Jennifer DaSilva
English 102
Project #1 draft
October 12, 2018
Immigration: What Is To Be Done?
Jimmy Carter, a former President of the United States of America, once stated that “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.” Meaning we’re all different but together we form an alluring piece of art. The United States has always been characterized as a country of multiple race, culture, religion, and background; that’s what makes it so special. The USA carries a piece from all over the world. People are constantly migrating to the United States because they want to be a part of this alluring piece art. They want to explore different cultures and backgrounds; they want to be a part of something special and create a better life for themselves. Immigration is what has made the United States of America. We are all immigrants! Therefore it is absurd the US has now turned its back on immigration; refusing to welcome more immigrants and ripping families apart by forcing deportation. The United States of America should continue to support immigration and stop deporting innocent immigrants.
Over the years immigration has become a very popular topic and probably one of the most controversial since many more people continue to migrate to the United States. Many argue that the government is protecting the country and the citizens by supporting the deportation of illegal immigrants and slowly building a wall to keep them out of the United States. However, being an immigrant myself I strongly disagree. I think this topic should not be controversial anymore, everyone needs to realize that immigration is not the cause of all the issues in society and how wrong it is to pin it all on immigrants.
I would first like to discuss three out of five myths which were stated on an essay “Five Myths about Immigration” written in 1994 by David Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. The first one is that “America is being overrun with immigrants”, a true statement but as mentioned by Cole it is not news since basically all Americans are immigrants. We all came from somewhere, the only nonimmigrant people living in the US are the Native Americans. But what I think this myth is more targeted towards are undocumented immigrants. According to Cole undocumented immigrants only "make up 13 percent of immigrants living in the United States” (Cole 763). Therefore undocumented immigrants are not the problem in society.
The second myth is probably one of the most popular ones, “Immigrants take jobs from US citizens” (763). I have heard this one so many times, and I consider it to be reasonable because it makes sense. There are more people migrating into the US, desperately looking for a better life, therefore will do hard labor for a much lower price. However, that is one way to look at it, what people fail to realize is that the more diverse the US is, the more opportunity arises thus more jobs are created. According to Cole “numerous studies have found that immigrants actually create more jobs than they fill” (736). And by creating more jobs, they’re not only creating it for their own community, but they’re also create jobs for everyone. Cole adds on that “Mexican immigration to Los Angeles County between 1970 and 1980 was responsible for 78,000 new jobs” (736). Therefore these people the US government consider immigrants are contributing to the nation’s economy.
To add on to the second myth, the third one also suggests that immigrants are not contributing to the country’s progression but more so the downfall. Which states that “immigrants are a drain on society’s resources” (764). I disagree because undocumented immigrants don’t have access to many resources expect education which as stated by Cole is constitutionally required. Also, everyone has access to education, it is not like immigrants are preventing citizens from this resource. In fact, by providing education to immigrants allow them to make progress and even contribute to society.
Anyone who makes the decision to migrate to the United States has one goal which is to pursue a better life. Therefore we shouldn’t be the ones deciding whether immigrants are needed or not. Barry R. Chiswick, a specialist in the labor market, wrote an essay “The Worker Next Door” which basically states that life goes on in the USA without immigrants. Chiswick focuses a lot on explaining how immigrants are not as needed in the United States to performs the jobs which require less-skills; and how if they were to all be deported everything would be fine because “Americans” can get the job done. I found the essay absurd because it is not always about the citizens. He suggested that “hotels and motels could reduce the frequency of changing sheets and towels from every day to, every third day for continuing guests”(768). I don’t disagree with this statement, but I found it to be unnecessary because throughout the essay he is suggesting that all these changes must be made so that the illegal workers wouldn’t be needed. He completely neglects the fact that these workers are here in search for a better life like the rest of us, and how these jobs are meant to benefit them and the United States economy.
John Tierney, an author, and communist, wrote an essay “Angels in America”, in which he focuses on explaining how Mexicans are usually viewed as the least welcomed immigrant, and how most expect them to fail. Tierney then gives an example about Espinoza, a Mexican male who is living in the United States illegally but are actually working really hard to build a better life for themselves and seeing progress. He states that “Espinoza started off making less than $4 an hour as dishwasher [then] became a cook and worked up to $15an hour. He switched to driving street-cleaning truck [which paid] him $17 an hour” (771). This shows how much effort and dedication immigrants put into creating a better life. Which brings me to my next point which is deportation. Imagine deporting someone who has basically lived here for so long and has built a family and a life for themselves, like Espinoza.
Espinoza lives fear of being deported because he “couldn’t even become a legal resident” (770). Although he had married an American born citizen, he still could be deported for coming into the country illegally. It is sad to not be able to live a life you spent so long building because you have to be forced to leave it all behind, and never come back. Espinoza “had to tell [his] daughter that one day [he] might not come home” (770). Therefore his daughter has to grow up without a father around; he has to go back to his native country and try to build another life for himself when he had already worked so hard on building one in the United States.
I have family members living in the United States illegally. They are here working hard so that they can provide a better life for their children. I have witnessed how much harder it is for them to provide everything. They’re constantly trying to grow and improve their lives.
To conclude, the government should not keep deporting illegal immigrants to their native countries, because they have created a new life for themselves in this country, and they have worked hard to achieve their life goals. It is wrong to strip them away from what they have spent almost their whole lives building. Also, many of the immigrants start their families here, and it’s wrong to strip children away from their parents because they’re legal but their parents aren’t. Now, of course like many Americans, not all immigrants share the same goals or succeed. But that doesn’t mean that we have to consider all immigrants as criminals and deport them.
Most immigrants migrate searching for a better life and a better future for their families, what is wrong with wanting a better life? What is wrong with wanting more for yourself and your family? What is wrong with living your dreams? What is wrong with wanting to be happy? I believe that it’s time we all come to the realization that we’re all immigrants. Our ancestors started off living in this country illegally but here we all are now working towards making it a better place for us to live, and providing a better future for our children. Therefore, you do not need a document to prove that you are a legal immigrant, your hard work and your dedication to improving your life should be enough to prove that you deserve to continue to live in this country and helping it move forward.