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Sample Student
final answers 2013 (2013 final exam assignment) #1: Research Reports |
LITR 4333
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Brandi Polvado
The Mexican Immigrant Experience in
America
Over the years I have come across several Mexican immigrants
who have come to America for better opportunities.
Perhaps they are given better opportunities than they are given in Mexico
here in America, but I have noticed that several are not treated as fairly as
they should be. Living in the part
of Texas in which I live has given me many opportunities to work alongside
several immigrants who have migrated to America from Mexico.
These Mexican immigrants are considered to be “New World Immigrants”
because they are able to frequent their home country of Mexico quite often and
easily. I have also encountered
firsthand that the citizenship status of these immigrants can determine each and
every opportunity given to them in America.
If the Mexican immigrant wants to work to better their life in America,
but is not a legal citizen of this country, they are often times hired by
businesses illegally and taken advantage of.
For the Mexican immigrant migrating to America for better opportunities
and to improve their quality of life the best option to achieve these things is
to become an American citizen so they may be given equal opportunities and the
right to be treated equally in the workplace and all other areas of their life.
When you are an immigrant from another country, such as
Mexico, you often are in America to better your life with better opportunities.
However, if you are not a legal citizen of America it becomes harder to
obtain the opportunities you deserve.
For example, a Mexican immigrant who is considered to be an illegal alien
will almost always get hired for a job at a much lower pay than any other
person. Pew Research reports that
besides the state of California, Texas employs the most illegal aliens in
America. Out of all illegal aliens
in America, around 70 percent work illegally.
The employers who hire these illegal aliens to work are at an advantage
with the amount they must pay these workers and are taking advantage of these
workers because they know there is nothing the workers can do to prevent this.
The hiring of illegal immigrants at a lower pay is not only illegal, but
it prevents the Mexican immigrant from fully improving their quality of life,
which in a way defeats their entire purpose of coming to America to begin with.
It can be debated on whether or not allowing immigrants from
other countries, such as Mexico, to come to America and gain citizenship is in
the best interest of all the legal citizens already living in this country.
Allowing these Mexican immigrants to come to America to gain citizenship
can potentially cause several problems in this country such as overpopulation,
tax issues, welfare issues, and even employment issues.
With unemployment at high rates already, allowing Mexican immigrants to
gain American citizenship could potentially take away job opportunities from
those unemployed citizens already in this country.
It would be in the interest of any employer to hire a Mexican immigrant,
illegal citizen or legal citizen, because chances are they would work for much
lower pay than the average American citizen would.
Living in Texas, and being so close to the Mexico border, these job
related issues are surely prevalent here.
One could argue either way on whether or not allowing immigrants from
other countries the opportunity of citizenship is in the best interest for this
country.
Many could argue the fairness of allowing Mexican immigrants
the opportunity to come to America and gain citizenship for several reasons, one
being that over half of Mexican immigrants already here are not even authorized
to live or work here in America.
The New York Times reports that,
“about six million Mexican-born immigrants still make up 52 percent of the
unauthorized population.” That
statistic alone validates the many problems concerning overpopulation, tax
issues, welfare issues, and employment issues that arise when Mexican immigrants
occupy this country illegally. I have seen many people over the years make claim
on this country and say that allowing illegal immigrants citizenship is a
violation of our rights, but I feel that if citizenship is obtained the legal
way, these immigrants are now our equals and should be treated as so.
One could also argue the benefits of allowing Mexican
immigrants, as well as immigrants from other countries, the opportunity to come
to America and gain citizenship.
Efforts are being made by Obama to reform the immigration system and help the
millions of immigrants who are already in this country illegally the opportunity
at citizenship. According to an
article in The Weekly Standard Obama
says the new immigration system, “would modernize our legal immigration system
so that we’re able to reunite families and attract the highly-skilled
entrepreneurs and engineers who will help create good paying jobs and grow our
economy.” While some could easily
argue that allowing illegal immigrants citizenship it could take away many of
our opportunities, we should also consider that allowing illegal immigrants
citizenship could potentially open doors to more opportunities.
Working alongside several Mexican
immigrants over the years has allowed me to better understand the hardships they
face in both the workplace and all other areas of their life.
Until all of the citizens of America truly embrace the “melting pot”
culture that our country has become, I do not see many of the issues going away
anytime soon. Taking this course
this semester has truly opened my eyes to see what this country is really made
of. This country has evolved
drastically since the pilgrim days and a single dominant culture has now become
a “melting pot” culture that we should all embrace to better the country in
which we all live. I have learned
that no matter where we come from, where we have been, or what we look like, we
should all be measured as equals because we all face hardships and it is better
to work for each other than to work against.
1.
Halper, Daniel.
The Weekly Standard. “Obama in
Mexico: Immigration Reform Provides Citizenship for 11 Million 'In This Country
Illegally.'”
https://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-mexico-immigration-reform-provides-citizenship-11-million-country-illegally_720688.html
2.
Preston, Julia.
The New York Times. “Number of Illegal Immigrants in U.S. May Be on Rise
Again, Estimates Say.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/us/immigrant-population-shows-signs-of-growth-estimates-show.html?_r=0
3. Pew Research: Hispanic Trend Topics. December 8, 2013. http://www.pewhispanic.org/
