Separation Of Immigrants

Between 2001 and 2004 the estimated number of central American migrants that reported detained and deported, doubled to more than two thousand a year. Most of the migrants that leave their home in central America and Mexico have a set goal which is to find their mothers. “An estimated 1.7 million children live illegally in the United States, most from Mexico and Central America” (Nazario, Pg. 241). A study featured in the book from a Harvard University showed that “85 percent of all immigrant children who eventually end up in the United States spent at least some time separated from a

Christine Bowman, writer of the essay “Undocumented Lives: Migrant Latinos in America”, presents a strong response to a book of a similar name. Bowman’s authority is already shown without having to read her review at all due to her choice of topic alone and how controversial it is. She brings up the stereotypes and misconceptions about immigrants and how they are exploited for their hard work, challenging the idea that migrants are only here to take away American jobs (Bowman 261). Along with this, she argues against the complaints relating to the miscommunications between our languages and reminds us that migrants are “scared because they do not speak English” (Bowman 262). As proof of her credibility, Bowman cites a quote that further expands on the language barrier. Her use of I throughout the essay adds a personal touch, allowing her to bring up the things she feels are most important, including how migrant workers should not all be treated as they’re part of the same story (Bowman 260).

Alien in one definition is: “Too different from something to be acceptable or suitable,” and Illegal in one definition is “Not allowed by the law.” (Mirriam-Webster Dictionary) The words ‘Alien’ and ‘Illegal’ have inherent negative connotations. A person does not need to know the intimate or factual circumstances associated with those words to understand their symbolism. When those words are used to label the social group of undocumented Latino day laborers the inherent reaction is to see them in a negative way. The individuals become a stigmatized group. The people against undocumented immigrants in Farmingville saw the Latinos through the lens of the stigmatized group “illegal aliens.” They thus became

Because of the United States’ policy of granting birthright citizenship to those who are born on the United States soil, mixed families can suffer from the effects of deportation. Most commonly, the parents (who also tend to be primary caretakers and breadwinners) are the ones who risk deportation, while the children are allowed to stay due to birthright citizenship. According to an Urban Institute report, 93% of Mexican national men who were deported lived in the United States for over a year (Enchautegui 2013). Of the 93%, 76% were head of households. Thus, the report concluded that deportations increased economic hardships (Enchautegui 2013). Furthermore, there is a concern that deportation, because the parent is undocumented, could result in children being placed in foster care – resulting in a change in family structure (Dreby 2012). This not only has negative financial implications but harmful emotional implications for those families who have to suffer through this experience. Therefore, the policy of disbanding sanctuary cities could not only have financial ramifications but emotionally traumatic ramifications for those children that remain

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

Studies show, within 3 months, 80,000 illegals were deported from just Texas and many more in five other states; 700,000 returned to Mexico voluntarily, 488,000 in two other states (Nagle). A child born in the country from foreign parents are citizens at birth and it should not be taken away from them. “Former representative Nathan Deal of Georgia had a better idea, and he introduced a bill proposing that being born in the U.S. only confers citizenship if one child’s parents is a U.S. citizen” (Nagle). When parents are deported their children don’t have a choice whether they go with their parent or stay, the government chooses it for them. Some parents don’t know they can request return upon deportation or their children could be replaced with their relatives or take them with them to their home (Valbrun). A mother sent a request to visit her child but got no response and her child was taken care by strangers and the mother did not accept this idea. Obama stated that they are focusing on deporting immigrants that have committed crimes. “It’s clearly un-American to take kids away from loving families” (Valbrun). Social workers say children are better off living with middle class Americans than their own “poor” parents who want to try to make a living in a new place. An immigrant parent’s worst fear is to be deported and abandon their child

The essay "How Immigrants Become 'Other'" by Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco illustrates the issue of immigrants never truly being accepted by natural born citizens of America. In the essay, it is discussed that immigrants are and have been treated differently. The different ways immigrants are treated differently is almost an unintelligent question to ask. Instead the question, “How aren’t immigrants treated differently?” should be asked. Even the names politicians and society have created to describe immigrants are alienating and harsh, “Illegal, undocumented, alien.” The idea of a human being illegal is something that most people overlook, but the reality is, no human is illegal. This idea of immigrants being associated with names that have such negative connotations is one of many ideas discussed in the essay "How Immigrants Become ‘Other’.”Even though America is known as a “melting pot,” immigrants will never truly be accepted as a part of society no matter the amount of assimilation due to the blatant racism, segregation, and prejudice that non-immigrants have against immigrants.

