Undocumented Lives: Migrant Latinos In America Summary

Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz’s, Labor and Legality is a book written on the Mexican immigrant network in the U.S. She centers it on the Lions, a group of Mexican men from Leon, Mexico that all share their lives and help explain the many networks and strategies that are used in order to excel and gain happiness. There have been many different sorts of misconceptions about immigrants, and in recent years about undocumented immigrants from Mexico. The U.S. has made a sort of war on illegal immigrants and has made it a seemingly high priority in the media and in politics. Therefore, many Americans have been mislead and ill-informed about the history of immigrants/undocumented immigrants. Gomberg-Muñoz’s Labor and Legality helps set us straight. She unveils undocumented immigrants for the people that they are instead of the criminals that the media leads many to believe. Although she doesn’t have a wide range of participants for her study, I believe that she addresses many of the misconceptions and just plain ignorance that American people have of people that are undocumented; why stereotypes are supported by the people themselves, why politicians include stronger illegal immigration laws, and everything in between. Many of her topics reveal a sort of colonialism that the U.S. practices on Mexico; the exploitation of undocumented peoples to the benefit of the U.S. through economics, hypocritical laws and campaigns, and the racist and prejudice consequences.

Gonzalez opens this chapter with, conceivably, the harshest narrative he could find to support his claims: He writes of a Latina mother forced by a judge to speak English to her daughter at home if she wanted to retain custody (Gonzalez 206). He continues on to describe the three categories of people affected by the

The book Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States illustrates the fieldwork of the author Seth M. Holmes by explaining the myriad aspects of migrant workers’ lives in the U.S.—from the politics to the social environments to the physical body. By not only studying, but living, the lives of these migrant workers, Holmes brings the reader a view unseen by the vast majority and provides the opportunity for greater understanding through the intense details of his work. The voices of vastly different characters—real people—are captured and expounded on without judgment but with deep consideration for all factors that contribute to each person’s life, opinions, and knowledge. Ultimately, a picture of intersectionality is painted in the colors of migrants, mothers, fathers, children, doctors, soldiers, executives, the poor, the rich, and more.

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

In Undocumented Latinas by Grace Chang, Chang mentioned some of the ways undocumented latinas got abused and were not treated equally. For starters, she mentioned how women working in private households were underpaid by a great deal and worked for an insane amount of hours. Chang also mentioned two cases against the INS for not allowing women to receive the amnesty program because they receive public assistance to feed their children.

Abascal, Maria C. "Reform's mixed impact on immigrants: the new law's implications seem clear, but the indirect effects could be critical." The American Prospect, vol. 21, no. 7, 2010, p. A17+. Student Edition, Accessed 17 Oct. 2017.

The book ‘Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network’ by Ruth Gomberg-Munoz explains the hardships that surround the Mexican immigrant network. Over the years the ‘undocumented’ workers coming to America from Mexico has increased which has gained the attention of the American government and the media, as it is ‘illegal behavior’. Gomberg-Munoz attempts to create an understanding of the lives of these workers by telling individual’s personal stories. The author reports the workers undocumented lives rather than reviewing their status as this is already covered in society. The author’s main topic revolves around the principle that undocumented workers strive to improve their quality of life by finding employment in the United States (Gomberg-Munoz 9). Gomberg Munoz also presents the daily struggles the works face daily, and how these struggles “deprives them of meaningful choice and agency” which effects their opportunity and futures (Gomberg-Munoz 9). This ethnography shows their social identities through work, the reasons why their position is illegal and how they live their everyday lives under the circumstances.

