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Alejandra Mendoza
Mr. Hackney
English 102: Rhetoric
11 April 2014
The American Dream
Rafael Mendoza is a 44 year old husband and father of 3. He works as a Supervisor at
Natural Creations Landscaping Company and lives in Joliet, IL. He has been living in the United
States for 26 years and out of those years 16 of them were lived as an undocumented immigrant.
Mr. Mendoza, my father, like many other undocumented immigrants who migrated to the United
States with the aspiration to one day posses the American Dream, has a story to tell. Just like my
father, Immigration has affected undocumented immigrants emotionally and has caused them to
go through many struggles throughout their lives.
It was my dream since I was a little kid. I had older brothers over here, so my goal was
to make some money. This happened 26 years ago and Im still here. Although undocumented
immigrants leave their homeland to cross to the United States to achieve The American
Dream, most of them are unaware of the fact that they are committing a crime. Immigration has
been a continuing issue for the United States; becoming more and more hard to solve over the
years. With over 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States today, the
government has been trying to search for ways to bring a stop to this issue once and for all. The
United States has turned to deportation and tighter Border Patrol security, but nothing seems to
be successful as to bringing a stop to this matter completely. Over the past years, Americans
have come to view the issue with Immigration differently. Most Americans see undocumented
immigrants as criminals who leave their third world countries to come to the United States in
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search to feed off of the benefits our government provides. Others see them as people with
dreams, who abandon their third world countries in search to complete them in the United States,
the land of opportunity. Nonetheless, all undocumented immigrants who choose to leave their
homeland in search for a better future somewhere else have been emotionally affected by
immigration and have also endured many struggles throughout their journey and its aftermath.
Immigration is far from being a clear cut issue. Although most people categorize it in that
matter, some fail to realize the variety of factors that this one issue alone contains. Everyday
Americans have only the knowledge of immigration that is seen on local news channels,
magazines, newspapers and the Politicians in government who are very one-sided advocates to
their own interests of the issue. The problem is that there is much more to the issue with
immigration than what is made public for the world to see. This issue for debate is a daily
lifestyle for immigrants who have struggled since the beginning of their journey to the United
States. Leaving family and everything that one is familiar with behind and putting ones life at
risk crossing a guarded border to another country with greener grass on the other side by all
means is not easy; neither is starting a whole new life from scratch. Those who are unfamiliar
with the issue fail to see these type of factors and the challenges that undocumented immigrants
undergo to create a better lifestyle for themselves, their children or their future children.
Everyone can agree that parents just want only the best for their children, so no one can argue
that leaving a third world country in sake for a better life for their future are intentions of a
criminal.
The challenges that undocumented immigrants face dont just end here though. After
these immigrants cross, they need to start rebuilding their life from the very beginning. There no
longer have a reliable place to live, a job or even a family present. Undocumented immigrants
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search for low-paid jobs, most of them being jobs that Americans dont want to do, like working
in factories boxing items or picking vegetables and fruits on farms. If jobs arent keeping them
busy, than surely education is. Undocumented immigrants in places all throughout the country
are fighting to continue their education with the struggle of getting into college. Language
barriers are also a huge problem for those who struggle to learn the language that is most
important to know in the United States where the vast majority of people speak it. In spite of the
difficulties undocumented immigrants face migrating, they continue to take chances in hope to
rebuild a better future.
It is safe to say that like every issue that the government is faced with to solve, there is
always a main source. Economic changes and the expansion of population in Mexico pushed the
movement of Mexican citizens to the United States. In Don M. Coervers Encyclopedia, Coerver
maintains that this movement was a product of the development policies being pursued by the
administration of President Profirio Diaz, as well as changes in the southwestern part of the
United States. President Diazs pursuit to advance agricultural modernization back fired and led
to displacement of the rural population, depressed wages within the agricultural industry and
promoted the continuation of debt. These changes encouraged workers to leave Mexico and
settle in Southern parts of the United States where there were economic developments present
and jobs that were available to choose from like railroad and mining. The United States as well
had turned to Mexico for cheap migrant labor and recruited Mexican workers around the border
area where they were heavily populated. Immigrants saw the United States as a refugee to
abandon poverty that the Diaz administration had caused and begin a new life.
