Running Head: IMMIGRATION, THE TWO SIDES OF THE STORY

Immigration, The Two Sides of the Story: Literary Review

Itzel Rivera

The University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract

A very controversial issue that has been going around recently in the United States involves

immigration. Some people feel very disturbed while others feel threated by these situations

happening along the country. This literature review tries to explain why and how did this

issues have started. It also touches the reason on why do this two sister countries,

Mexico and the United States, have grown all this tension between them. Therefore, it tries

to explain if in any specific time these two countries did not have this tension between

them. Statistics are provided to show the increasing amount of legal and illegal immigrants

coming in to the country. Some solutions that the audience thinks will help solving this

controversial issue are provided in order to express how will this issue could be solved.
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Immigration has always been present and along with it, it has brought many

conflicts with it. Many different points of view are touched when this issue has come into

topic. These points of views are very different and due to this, the controversy on who is

right and who is wrong comes into place. Discrimination and the lack of information about

ethnicity and heritage also have a lot to do with these issues. However, these immigration

issues have been proposed to certain solutions that are trying to settle down disputes. In

annexation to these solutions, the only thing that is gained is more conflict and

inconformity. “The American people will accept practical legislation that authorizes the

current population of illegal immigrants to obtain legal immigration status, but only if they

are convinced we are fully committed both resource-wise and politically to prevent future

waves of illegal immigration” (Schumer, 2010). Although strategies have been proposed to

solve this conflict, sometimes immigrants speak out to show the inconformity they have

towards these strategies. What people might think will be a good solution to stop this high

rank of immigrants coming to the country, some immigrants might be offended and here is

when the conflicts begin. As up to now, no strategies that everyone accepts have been

created and this problem has become more tense as time goes by.

Although this immigration debates on whether who is right and who is wrong are

very common as of today´s date, these debates and conflicts have been present in the past

decades. However, people might define the different points of views as discriminatory acts

towards them. Therefore, in order to inform people the different points of views, the causes

and effects, what people who are against reformations consider immigration, and how

statistics have changed throughout time, three important questions need to be considered:

1) Is there a historic basis that catalogs any discrimination against Mexican American

immigrants who migrated legally and illegally to the United States?

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2) How many illegal and legal immigrants come to the United States yearly; why does

the United States consider the incoming of these immigrants a problem?

3) How many people have felt discriminated and what are some actions that make

them feel this way?

These questions compose a series of research that attempts to find out whether immigration

issues have something in common or they are just a series of ideas that are meant to

contradict themselves. However, different conclusion and attempts to solve this problems

may vary a lot from what people might think what is right or wrong depending on their

ethnicity or race.

Is there a historic basis that catalogs any discrimination against Mexican American

immigrants who migrated legally and illegally to the United States?

Whenever a policy or a document against any type of immigration issues has been

passed in order to try to give a solution to these issues, the first word that comes to the

minds of many people is discrimination. However, discrimination is not always the right

word due that they are some things in the United States that benefit immigrants. Therefore,

they are some historic basis that can explain both sides of this argument. Discrimination

will not be considered under any type of historical basis due to certain types of benefits that

the United States gives to immigrants whether they are here legal or illegal. Some of these

benefits might include the high education that everyone receives in regardless of their

ethnicity or race. “The simultaneous states of illegal immigrant and legal student are an
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affront to common sense and the rule of law and should be discontinued” (Williams, 2004,

pg.158). Besides receiving the same amount of education, in the country, there are still

some people who hire illegal immigrants to perform high duty works that involve picking

up fruits and vegetables from farms, harvesting, and many more things that usually

involves a lot of hard work. However, many people disagree and think that these hard

works are just a type of exploitation to these people who are coming to receive a better type

of living. Therefore, immigrants have advocacy groups in this country that support them

and help them through any mistreatments that they have faced while being in this country.

The majority of all immigrant advocacy groups support any type of immigrant policy, they

demand that “opportunity should be afforded to immigrants from all nations” (Williams,

2004). Having some considerations of people who come to this country to find the most

wanted American Dream. Several complications come when people try to cross from one

country to the other.

This makes it more difficult for the people who are trying to pursuit their dream. However,

in the process may people have lost their lives due to these complications. Due to this, life

savior groups have been established to try to save these lives. “In response to the growing

concern over these immigrant deaths, the INS launched “Operation Lifesaver” in June

1998, using patrol flights and search-and-rescue missions to find migrants in distress”

(Williams, 2004). Fighting to gain the rights and to naturalize in their beloved country is

also an option to these immigrants that come to find a better life for themselves and their

love ones.

Although the government and many people bring up all the wonderful things that

this country creates to support immigrants, some people think that this country has many

discriminatory acts toward the people who are trying to achieve a better life. In regardless

of how many people come from different countries live in this country, English has been
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the official language in schools. Many people find it very disturbing and insulting because

they consider this to be their second home. People think that “to read one of our “Native”

papers one might suppose that our country was becoming overrun by foreigners, and that

there was real danger of their having a majority of votes…”(Williams, 2004, pg.24). People

find it very disturbing that they are seen as a menace to this country. However, when

immigrants are in the process of coming to this country and having to face death, they still

have to go through several things that can make this journey even harder and more difficult.

