Reflection About Identity

In the United States, many families are currently being affected by the Dream Act’s failure to pass. The Dream Act would have given many undocumented children the ability to have a pathway to citizenship. The Dream Act believed in the importance of social support within the family by supporting family unification. However, due to its failure to pass, millions of undocumented children are now at risk of being deported and having their families divided. Although the U.S. government created a new policy known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), it is not providing immigrants with the same opportunity. DACA instead give undocumented people the opportunity to not be deported for a maximum of three years, but will never become a pathway to permanent citizenship. The Dream Act and DACA ultimately affects the physiological, emotional, and mental health of the immigrants who reside within the U.S.

The undocumented students that will benefit from the Dream Act are students that are practically U.S citizens but not by birth. Some opponents to the Dream Act don’t realize how much these students have suffered throughout their life. The article, “Standing up for Immigrant Students,” mentions all of these hardships and struggles; children are exposed to many dangers when crossing the border, and once they settle in the U.S they face other hardships and struggles like learning a new language, meeting the expectations of their instructors, and being discriminated against (4-5). Despite the obstacles they encounter in their path, many manage the way to do well in school and many overpass American students and become leaders in their community. Being undocumented becomes a major issue for undocumented high school graduates who want to continue their education because it’s nearly impossible to attend a University and get federal help because a valid social security number is required. These young adults are some of the best and brightest students in this country;

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” That statement holds strong for immigrants in America. Equal access to opportunities allows immigrants to achieve the American dream. Their success correlates with America’s success because of the contributions immigrants provide to America. Unfortunately, the current immigration policy in America denies many immigrants the American dream. It is crucial to understand the historical context of immigration in America. Initially, most immigrants were from Europe and were not restricted by any immigration laws. Now, most immigrants come from Latin America but are restricted to severe immigration laws. The Latino/a community is one of the most

Imagine a world with an educated youth. Now imagine a parallel world where children are fighting to keep a smile on their faces, because, in truth, it is the only thing they have. In reality, this is what is happening. Youth, who have the privilege to be American citizens, are granted a very fulfilling education with a promise of a career. Children of illegal and undocumented immigrants do not have such luck. Some undocumented children in America have very promising futures and even a degree under their belts, but they cannot apply for a job because they have no proof of citizenship. A controversial topic is the matter of the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education, for Alien Minors) which permits undocumented immigrants to obtain

Immigrants into the the states were given the same promise of the American Dream as the citizens already there. This dream was meant to release them from a previous suppression and give them the opportunity to better their life. They had the right to work towards this better life with fairness and without discrimination. Once a group had taken full advantage of the dream and substantially improved their own quality of life, they were able to destroy this opportunity for others. The dream that was once “held to be available to every American” became difficult to achieve. The problem was that individuals were looking out for only themselves and forgetting to take into account the welfare of their nation and fellow citizens.

In a place where education is not easily accessible to everyone, and where the eagerness to learn and get an education develops within a community, social movements arise. One of many of which one of my good friend has been involved is the Dream Act and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. She is one of the few people that I personally know that has been actively politically involved since we were in high school. Through her I was able to learn and get a better understanding that education is not something that should be taken for granted, there are people like her, who are struggling and have so much potential to make a difference who want to learn but do not have access to education because they are undocumented. Many

Annually, there are close to 65,000 undocumented immigrants who graduate high school or earn a GED in order to then apply for college, only to be declined due to their lack of citizenship. Not only are they constantly turned away, if they are accepted, they are granted no financial aid and are forced to pay out-of-state tuition despite how long they may or may not have lived in that state (Bennion). Regardless of their residential status, Dreamers are capable of being honor students, athletes, valedictorians, all of the above, and everything a permanent citizen is able to assume the role of. They are just as intelligent, and if we provide to them the same resource as those who are legal are given, they could truly become a role model to many alike. On top of everything, it is already challenging for a Dreamer to get a job thanks to their status as a citizen, without a higher education they may have an insufficient chance of working a career or in a position of select field. Under the DREAM Act, these children could work a job with a salary enough to take care of them and their families if need be. Furthermore, if these people are allowed access to an increased amount of jobs, it would lead to economic growth in our

Immigration is a vital factor in the development of all countries as long as it occurs legally. However, there are some exceptions exist such as the DACA program in the United States. DACA, also known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or the Dream Act, is a bill that introduced by the former President Barack Obama in 2012. The reason for it is to allow hundreds of thousands of undocumented people to “temporarily legalized” to stay in the country. The photo that I use above representing the young people who qualify for deferred action is commonly referred to as “Dreamers” because they comprise most of the individuals who meet the general requirements of this act. Nevertheless, sadly, it recently ends by the current President Donald Trump by referring it as an "illegal amnesty"; and many of these young folks such as those kids in the picture who have been spending all their lives in America are no doubt at a risk of being deported back to their "unfamiliar homelands". This photo identifies the various emotions and insecure as a “Dreamer” as well as to the society following the end of the program.

The immigration laws have deprived human beings equal opportunities to live, work, attend school and travel. Immigration reform is a highly debated topic and furthermore erupts into discussions about change without repeals of immigration laws. Vargas mentioned the Dream Act put into place was supported by President Obama however it is not supported by the Trump administration. Undocumented immigrants remain in constant fear of deportation, losing the opportunities placed in the United States and leaving a country that some called home for years.

Following the 2016 presidential election, the undocumented immigrant communities were anxious about their future in America. A multitude felt distressed, afraid that they would be separated from and would no longer be able to support their family. The level of insecurity within these communities across the country reached its apex. Simply, this phenomenon occurred because people had listened to months of anti-immigrant rhetoric that then-candidate Donald Trump had been spewing. Mass deportation and separation from family and friends were on the minds of many.

Identity is a state of mind in which someone recognizes/identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are and what they do and not that of someone else. In other words it's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. The theme of identity is often expressed in books/novels or basically any other piece of literature so that the reader can intrigue themselves and relate to the characters and their emotions. It's useful in helping readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand

Another inevitable reaction that came to me when I was reading this text, was the thought of – Who am I? And most importantly – Who can I be that will embrace my identity, while encouraging the diversity of others? The few identities I do own now is that I am a young African American woman, who comes from a low income neighborhood, and who is not necessarily religious but spiritual. I do not think these specific traits changed from when I was younger, however I do think the external groups I associate with have matured through my morals and values. For example, I consider myself a Democratic and a Feminist – due to the experiences I have had and the knowledge I have gained. I

My view on immigration are, maybe, stronger than the regular person. With the recent immigration laws, I do not agree with. My feelings have been more on the sensitive side recently because of the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) being removed. DACA is a program for people who were brought from a young age, from their “home” country to the USA. Not everyone qualifies in this program, there is a lot of steps that they must go through, before they can get their green cards. I know of people my age, or younger, that had used DACA, and have just got their first car, their first job with benefits, or bought their first house. These people are called “Dreamers.” And their dreams are now going to be taken away because. I do agree that the

DId you know that there are 800,000 young people who are living in fear about being deported because DACA has been shut down. They were promised a home, they were promised an education, a job, and other resources! They were given every reason to dream about improving their life. That peace is no longer present in their life, they have to worry about what tomorrow will look like if they are deported and have to leave their families. Therefore, I think it is very important that we know the contribution that these Dreamers are having on our country.

beliefs. Sober uses the example of lightning. He points out that according to the Greeks,