Although they were immigration laws placed at the time they were poorly enforced.
Neither Mexicos or the United States government felt the need to pay much attention to the
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issue between the migrations of immigrants to the United States since both countries found a
way to benefit from the immigration movement. Coerver describes the U.S Immigration Act of
1885, which prohibited immigration based on labor contracts, but due to the great benefit that
the Southern states had from immigrant labor businesses lobbied for an exemption for Mexican
immigrants and were successful. The United States had a greater experience working with
Mexicans and saw Mexican immigrants as less of threat, because they could easily return back to
their native country, rather than other undocumented immigrants who were staying in the U.S,
but lived overseas.
In the beginning of 1942, the United States issued and launched a program where
Mexicans were able to enter and temporarily work in the country, mostly in the state of Texas.
According to Roger Parekh Chapman, author of the Encyclopedia named, Culture Wars: An
Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices, the program was called Barcero Program,
where immigrants would perform various agriculture tasks. This was an opportunity for
Mexicans to get away from the poverty in their country and experience the possibility of higher
wages and a more secure environment. Don M. Coerver, goes more into detail about the
arrangement that Mexico and the United States had saying, Mexican government permitted the
recruitment of Mexican laborers to work in the United States, with the U.S. government
guaranteeing the workers transportation, living, expenses, and repatriation costs. This
program would be up and running until December 1964, where contract violations and other
problems with the program prompted Mexico to stop sending guest workers to the United States.
Throughout the duration of the program 5 million Mexican workers had found employment in
the United States. Undocumented immigrants were attracted to the benefits that the United States
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offered through this program that brought a great opportunity to provide for them family;
therefore after the Bracero Program was terminated there was a spike in illegal immigration.
The economic changes in Mexico and the attractive opportunities that the Bracero
Program offered launched what is now a continuous issue that the United States has been dealing
with and trying to find a solution to for decades since Mexicos president Porfirio Diaz was in
office. Americans had a strong, but uncertain response to the matter and have remained divided
over how to address the problem. Seth Motel in his article on PewResearch.com named, On
Immigration, Republicans Favor Path to Legal Status, but Differ over Citizenship argues that
54% of Americans favor either a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants or 12%
wanted a way to stay in the U.S legally without citizenship. In other words majority of
Americans support the legalization of undocumented immigrants in one way or the other. On the
other side of the spectrum, Americans who do not support the legalization of undocumented
immigrants and avoid the moral response have been pushing towards deportation. By law, it is
illegal to cross borders of different countries without legal permission. Chapman elaborates in his
Encyclopedia that illegal immigrants should be treated like any other criminal and punished
accordingly. I agree fully that the law is the law and laws should be followed, but a point that
needs emphasizing is that foreigners are unaware of laws from different countries. During an
interview with Mr. Rafael Mendoza, after being asked the following question, Were you aware
that crossing country borders illegally was against the law? Did breaking a law matter to you?
he responded asserting that That is not criminal. Criminal is when you take something that you
are not souse too. Its not up to me to decide if it is criminal or not. When I crossed a long time
ago I didnt know that I was committing a crime just crossing the border. Im still in North
America, I didnt think that from the border to the United States as a crime. As seen in an
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undocumented immigrants own experience it is clear that they are oblivious to the justice
system and are more so focused on achieving a better lifestyle.
