Edith Lepe

March 8, 2015
Political Science
An Insight into the Hispanic Community

A community to me is a group of people one self can identify

with and have a lifestyle similar to the other people who are also part
of it. I personally am part of many different communities but the one
that takes a bigger part of my life is the Hispanic community. I am a
Latina woman and my ethnicity is a part of my every day life and a
huge part of many decisions I make in life. The Hispanic community is
made up of people from many different countries but we all speak the
same language and go through the same struggles.
The struggles I am referring to are not only immigration but also
discrimination. People who fall under the Hispanic category dont all
have to be illegals in order to experience racism and discrimination.
I myself have been targeted before because of the color of my skin and
Im an American. One of the recent news that really stood out is the
Rirl v. Johnson case, this has to do with the illegal Central American
children and women who came to the U.S in the past year or so. Most
of these families qualify for asylum in the United States but while they
wait for their hearing the Obama administration has decided to keep
them locked up in the detention centers instead of letting them live

with family. According to the Obama administration this policy is "an

aggressive deterrence strategy" to keep more people from Central
America from coming to this country. They are using these children and
their mothers to make a threat to other people who might even
consider immigrating to the United States. On February 20, 2015 the
federal court in Washington granted a preliminary injunction to
immediately stop the act that the previous mentioned administration
was trying to use. It is not morally or legally acceptable to keep these
innocent families that have a chance to stay in the United states
detained while they wait for asylum hearing, not to mention it can take
up to a year for that.
The second case that I decided to analyze is Melendres v. Arpaio
because I have a similar situation that a relative of mine experienced.
There was a lawsuit filed against an Arizona sheriff officer, Arpaio,
because he was being accused of racial profiling against Latinos. He
would strictly target Latino people during duty and they started to
notice a pattern but it wasnt until Melendres took action and sued him.
Melendres has permission to visit the United States with a valid visa
and one day he was riding in a car with a Caucasian male and they
supposedly got pulled over for speeding. But officer Arpaio was more
concerned with the passengers in the vehicle, while the white man
didnt get a citation Melendres was taken into custody along with the
other passenger because of their ethnicity background. The lawsuit

was not only filed against Arpaio but against the entire Maricopa
Department for unlawfully participating in immigration sweeps. I am
able to relate to this because my cousin was recently pulled over by a
sheriff in the state of New Hampshire and was later turned into the
department of I.C.E but he wasnt even the person driving. This is
definitely not a situation that should be repeated throughout our
Latino/Hispanic community.
Lastly a decision that has impacted my community in a positive
way is the AB 60 law. This law was recently enforced in the state of
California this year in 2015; its an opportunity that was given to
undocumented drivers to be able to possess a valid drivers license.
This was long and hard thought decision by the homeland security and
through congress because of certain people that dont approve of any
benefits or privileges for the undocumented community. California has
the highest Hispanic and undocumented rate of people in the U.S so
this has been the best opportunity for them in many years. There is
nothing better than being to provide safe driving for everyone in
California. There are also no restrictions as to who can apply for a
drivers license as long as you dont have a bad record with any
citations still pending or previous DUIs and any other extreme cases.
As a person who is on the road every day I feel so much safer knowing
that majority of drivers around have a license and most likely also have
insurance now.

Overall, the Hispanic community has a huge impact in todays

society because we are constantly being put in the medias eye for
things that we should or shouldnt do. We havent reached a law for
immigration reform since 1988 but the U.S is slowly granting us new
benefits and resources. There are other states like Arizona that dont
welcome colored people and make their Hispanic residents live a living
hell, all because of the color of their skin and the language they speak.

ACLU, Ortega Melendres, et al. v. Arpaio, et al, September 12,

2014,

https://www.aclu.org/immigrants-rights-racial-justice/ortega-melendreset-al-v-arpaio-et-al

La Cooperativa, AB 60: Drivers Licenses for Undocumented

Workers, January 2015

http://www.lacooperativa.org/ab-60-drivers-licenses-undocumentedworkers/

ACLU, RiRL v. Johnson, February 23 2015

https://www.aclu.org/immigrants-rights/rilr-v-johnson