Alien World

Due to the sweeping changes and global economic trends scholars tend to lose sight of the people caught up in these rapid changes (Chavez, 2013 ). Undocumented immigrants are caught up in other components of transnational problems attracting the attention of researcher’s interested primary on the economic role that undocumented immigrants play, while neglecting to focus on the complexities of their incorporation process to the society of their host country (Simich, 2009). There is a need for interdisciplinary research that helps understand the social and cultural complexities of undocumented immigrants. According to Paul Stoller, anthropologist (especially ethnography) can serve as a bridge that connects two words and interweave the distant

As a social complexity increase, inequality tends to increase. Border everywhere attracts violence, violence attracts fences and fences mutate into walls. Historically, Mexico’s economic difficulties and the contrasting economic opportunities in the United States have encourage the flow of immigrants from Mexico to the U.S. The wall that

They slip into the San Diego rail yard furtively, preferably beneath the protective cover of darkness, jumping fences, eluding guards and dodging two hundred -ton locomotives in a perilous dash for the most elusive of prizes, a free ride to the north. According to Jose Flores, an illegal Mexican immigrant seeking work in the United States says, “To be truthful, I have no idea of precisely where this train goes, other than it takes us to el norte” (Griffin 363+). The fact that each night literally hundreds of men and women clamber over the barricade is testament to its ineffectiveness and to the irresistible pull of United States jobs “that on average pay eight times their equivalent in Mexico” (Griffin 363+ ). Javier Ortega, a 40-year-old auto body repairman from Guadalajara, says, "It doesn 't matter how many people, horses, bicycles, helicopters or planes they use…. People will go. It doesn 't matter if the fence is electric" (Griffin 363+). These people carry dreams with them in hopes for a better life. These people are willing to walk day and night through any desert and any river they come across to achieve the “American Dream.” Illegal immigration between Mexico and the United States is a serious situation that needs to be solved. To better understand this situation, one must analyze the causes and effects and come up with a solution.

For years to decades’ immigrations has been an issue and maybe in some way a solution to big business gain. Is a real way to fix it or find a balance? It has been and will always be an ongoing subject with politics to come. Since the 1800s Texas borders has had a large population of undocumented immigrants. Though in the current century it does not have the high population with undocumented immigrant now, it is a targeted border for migration.

As the population of Latin America and the Caribbean raised in 1995 with a 190 percent increase (Gonzalez 199), the job markets in Mexico are becoming scarce and competitive. The living conditions of residents in provincial towns like in Cheran, “whose timber-based economy is in tatters” (Martinez 9) are greatly affected. Mexican immigrant workers are forced to cross the border and find a greener pasture in the United States, because “in 1994, Mexico was crippled by a profound-and-prolonged-economic crisis” (Martinez 8). With the huge influx of Mexican immigrant workers coming to the States in search for better jobs, the US citizens are concerned about the economic impact: jobs, government and public services. However, the Americans’ concern that the immigrants are draining the nation’s resources, is a sweeping statement, it is based on a myth. There are many recent studies that the immigrant’s population living in the United States helps the economy. Similarly, the Mexican government and immigrant families are grateful for their immigrant workers for lifting the ailing economy and the status of immigrant families. Immigrant workers, legal or illegal, are positively reshaping the economy of sending and receiving countries through these major myths.

Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network, by Ruth Gomberg-Munoz, is a book that explains the difficulty of Mexican immigrant lifestyles, which has gained the attention across the country especially since Donald Trumps’ recent statements against these people, as illegal civilians come from Mexico to work in America. Gomberg-Munoz tries to give us an understanding of the life of these people. Gomberg-Munoz’s thesis is that immigrant workers work endlessly to improve their life by finding employment here in America. Gomberg-Munoz claims that due to these people being “undocumented” or “illegal” it created many struggles in their daily lives, which limits opportunities to achieve the “American Dream” that we previously discussed. During this review I will look through a number chapters, discussing some of Gomberg-Munoz’s points and getting further into them.

Gomberg-Muñoz’s book provides the reader with an inside prospective of the lives of undocumented Mexicans. It shows what it is like for people working to help forward themselves and their families in Mexico and The United States. Contrary to some Americans belief that Mexicans want to take over the United States, the majority of the Lions just

One of the biggest problem people face on a daily basis in the border of Texas is the dispute about the border wall. Many believe the wall has brought more bad than it has good. Due to the location of the wall certain people had to relocate to another home, which many did not have. Although the making of said wall did provide many men and women with jobs many were forced to give their land to the government so that they could build the wall on their territory.

