Running To America By Luis Rodriguez Summary

He illustrates the suffering people experience at the hands of the desert, the loss that shatters the families of those who lose their lives during the journey, and the desire for the American Dream that motivates the border crossers to risk their lives. The emotional tales in the book give a face to a group of people who are nothing more than a statistic to many Americans. The vast majority of people seem to have no comprehension of the impact that different policies will have, regardless of their support for or rejection of our current immigration policy. Big picture information about illegal immigration is intangible and incomprehensible to most. The emotional arguments provide readers with information that the average person can work with, such as the story of Memo and Lucho crossing the border and eking out a life in the US afterwards (De León 167-201). The stories provided by the book can also connect the effects of immigration policy on the individual to the impact it can have on large groups of people who had no intention of crossing the border. For example, the testimony about Maricela’s life and death provided in Chapter 10 connects the suffering Maricela experienced to the pain her family and friends feel after they learn of her death (De León 243-264). These stories aid in the creation of better arguments about illegal immigration.

In the poem “America,” by Tony Hoagland, the idea of Americans being consumed with their money is shown using symbolism and metaphors. The speaker in this poem is a teacher whose name is never mentioned. One thing revealed in the poem is that the speaker has a father who is presumably very wealthy and successful. One of the teacher’s students compares America to a maximum security prison. A recurring theme throughout “America” is Hoagland showing examples of America’s greedy society using a teacher, student, and a father’s experiences. Using metaphors of money and symbols of rivers filled with merchandise, Tony Hoagland captures how the teacher begins to think after he hears his student compare America to a maximum security prison.

Simply put, America is the land of opportunity. In the past, immigrants have left most of their family, memories, and familiarities with their homeland in search of a better life in America, where jobs were easy to find and the economy was booming. These immigrants formed almost the entire American population, a demographic anomaly in which people from nationalities separated by land and sea; these people come from countries separated by expansive distances can live within the same neighborhood. Both Anna Quindlen with her essay “A Quilt of a Country” and John F. Kennedy with his essay “The Immigrant Contribution” have documented the story of these immigrants and

The Red Umbrella, By Christina Diaz Gonzalez and MIgration Photograph by Jose Hernandez Claire both poetry the subject of Immigration. They show how immigration affects families. The authors of this text and image uses some similar techniques to portray this subject, but they also use very different techniques to express their feeling about how immigration affects families.

People usually move to the United States in order to get a better education than their home country can provide. Some people will proceed to the extreme of crossing the border illegally in order to find a better life. Even though the process is extremely long and enduring, most people abide the process of gaining citizenship in America. Although these people carry on through great lengths to achieve this they may not get what they had expected. This is the case in the poem “The Secret,” by Pablo Medina, in which the narrator describes his new life in the USA not to be as he had expected. Expecting to find a better life he left his home country, excited about the newfound opportunity to learn and more freedom than he had his home

Americans can never experiences the hardships and struggles that an immigrant experiences, at least not in the same type of context. Many authors describe the way American born citizens alienate immigrants: lowering their standards, taking away opportunities, and downright judging them for any reason that can be found. In Firoozeh Dumas’ memoir Funny in Farsi, and Pat Mora’s poem “Legal Alien” many descriptions of the struggles to live to what they are worth in America are shown. Being viewed as unworthy, and not amounting to what they truly should be—these are just small examples of what Dumas and Mora describe life as an immigrant in America. From the other sided view of things, in Richard Crowson’s political cartoon “Great American Melting

Immigration to America is often a decision based solely on the idea that America has some sort of redeeming qualities for a chance at a better life. America’s founding ideals of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are what compel foreigners to escape the troubles and oppression of their homeland and cross over onto American soil. The tales of America being the “land of opportunity” have continued to lure and attract people to immigrate. The Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century brought millions of immigrant laborers from across the globe to America in a short span of time. This large influx of laborers fashioned a well-defined distinction between “settlers” and “immigrants,” causing many observers to be concerned with how these new arrivals would fit in to American society. Emma Lazarus in “The New Colossus”, Jane Addams in Twenty Years at Hull House, Walt Whitman in “Crossing the Brooklyn Ferry”, Theodore Roosevelt in American Ideals, and Thomas Aldrich in “Unguarded Gates” are just a few names in American Literature who use their work as a medium to voice their opinions on the issue of immigration.

