Conflict Of Undocumented Immigrants

In order to dehumanize a group of people, there must first be a clear separation between who is the “us” and “them.” The conservative documentary Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration (2006), takes the viewer into the lives of several people who are impacted by the growing issue of undocumented Mexican immigrants crossing the The Mexico–United States border. This film creates a one-dimensional or single conception of undocumented immigrants through the use of language, such as “illegal” or “alien” and various other combinations. Another method is through the imagery it showed while there was dialogue being said. Most of the imagery in this film creates a narrative that undocumented Mexican immigrants are violent and a threat to Americans. Additionally, the sympathizers and protesters against border reform were portrayed as anti-American radicals. The production of this documentary was not only used to direct our view of undocumented immigrants to a single account, but also to establish false truths that turn undocumented immigrants into a “them.”

“Since the presidential election, there has been a sharp downturn in reports of sexual assault and domestic violence among Latinos throughout the country, and many experts attribute the decline to fears of deportation.” (Too Scared to Report Sexual Abuse. The Fear: Deportation.) With constant talk of things like deportation and building a wall on the Mexican-American border, it’s no surprise that immigrants and Latinos have stopped reporting incidents of rape and abuse. This article shows that immigrants no longer feel safe or protected in America. “‘I would call the police and use another name or make a neighbor call,’ said April, who came across the border from Mexico when she was about 8 and lives in Orange County. ‘When he came after me, he’d say that I would get sent back to Mexico and never see my kids again. I believed him for a long time.’” (Too Scared to Report Sexual Abuse. The Fear: Deportation.) Women who have risked everything to come to America and begin a new life are being manipulated and threatened to the point where they are beyond terrified to report any form of assault or domestic abuse that they have experienced in fear of being deported away from their children and family. This is becoming the sad reality of life as an immigrant in the United

The debate over illegal immigration has been a constant and ongoing struggle in the United States. Millions of illegal immigrants are living among us in the country, we have more entering daily. Recently, President Barack Obama touched on the topic with his immigration executive order. Unfortunately, with the republican takeover of the white house, many of his actions are not being supported. This is viable evidence that there are people who want to help fix the immigration system in a way that will benefit illegal immigrants and give them a fighting chance to prosper here in the United States. With that being said, there are also powers who do not want to see that happen because they believe that it is not in the best interest of the United States to open their borders to illegals. This puts to question what the next steps for the United States will decide and how that will affect Americans across the country. My goal of this essay is to enlighten the moral concerns in the debates pertaining to immigration.

The debate of who should be allowed to enter the United States has been an issue for many years, with the large number of people entering and living here illegally this has become a significant talking point amongst the candidates in this presidential election. But are their views something that should be shared and supported by Christians today? There are definitely two opposing views from Christians on this topic. I will present both views regarding illegal immigrants in the United States and then I will present my own opinion on this topic.

There are many vulnerable populations within the United States. One of the many vulnerable populations are undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants also known as illegal immigrants according to Wikipedia (2016) is defined as “the migration of people across national boarders in a way that violates the immigration laws of the destination country” (para 1). The United States of America has one of the largest population of immigrants. In this paper, I will be discussing the multiple stressors related to undocumented immigrants as well as the programs that can be used to help alleviate those stressors.

According to data from the 2006 National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships (Encuesta Nacional sobre la Dinámica de las Relaciones en los Hogares,ENDIREH), 10.72 % of Mexican women who are currently married, cohabiting, separated, or divorced have been subject- ed to sexual intimate partner violence (IPV), and 23.72 % have experienced physical violence at the hands of their cur- rent or previous partner….[However], women’s reactions and strategies for seeking help (or not) from public institutions and social networks have not received the same degree of attention” (Frías and Carolina Agoff, 2015).

But one prevalent issue that has continued to be the source of much controversy is immigration. Founded on immigration this issue is not new to this country. Although it’s an issue that has been around for many years the mixed sentiments directed at it have only continued to become more prevalent. This may be due to the various perspectives from which it is viewed. The way in which an issue is looked at is influenced by various factors which become evident when the issue of immigration is discussed.

