speaker’s arguments. He appeals to the audiences’ feelings by provoking the audience’s consciences. In his address, Barack Obama refers to history and his family. The allusions to history are used in the begin-ning and the end, making it clear to the audience that America has always been a coun-try of immigrants. Intermittently, the speaker uses similes and comparisons to make the audience sympathize with the illegal immigrants or and to show that he understands the Americans’ dissatisfactions.
In his speech, the audience can identify themselves in one symbol, which is the young immigrant Astrid Silva, whom Barack Obama mentions towards the end (l. 115-125). In the address, Astrid Silva becomes a symbol for all the illegal immigrants whom Barack Obama wants to help through his measure of granting them a legal per-mit to stay in the USA. Her example becomes a symbol on the illegal immigrants who are victims of the defective immigration system that Obama wants to change.
There are many problems associated with illegal immigration and illegal immigrants. The main problems caused by illegal immigration are lost jobs, depreciated wages, stolen taxpayer resources, and increased number of crimes and domestic terrorism. Each of these problems harms Americans in many ways. As opposed to this view, experts point out that some employers are all too eager to take on undocumented work-ers and exploit them for their willingness to work long hours for low pay. If no one complains, questions about immigration papers are infrequently asked. Nevertheless, if problems do arise, such as being injured on the job or workers demanding better pay or access to a union, a swift phone call to the police or ICE will result in the difficult em-ployees being deported. In contemporary society, the western world is embossed with illegal immigrants and the numbers keep rising. The more immigrants are crossing the boarders illegally, the more employers will take the chance of employing cheap work-ers. Immigrants founded USA and they will always be a part of American past and pre-sent history. Nevertheless, many Americans forget the fact that they somehow are im-migrants as well. If the government does not find a solution soon, the number of immi-grants will rise. This will create even more problems and the conflict between USA and Mexico, will escalade.
Overall, it is clear that Barack Obama’s intention with the Address to the Nation on Immigration speech was to shine light on the consequences of illegal immigrants, to explain his position on immigration in America’s past and present. In his speech, he uses pathos to appeal to his audience and voters, because by using pathos he can also acknowledge both the Americans’ point of view as well as the immigrants. He pro-vokes his fellow Americans self-consciousness, while using rhetorical questions that make them reflect on their actions. He also uses a formal and solemn language and similes to persuade the listener, although it might seem too formal for some people, and they lose interest in his statement. His most successful rhetorical device is his use of Astrid Silva as a symbol. The immigrants can identify with her story and the Ameri-cans can feel sorry for her, because of her life on the run. The western world must find a solution that is a compromise, so the views of both parts are taken in consideration. Because, if the world keeps discussing and neglect each other with prejudice, the wars and conflict between the western world and the rest of the world, will escalade.