This theme is supported when the author writes,” ‘You want to get us all arrested as harraga? Get out of the boat if you want to get there…” This shows that the immigrants had to risk everything, including their lives, to get to land where they have the possibility of opportunities that were not available to them in their home country.

El norte and “let America be America again” shows the difficult situation the immigrants pass by being in a new country, immigrants face many social, economic and ideological barriers, the struggle to learn a new language and the inequality of opportunities this contradict the hopeful vision Emma Lazarus puts forward in “the new

Throughout the history, immigration and the United States are inextricably linked. The United States has promulgated many immigration legislations in the past either to restrict or support the immigration. Immigration is still going on and it is a debatable issue even today. In the interview, Chang-rae Lee says, “I’m interested in people who find themselves in places, either of their choosing or not, and who are forced to decide how best to live there. That feeling of both citizenship and exile, of always being an expatriate-with all the attendant problems and complications and delight”(Garner 2). Chang-rae Lee exposes the inner and outer conflicts the immigrants go through in the United States with

When assessing the history of the United States, it is evident that migration has served as the foundation of this country. Migration is often revered as innovative or forward thinking therefore, many begin to see the displacement of people as imperative in order to live a successful life. However, Scott Russell Sanders makes a different case. In “Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World” Sanders responds to an essay by Salman Rushdie and makes the case for settling within geographical borders. In Sanders’ response, he utilizes effective strategies to successfully convince his audience that by creating a more permanent home within borders, life is more enjoyable.

His poem, “Immigrant in Our Own Land,” focuses strongly on his culture and race, by revealing the false expectation of the “American Dream” for immigrants. Baca dives into deep topics such as; violence, gangs, dictatorship, and stereotypes. In the poem he tells a story of foreigners wanting to come to America, with “dreams in their hearts” (“Immigrants” 1) and a better lifestyle for them. However, as he goes on writing, the hopes of these immigrants are lost, and America is not as it seems. With the hope of rehabilitation, better education, and learning extra trades (“Immigrants” 2) all sweeped away from them, they fall back into the pattern of being grouped again by race. The whole reason these humans wanted to leave from their “old world” (“Immigrants” 1) was to get away from the cruelty, dictatorship, and false promises made to them; for new beginnings(“Immigrants” 3). Yet, Baca continues to list the unfair, unjustful conditions immigrants have to accommodate to in America. There are still bad conditions in living, racial problems, and gang influenced groups from just the hope of a “new world” for the foreigners. Baca proves his point by writing, “some will die and others will go on living without a soul, a future, or a reason to live” (“Immigrants” 6) Showing the underlining message of race and immigrants, and how he had to accept the conditions he

With the increase of violence in Mexico and the decline of economic opportunities, my aunt Celia had no other  choice, but to leave Mexico and come to the United States. It's a familiar story, the struggle of being an immigrant in a foreign country and the hardships of starting from scratch; however, you seldom hear this story told by those who are affected by the immigrants search for their own slice of the  American Dream.

“Remember, remember always,that all of us, and you and I especially,are descended from immigrants and revolutionists” by Franklin D. Roosevelt. This paper will explain what immigrants go through when they are trying to cross borders legally. I am writing to educators and not-for-profit leaders hoping to open their eyes to what is going on in this world every day. It all began with people wanting the American Dream.

In the poem, “Isla” by Virgil Suarez, I will describe four images that stood out to me, the reader, to have sympathy and what effects it had on me. The child being an immigrant compares himself to Godzilla. People were threatened and are after Godzilla because he is different and not in his normal habitat, the child felt the same way as being an immigrant. I get this image by “how you move from one country to another where nobody wants you, nobody knows you” (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). He felt like he didn’t belong, with no money for TV, “transfixed by the snow-fizz on our old black and white”.