The topic of immigration is quite a delicate matter for most of the Americans, and understandably so, as it does have some significant impact economically as well as socially. But in the midst of this intricacy, are the lives of those immigrants who are brutalized frequently and face severe consequences because of their choice to settle to a different country. The theme of “$4000: The Price of a Mexican” written by Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez is how Mexicans who have migrated to the United States are often dehumanized and their lives are considered worthless, but most of all, about how commonplace it has become for Americans to do so. The article also draws attention to how the punishment for killing a Mexican worker is worse than the one given for killing a dog. The writers

Posted a few years ago as well, the Christian Science monitor expresses his view and opinion on a published note: Border Fence: symptom of a failed policy. He emphasizes his main point in this note being and quote “A fence is a tactic, not a policy. In fact, it's symptomatic of the failure of federal policy to get a grip on illegal immigration.” This fence may be a tactic, but hiring illegal immigrants flouts the law. Illegal immigration is moving all over the country and custom agents like I.C.E, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, tend to shut down day labor sites populated with frequent undocumented workers. Again we see how the fence in

The book ‘Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network’ by Ruth Gomberg-Munoz explains the hardships that surround the Mexican immigrant network. Over the years the ‘undocumented’ workers coming to America from Mexico has increased which has gained the attention of the American government and the media, as it is ‘illegal behavior’. Gomberg-Munoz attempts to create an understanding of the lives of these workers by telling individual’s personal stories. The author reports the workers undocumented lives rather than reviewing their status as this is already covered in society. The author’s main topic revolves around the principle that undocumented workers strive to improve their quality of life by finding employment in the United States (Gomberg-Munoz 9). Gomberg Munoz also presents the daily struggles the works face daily, and how these struggles “deprives them of meaningful choice and agency” which effects their opportunity and futures (Gomberg-Munoz 9). This ethnography shows their social identities through work, the reasons why their position is illegal and how they live their everyday lives under the circumstances.

Immigration is a cornerstone of America and is the basis for the founding of the thirteen colonies. There are very few families that did not originate as immigrants to the country at some point from the first settlers to modern times. However, the issue of illegal immigration, particularly from Latin America, has grown in recent years and must be addressed. There is an estimated 11.7 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States mainly overstaying visas or crossing over the border illegally. My solution to the problem of immigration is to reinforce the southern U.S. border because the initial problem must be solved before attending to current migrants. The economic effect of migrant labor is an overall net gain, which must be redistributed to the places with many immigrants. Finally, the current undocumented

The immigration reforms that are yet to be enacted will see the United States government erect a 2000 mile fence along its border with Mexico. The question that still lingers on is whether the erection of this wall will provide a long lasting solution to illegal immigrant's issue that has proved to an elephant in the room to the United States Customs and Border Protection agency (Fox News Latino, 2013). The erection of this enormous wall will mean that the government will more land from property owners to actualize its plans. Property owners in the southernmost tip of Mexico are not taking this issue lightly considering that hundreds of people lost their property during the last fence construction spree. It is not a secret that residents are against this initiative going by sentiments that were aired by the Los Angelus residents who lost their land in 2008 when a hamlet surrounded on three sides by Rio Grande was to get a U-shaped segment fencing (Fox News Latino, 2013). The communities who are likely to be affected by the erection of the wall are adamant that the government of the United States should hire more agents to patrol the porous United States border with Mexico. This would cushion them against imminent land loss and at the same time provide employment opportunities to the unemployed. Sentiments aired by lawmakers from this region appear to bolster the opinions of the residents. In fact, three democratic

Throughout history of the United States and Mexican border there has been multiple depths of changes and immigration. From the area trading country ownership to population changes to having a fence line created on it. Seen in Figure1, the U.S.-

Implementing stringent security controls along the borders is likely to reduce the influx of illegal immigration into the United States. With the increased border security, the American government could have helped alleviate the occurrence of the 9/11 bombing. Though this strategy is essential in alleviating the influx of illegal immigrants to certain geographic areas, increased border controls in these locations have made other, less controlled areas of the border more vulnerable. Rising crime rates, discarded debris, increased apprehension rates, and growing public scrutiny in these less secure areas provide clear evidence that border security is at once a social, an economic, and a national security issue.