After undocumented immigrants cross, they have a great deal of struggles awaiting to
face them. These immigrants are beginning to rebuild a new life from scratch with only the few
resources they have available to them. One of the major problems that undocumented immigrants
face is the language barrier between Spanish speaking immigrants and English speaking
Americans. In some cases the severity of the effect differs between where the undocumented
immigrants live and what their surroundings are. For instance, an undocumented immigrant who
works with Hispanics and lives in a heavily populated Hispanic area will not feel the language
barrier effects like an undocumented immigrant who works with English speaking Americans
and lives in an English speaking community. Cynthia S. Becker acknowledges this language
barrier in her Journal, The Impact of Immigration on the United States in the Twenty-first
Century that, Most strikingly, unlike earlier groups, many recent immigrants have abandoned
inner cities and resettled in suburban ethnic enclaves, where they are able to survive without
learning English well. Nonetheless being a huge ordeal, undocumented immigrants have found
ways to cope with the problem.
Majority of undocumented immigrants have able to bypass the language barrier, but
undocumented immigrants have had a much harder time doing so. Schools now a days have
become more diverse and offer bilingual classes and programs that children who are unfamiliar
with the Spanish language can attend or take. However Mexican Americans had to fight for
schools to provide these types of benefits for our future generation. Sonia Benson, Daniel E.
Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine collaborated with one another in their article Mexican
Immigration written in UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History, stating that after the hard fight for
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these programs, Congress passed the Equal Education Opportunity Act, which sought to assure
equality in public schools by making education in the Spanish language available to students
with limited abilities in the English language. Many states like California and several others
voted against the bilingual programs initially, but today we see that many public schools around
the country offer these beneficial programs.
Around this time of year many students have already committed to their college of
choice, figured out their career path and are very excited to attend this fall; I as well am one of
those students. The United States is a great supporter of college education and push for
graduating high school students to take on the opportunity. However, when it comes to
undocumented immigrants, the United States is unfortunately uncertain about the idea of their
future college education. Undocumented immigrants face struggles when it comes to receiving
college education after high school. Currently not all states offer in-tuition for unauthorized
immigrant students. In their article, Views of Immigration Policy, Mark Hugo Lopez, Ana
Gonzalez-Barrera and Seth Motel argues that The general public is split48% support in-state
tuition for unauthorized immigrants, while 46% do not. Despite the split some states have taken
action either offering in-state tuition or passing laws preventing in-state tuition to be accessed by
undocumented immigrants. Joe Guzzardi provides ample evidence as to why colleges should not
offer illegal immigrants in-state tuition, Emmanuelle Le Texier challenges Guzzaedis evidence
and suggests that undocumented immigrants are entities to in-state tuition. In the Anthology,
What Rights Should Illegal Immigrants Have?, Joe Guzzardi, an English instructor in Lodi,
California writes:
Illegal Immigrants in the United States should not enjoy the right to pay lower in-
state tuition rates. Permitting in-state tuition entices people to enter the country
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illegally, and in California such policies are compounding the states already
enormous debt. Moreover, it is unfair for an illegal immigrant to receive
admission priority and financial assistance over a legal resident or a U.S citizen.
(Guzzardi 41)
Guzzardi is supporting his claim stating that illegal immigrants should not be able to receive
higher education or any other education benefits because of their legal status. He expresses his
belief that undocumented immigrants simply come to the United States to take advantage of the
opportunities it offers.
On the other hand, Emmanuelle Le Texier, a writer and immigration, U.S-Mexico
relations and citizenship researcher, disputes Guzzardis claim stating that:
Undocumented immigrants and their families in the United States deserve the
same access to affordable education that the U.S. citizens enjoy, including the
right to pay in-state tuition. The children of undocumented immigrants have done
nothing wrong by residing in the United States. In fact, these children work hard
in school, speak the language have assimilated, and should be rewarded with
access to higher education. If the United States hopes to build a strong future, it
must educate and train its diverse population. (Texier 37)
Texier on the other hand of the issue supports the issue with higher education for illegal
immigrants. He maintains that undocumented immigrants leave their third world country in hope
to achieve opportunities that they would have never been able to achieve in their homelands, in
this case the opportunity of higher education.