Undocumented immigrants make up a large portion of the workforce doing jobs that are undesirable to many people. They leave their stable live in search of better opportunities for their family. The people who come to the united states do not come because of their own benefit. They come in search of benefitting their next generation. Immigrant workers know that the position that they are in is not the best and is more difficult to change their own path in life, so they put their focus on raising children in an environment where their children can see the benefit if certain commodities like an education. Although they have difficult jobs with small compensations and no benefits, they continue to work to serve as an example that hard work is the

Jose Antonio Vargas, courageous author of the essay “Outlaw”, contributes a first-hand life story to the boiling pot that is the argument over immigration. He recalls his own story chronologically, beginning with the month and words spoken by his mother on his day of departure over twenty years ago. He justifies the reasoning behind his leaving by retelling almost every illegal immigrant’s initiative, a craving for “a better life”. Vargas takes the reader on his journey, piggybacking through his fight for citizenship. He explains the numerous obstacles he’s had to bob and weave around and the laws he’s had to duck and cover for. On paper, Jose is the perfect American citizen, loved by his teachers and bosses a clean cut right side of the tracks

Immigration is a heavy topic to address, but the authors of these articles have a way of putting a human face to these stories that help make the article more personal and understandable. In the article “In Trek North, First Lure Is Mexico’s Other Line,” the author talks about the story of an immigrant woman who lost her leg while on her way to America. The author begins to explain that the immigrant woman was trying to find work in America so she could support her four year old daughter back home. Archibold, author of “In Trek North, First Lure Is Mexico’s Other Line,” says, “[the woman] made it to Mexico and onto the train. But after it departed there were cries of “Migra!” — the immigration police — and a scramble that sent her tumbling under the train,” (Archibold 36.) The woman lost her leg, but all she could think about was staying alive for her four year old daughter. This story that archibold plants in the reader’s mind lets the reader understand the reason for why immigrants are so resilient into coming to America. The author for “The Heartache of an Immigrant Family” did the same thing as archibold. Sonia Nazario, author of “The Heartache of an Immigrant Family,” began to tell the story of Lourdes and her children. Sonia explains that, “Lourdes Pineda was the single mother of a 5-year-old

“I am not the ‘Illegal’ you think I am, and Immigration is not what you think it is” Why do people cross the line illegally? there are many reasons for undocumented immigrants to cross the united states do with the poverty in the country, high level of education in the united states, and the better opportunity of jobs. Many immigrants decide to emigrate from their country of birth to seek a new opportunity for all the family, but analyze the information is not only one culture a lot of different cultures immigrant to have a better life in the united states. Undocumented immigration is a big issue in the united states because many immigrants come to live the “American Dream”. Immigrants from all around the different country come to a better economic opportunity, good education, and escape from their reality.

With the growth of Chicano/a Studies and with the current debates on immigration there has being a growth of academic research on Mexican in the United States and their important role in the economy of the country. However, non-fictional narratives of undocumented minorities for their lack-off or unexplored reasons have not received the interest of academic researchers. There is an absence of academic articles exploring the literature of undocumented, meaning literature written by authors that were or are undocumented. Most importantly how the literature of undocumented portrays the process of developing an identity of undocumented immigrants, specially undocumented immigrant women. Literature of undocumented immigrants gives a realistic portrayal

(Torres Fernández et al., 8) In the U.S. immigration is widely discussed and it is given bad credibility as negative views develop of immigrants as a whole. Cecila, another one of the interviewees described the lack of acceptance in the U.S., she pronounced feeling worthless and belittled in the U.S. society; according to Cecilia, the anti-immigration policies made her feel like she was nobody. (Torres Fernández et al., 8) These negative emotions have a direct impact on migrant’s daily lives, it affects their families and their work life, it is a haunting reality. (Torres Fernández et al., 8)

The simplification—and de-humanization—of the immigrant community in this country has long upheld a violent rhetoric which catalogues the “Dreamers” as the “victims” worthy of sympathy, the 11,000 other immigrants as “criminals” and those who speak on our behalf as the “heroes.” This happens because it is easy to designate roles to those who are silenced

Because there are no "true" Hispanics, the author concludes that racial categorization, not only of Hispanics, is unfit. Americans, explains the author, do not speak English but "American English" (115). Americans have taken the English language and transformed it into their own property. While becoming a hybrid, the language has also devoured other languages as well, causing boundaries, whether literary or racial, to mesh together.