Mexico Border Violations

Immigration of Latinos has long caused cultural conflict, especially when it comes to the illegal immigration of Latinos. Unfortunately, the issue has long been debated and there seems to be no clear cut answer on how to resolve the problem. Many Americans often overlook the struggles that Latinos endure and place stereotypes upon this group of people that are untrue. Furthermore, most Americans are misinformed or uninformed about the other side of this hot issue. The purpose of this essay is to give the reader a better understanding of Latino immigration from a cultural perspective and what these immigrants, both legal and illegal experience when relocating to a new country as well as a brief discussion on the issue of immigration reform.

Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity. By David G Gutiérrez. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995).

For my research topic, I will be exploring the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and post-9/11 border militarization on the issues of criminalization of immigration and the inequality and structural violence immigrants face in detention centers specifically at the U.S.-Mexico Border. National awareness on issues such as oversight of detention centers, conditions within detention centers, as well as the inhumane practices detained immigrants are subjected to have risen within the last decade. Immigration detention has become the fastest growing form of incarceration in the United States, and immigrants are the fastest growing population in federal prisons (Lopez & Light, 2009). Nearly 30,000 immigrants are detained

Hispanics, Mexicans, and Latin Americans do not only face discrimination on the roadways but also in areas of immigration law enforcement due to past incidents in America with people of their ethnicity. In 2010 an American citizen of Mexican descent and his family were coming back to America from a family trip to Mexico, when him and his family, including his eighteen month old son, were subjected to an additional screening and special search because of their origin. In New Jersey 2007 police referred around 10,000 individuals who they believed to be undocumented to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), and less than 1,500 of those referred to ICE had immigration offenses. Even though nearly ninety percent of those referred were legal residents or U.S citizens, they were all still jailed for a few days, resulting, once again in unjust treatment of American citizens because of the color of their skin (The Reality of Racial Profiling).

The study highlighted how the viewpoints Latinos hold on subject matters such as immigration, abortion, self-identification, family relations, vary based on which generation they pertain to and the degree of assimilation they have undergone. A common trend pointed out in the study was that the more assimilated a Latino was, the more likely they were to hold conservative views on immigration, despite the fact that their grandparents were immigrants. The 2005 study found that those believing that, “’immigrants to the

In 2008, African-American presidential nominee Barack Obama garnered 67% of the Latino vote. In his bid for re-election, President Barack Obama acquired 71% of the Latino vote (Pew Research Center). With these statistics in mind, one can conclude that there has been a consistent growing pattern of continued co-operation between blacks and Latinos at the national level. This is in complete contrast however, to the mindset of some observers who believed that Latinos would not come out in the numbers they did because of racial bias and because of the fact that Obama received much less support amongst Latinos in the democratic primaries when faced against Hilary Clinton (Hero & Preuhs, p.3). Many people mistakenly thought this to be so because

Latin American immigrants are not just concentrated to one area of the country. Cubans mostly live in Florida, while Puerto Ricans live in the northeast, and Mexicans mostly live in the southwest (Chavez, et al, 2005: 508). Their main destinations in the United States could be based on the geographic locations of their home countries. They settle in the area of the United States that is the closest to their country of origin. The formation of ethnic enclaves is common among immigrants because it connects them to their home country. They are able to livie among people who speak the same language, or in this case the same dialect, prepare the same food, and have the same cultural values. This spatial distancing is further proof of separate ethnic identities. Immigrants tend to live within groups of people from their own countries, not just with people who identify as Latino. By living with people from their home countries, immigrants maintain connections with where they came from.

Immigrants are never fully welcome in a new place because people form small “in-groups” and ignore those in the “out-groups” in most cases. Smith starts this essay with a brief story about a fourth grader, Rodrigo Guzman and his family being deported back to Mexico, focusing on the reaction from his classmates when

Gonzales develops his thesis by asserting that Latin American immigration and Latino presence in the United States are

The Latino Threat is a concept of an imposing threat of the Latino, whether they be from Mexico or any other Latin country, and how they affect the U.S. and its citizens. This concept is described heavily Leo R. Chavez’ book aptly titled The Latino Threat. In the book, he describes how the Latino threat as a concept has been used routinely to underline the aspect of United States citizenship in a tit for tat manner; that being dehumanizing the Latino to raise the standing of U.S. citizenship. The U.S. as a nation believes it should feel better about itself because it is the one that turns people away rather than being the place where people run from. Over the history of America this isolationist view on illegal immigrants has waned and

A diverse minority group of Latino and Spanish-speaking peoples has played an important part of what it means to be American and what it means to be a citizen in the United States today. Moving into the future, in order to analyze the trajectory that this group is in, we must first understand the group’s history in the United States and in territories that would become the United States. In addition, we must look at the origins of the most recent wave of Latino immigration in order to understand their current effect on American society and the intersection between both minority and majority groups. Finally, we get to the apex of this investigation: what lies in the future for Latino Americans in the United States? Although Latino

The book starts by presenting the complex interaction between Latinos and institutions. He argues that between 2001 and 2012, Latino migrant activists and their allies could not gain momentum following short-term victories because they are against an anti-migrant hegemony. Chapter 1 opens with The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act (HR 4437) also known as the Sensenbrenner

Hispanics in the United States have a history rooted for centuries. Many different cultures make up this group dubbed ‘Hispanics’, each with their own identity, culture, and struggles. However, they do group together in a common fight to gain a more stable and positive foot hold in the U.S.

Immigration is a rapid growing issue for the United States. For a long time people from other countries have been coming here to look for bigger and better things for themselves, as well as for their families. This article digs to the core of the issue, illegal immigration. Chideya wanted to know three things: 1) What is the reality behind the perceptions of Mexican Americans, 2) How do the residents of El Paso look upon the Mexicans, and 3) How do Mexican-Americans see themselves and their cousins across the border.

Immigrants arrive here in America to establish a better quality of life. They come here to get a job, raise their families, and get an education. To express their need for stability is important. In “Border on Our Backs,” Rodriguez carries some sociological information of how Latinos feel judged. The author states, “Just who precisely needs to be pardoned? Those who are exploited and who’ve been here forever…or those who’ve been complicit in our dehumanization” (562)? He feels criminalization in the way the Latin immigrants are treated. Rodriguez talks about some racial profiling in