My feelings on this particular aspect of the issue are mixed. I do support Guzzardi when
he says that giving undocumented immigrants access to in-state tuition is in a way promoting
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illegal immigration, but I cannot accept his claim that undocumented immigrant shouldnt
receive admission or financial assistance over an American citizen. Higher education is not based
upon who is legal and who is not, it is based upon who puts forth effort and has motivation to
achieve their goals. Texiers claim is also flawed in my eyes. Although I agree that the United
States must educate to build a strong future for our country, I believe he overlooks the fact that
crossing borders without permission or right kind type of documentation is against is law. In
short undocumented immigrants are doing something wrong residing in the United States.
The United States has tried to find solutions to the battle of illegal immigration. There has
been a split between following the law the government carries or the morals that the people of
the United States carry. Today and over the past few years, the United States President, Barack
Obama, has tried to find the best comfort point for both sides of the spectrum. Last year alone,
according to The Economist, America deported 369,000 undocumented immigrants; this was a 9
times increase compared to 20 years ago. This takes the total number of those deported to almost
2 million since Barack Obamas presidency. An addition to that is the decline of the flow of
undocumented immigrants. Not only have deportations have been put into full course, but also
tighter border control. In her book, U.S Border Control, Crystal D. McCage demonstrates that
the increase of technology and manpower along the U.S borders has produced some positive
results it is not sufficient enough to bring this issue to a halt. The most recent move towards the
search for a solution has been the Immigration Reform Act, which deals with the legalization of
undocumented immigrants who reside in the United States. The White Houses YouTube
Channel created a video on Youtube video named, White House White Board: Why Immigration
Reform is Good for Our Economy and explains the benefits of the Reform that is now waiting to
be passed. One of the most ironic things is that the YouTube video goes on to explain the
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benefits that both the United States and the undocumented immigrants will receive if the Reform
is ever passed; sort of like how this whole ordeal started in the first place.
The United States is one of the most diverse countries in the nation, not only when it
comes to race, but as well as opinions. Americans have come to view the issue with immigration
differently and have had their own thoughts about what should be done to stop the problem, but
the undocumented immigrants are commonly left out of the equation. Although undocumented
immigrants commit crimes crossing the U.S-Mexico border, they have good intentions, and that
is to create a better future for themselves and their family. My father is living proof. He came
from a family who had absolutely nothing, and now he is doing what he loves to do every day at
work. Not only that, but he provided a better future for my family and I. The issue with
immigration may never be completely solved, but it will be a part of the lives of who it affected.












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Works Cited
Chapman, Roger Parekh, Serena "Illegal Immigrants." Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues,
Viewpoints, and Voices. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 2010. Credo Reference. Web. 24
February 2014.
Coerver, Don M. "Immigration/Emigration." Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture
and History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004. Credo Reference. Web. 27 February
2014.
The great expulsion; America's deportation machine." The Economist 8 Feb. 2014: 23(US).
Student Resources in Context. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Guzzardi, Joe. "Colleges Should Not Offer Illegal Immigrans In-State Tution." What Rights
Should Illiegal Immigrants Have? N.p.: Bonnie Szumski, 2006. 41-43. Print.
"The Impact of Immigration on the United States in the Twenty-first Century."Immigration and
Illegal Aliens: Burden or Blessing?. Cynthia S. Becker. 2007 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2007.
Information Plus Reference Series. Student Resources in Context. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
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Lopez, Mark Hugo, Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, and Seth Motel. "Views of Immigration Policy."
PewResearch.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
McCage, Crystal D. "Does Increased Border Security Protect the United States?" U.S. Border
Control. San Diego: n.p., 2009. 34-49. Print.
Mendoza, Rafael. Personal interview. N.d.
"Mexican Immigration." UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Sonia Benson, Daniel E. Brannen,
Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. Vol. 5. Detroit: UXL, 2009. 997-1002.Student Resources in
Context. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Motel, Seth. "On Immigration, Republicans Favor Path to Legal Status, but Differ over
Citizenship." PewResearch. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
The White House. White House White Board: Why Immigration Reform Is Good For Our
Economy. YouTube.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSYR6Z-RTT0#t=184>.