Interestingly it has been discovered that studies involving both immigrants and non-immigrants have generally found that Latinas born in the United States were at greater risk. Within the American born group there was a 48.4% rate of victimization in their lifetimes while foreign born Latinas only 22.2% reported physical assault by an intimate partner (Hazen & Soriano, 2007). Studies have also found that there is an association between the age of Latina women and the risk for physical victimization (Kessler, Molnar, Feuer & Appelbaum, 2001; Lown, Vega, 2001; Smith, Thornton, DeVellis, Earp & Coker, 2002). In other studies it has been found that divorced or separated Latina women are more likely to report physical violence and sexual violence than married women are (Coker, Smith, McKeown & King, 2000; Smith, et.al., 2002).

Illegal, Latina immigrant women experiencing domestic violence are highly unlikely to report this violence to law enforcement and are unable take legal action against their husbands. These women live in constant fear of being discovered and deported and consequently are unlikely to view law enforcement as a helpful resource. Immigrant women are more likely experience domestic violence due to a number of factors. Because of their illegal status, these women are more likely to live in poverty which, according to Bergen, means that they are more likely to experience male to female interpersonal violence (Bergen 2005). High in-home stress coupled with the constant fear of being discovered and deported also leads to a higher likelihood of violence (Barnett, Miller-Perrin, Perrin, 2011). Even if these women want to leave their home and take action against their husbands, most are economically dependent on their partners. While the United States has the Violence Against Women Act, or VAWA, which can aid illegal immigrants experiencing domestic violence in obtaining a visa, the fear of deportation keeps many women from seeking aid from social services and law enforcement. The lack of resources and fear ultimately allows domestic violence to perpetuate amidst an already vulnerable, invisible population.

The topic that will be analyzed in this literature review is relationship violence in Hispanics. Specifically, it will be physical and sexual abuse in intimate partners. It is mentioned that Hispanic women are less likely to report or use services available to anybody. The services that are available to them are healthcare and housing. As well as, therapy of any type. Also, Hispanic women are less likely to report abuse (Cho 2012). The reasons for not reporting abuse can vary depending on the legal status or living situation of the person being abused. Some of the reasons can be due to fear, cultural, and language barriers (Chiara, Cuevas, Zadnik 2015). Aside from not reporting abuse there are consequences that come from abuse. There are different effects that women go through depending on the severity of the situation or abuse.

Some illegal immigrants may know they are victimized, but don't know the right places or ways to call for help. It is not surprise to see even quite a few legal residents don't know where to seek for help in the complex legal system today. Compare to legal residents, illegal immigrants usually don't equipped with language skills that's enough for them to look for right agencies to help before they have stayed in the country for a certain amount of time. Illegal immigrants usually don't have the time and abilities to look for relevant information from TV, newspaper or even Internet. The circle of people, they are dealing with for the most of time, are usually in similar situations. Also because of they don't want everyone to know about their illegal status, it is very hard for people who can help to find them and help them.

In “Immigrants” by Pat Mora, they are struggling to achieve acceptance and help their family have a better future. The parents are trying so hard to associate their children with “American traditions” and still are left wondering if they will be accepted in America. In my opinion nothing is worth loosing your actual culture or values. They are literally willing to do whatever it takes to transform heir children into American traditions. “Feed them mashed hot dogs and apple pie” (Line 2 Mora). Both Hot dogs and Apple pie are both American food and American culture. Wait there is more they are even considering changing the names of their children. Buying them blonde dolls and football cleats both have typical American

Charles B.Rangel once state a quote about immigrants settling in America. "America was born as a nation of immigrants who have always contributed to its greatness". This country is based on freedom, not having amnesty for immigrants has a positive and negative outcome. Statistically, it is about 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants residing in America, with that being said, without the statics Americans wouldn't even notice because there are so many people in this country with different faces seen daily.

Domestic violence is abuse caused by family which included physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, economical abuse, psychological abuse, threats, stalking and cyberstalking. It is often referred to the number one health concern of the United States of America and Texas being the number one with the most cases. However, in most cases, the victim is not aware of their abuse because of their lack of knowledge to the situation and is often left untaken care of for long periods of time. In addition to Texas being first, illegal immigrants are on top of the chart as well and they’re too being untaken care of because of their fear of deportation to their origin of country. Children all over the world aren't being educated with the correct

Immigration is one hot topic in today’s conversation and society. Many think that immigrants coming to America are taking many jobs away from who need them. Some also think that there are jobs being taken away are not ones that Americans would not perform due to the horrible working conditions, low pay, and lack of important medical coverage. The immigration issue has come to a point where the United States must make a decision to spend a lot of money to curtail the amount of immigrants coming here.