“The result is family separation—often involving U.S. citizen members. Such destruction to families also results from the expansion of the so-called Secure Communities program under the Obama administration’s watch”(Hing 982). The Secure Communities program did not seem like it would cause any issues but it has. The Secure Communities has “called for expeditious removal of the thousands of unaccompanied children arriving at our border who are fleeing violence” (Hing 982). The children are trying to come to a better place but since there is no family members and they are just children they do not have a way to check their status and have no other choice but to be removed from the

Furthermore, racism can be seen in anti-immigration laws, the criminalization of immigrants by the government, media, and citizens, as well as in the abundance of harsh notions they all promote. The criminalization of people of color has been historically prevalent in order to give them a bad image and justify racist acts against them. Consequently, an AP survey conducted in 2011 showed that, “...52 percent of non-Hispanic whites expressed anti-Hispanic attitudes” (Associated Press). Another study conducted in 2014 found that ”... opposition to undocumented immigration in the U.S. may not be as strong as it is currently if the undocumented immigrants appeared to be more Caucasian” (Anastasopoulos 13-14). Race has been used to give many negative

Zayas, L. H., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Yoon, H., & Rey, G. N. (2015). The distress of citizen-children with detained and deported parents. Journal Of Child And Family Studies, 24(11), 3213-3223.

Deportation can have a psychological effect amongst families with mixed status as far as who is a U.S. citizen and who is an immigrant. In a study between July 2010 and September 2012 out of the 205,000 people who were deported, reported that there was at least one U.S. citizen child resulting in 90,000 parents who were deported (Psychological Impact of Detention & Deportation 2). Statistics like these demonstrate how the system is corrupted and needs to be fixed and mended. Families are constantly getting ripped apart because of an unequal status among family members. Psychologically, the deportations can affect family members, especially children. Children of immigrant parents live in fear because their parents may get deported. This is

When Americans think of racism, they usually think of slavery, and that racism is no longer a problem in America. However, this is not the case. Racism is still obvious in America. Racism can be linked directly to stereotypical mindsets of certain groups of people.  Today’s racism is not restricted to whites and blacks, and it has come to define many different groups and races. Pigmentation as well as physical characteristics and features still are influential for classifying people. It is easy to overlook the racism that hides below the surface and is part of American life. Today, an estimate 54 million Latinos live in the U.S. and around 43 million people speak Spanish. Although Latinos are the country’s largest minority, anti-Latino prejudice is still common. Very few Americans recognize, acknowledge, and respect the contributions of one of America’s greatest ethnic groups – Hispanics. Americans are often confused as to who Hispanics really are and what they represent in America. Although the United States is known for having a melting pot of diverse cultures, recent studies have shown the rise of discrimination against Latinos and Hispanics immigrants. A person’s legal status should not be an excuse for mistreatment.

Even more frequently, his use of “undocumented” immigrants rather than “illegal” immigrants. Simply by calling himself and others “undocumented,” it provides a positive impression for the reader. This is a stark contrast to news and society, both of which refer to them as “illegal” immigrants. Referring to

Over the last quarter of a decade, illegal immigration and enforcement have dominated mainstream policy making (Meisnner, Kerwin, Chishti & Bergeron, 2013). There has been a lot of public debate too, on whether or not the successive governments of the US have been able to effectively address illegal immigration and its enforcement thereof. However, as Meisnner et al. (2013) state, in the wake of the terror attacks of 2001, a paradigm shift appears to have been established, with the enforcement of illegal immigration taking a de facto stance. As such, as Dreby (2012) intimates, the number of immigrants who have been deported or removed from the US since 2001 has risen from 190, 000 to close to 400, 000. Considering the fact that there are more than 11 million illegal immigrants living in America, deportation on such a large scale without a doubt will result in a continuous chain reaction. One such consequence, as The New York University School of Law (2012) states, is that families are inherently broken apart by the removal of a family member. Additionally, there are other psychological and psychosocial impacts on families that are far-reaching. Because of these and many other compelling factors, this paper argues that the US should work to prevent deportations, rather than enforce them.

We were conjoined twins, and they separated us at birth. “You were a very special case” mom told us, “joined at the stomach.” That separation must have changed everything. Growing up we weren’t very close at all; Martha was her own person as was I. She was more into her books and her grades, and I had my sports and makeup. We didn’t have time to want to hang out with each other, and mother could never get us to agree on anything - except eating.