An example of this can be the brutal force and mistreatments that they have to go through.

“The brutality and disregard displayed by the Border Patrol has enabled and encouraged

racist and vigilante acts against immigrants as well” (Williams, 2004, pg. 128). However,

what people find it very discriminatory against illegal immigrants is that people who do not

have any authority to enforce the laws are committing this type of brutal acts towards them

without having the right to do it. “Ranchers in Arizona and Texas had gone so far as to

“hunt” for immigrants” (Williams, 2004, pg.130). People who know about these hunting

feel much discriminated because they have been compared or sometimes even treated as

animals by someone who does not have the right to treat them that way whatsoever.

Education, even though the country shared the same equal education to everyone regarding

their ethnicity or race, sometimes the cost of it can be extremely expensive were most of

immigrants, who may be here even legally, cannot afford. “A great number of them are

children, and although they attend grammar and high school, such children have little or no

chance to attend universities across our nation. Without legal status these students cannot

get in-state tuitions” (Williams, 2004, pg.136). Whether some people see the differences as

forms of discrimination, the opinions will depend on the discretion of however makes them.

How many illegal and legal immigrants come to the United States yearly; why does

the United States consider the incoming of these immigrants a problem?

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As time goes by, the amount of legal and illegal immigrants that travel to the U.S

grow each time in a very rapid way. “Following a 20-year hiatus, undocumented

immigration became an issue once again when net undocumented immigrants into the

United States increased from an estimated 23,000 annually by 1970 to 112,000 annually by

1980. By the early 1980´s, an estimated 55 percent of all undocumented immigrants came

from Mexico, and they accounted for an estimated two-thirds of all Mexican immigration”

(Long, 1992). As up to now, in 2009 “of the 10.8 million unauthorized immigrants, 4.0 mil

lion (37 percent) had entered the United States on January 1, 2000 or later” (Hoefer, 2010).

On the other hand, the naturalization or the acquisition of an immigrant to become a citizen

to a certain country has declined. “The number of persons naturalizing in the United States

declined to 743,715 in 2009 from 1,046,539 in 2008” (Hoefer, 2010). Figure 1 shows the

growth of immigrants coming to the United States.

Figure 1

However, immigration is seen as a threat to the U.S citizens due to many issues that
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have happened in the recent years. The crime incidents have grown due to the difference in

cultures and ideals that immigrants bring to the country. Sometimes “children of such

immigrants become substantial citizens, while children of the same race brought up in the

cities become recruiting constituency for hoodlums, vagabonds, and criminals” (Commons,

1967). These facts have become tenser and more popular due to the growth of population in

the country. Figure 2 explains how many arrest have been made to immigrants in the

country.

Figure 2

How many people have felt discriminated and what are some actions that make

them feel this way?

Discrimination is a very difficult word to comprehend because it has several

meanings according to what people might feel what discrimination really is. Some people

have said that they have faced a type of discrimination in this country. According to the
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survey Immigration Statuses, about 91.7% of the people have said that they are familiar

regarding the immigration issues that have been going around the United States. Such

issues might involve the passing or the preposition of laws in order to do whatever they can

to stop immigration. These laws also involve the deportation of people who are already

living and residing here. Therefore, regarding these acts 66.7% of the same people who

answered this survey said that these issues have been discriminatory towards a specific

race. On the other hand, 16.7% of the same people said that these issues have not been

discriminatory at all to anyone. Only 25% of the people who took this survey said that

immigrants are a big threat to this country. On the other hand, 58.3% do not think that

immigrants are a big threat to the United States. People feel discriminated due that about

36.4% have been treated differently because of their ethnicity or they have known someone

that have been treated differently because of the same. However, discrimination is a very

abroad term due that different situations that sometime might not be considered

discriminatory are felt to be this way. Since discrimination is a very difficult term to define,

someone who took the Immigration Statuses survey said that “Illegal immigrants like to cry

discrimination, but they do not like to take responsibility for the resource depletion they

cause.” On the other hand, someone who took the same survey said that “I think that this

problem[discrimination] started long time ago and it has always being popular. The U.S

citizens are angry because they are racist.” Many people have different points of views and

in consequence to this, they have different meanings of what discrimination towards a

specific ethnic group or race can really be.

Several acts that people might think that are discriminatory towards them can

involve the different laws that are trying to be passed that gives any law enforce authority

to ask for documents due to the way they look. People think that this is very disturbing as

well as discriminatory because people are being judged by the way they look. Another
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example of some type of act that might seem discriminatory is the lack of amnesty to

immigrants who live in the United States. “Granting legal residency to undocumented

immigrants rewards people for breaking the law. Ultimately amnesty leads to an increase in

illegal immigration because it encourages others to move to the United States and ignore

the processes by which one earns legal residency status or citizenship” (Byrd, 2001, pg.

141). Several things make people feel unwelcome and mistreated in the country that is

supposed to be known as the land of opportunities.

Conclusion

Whether people might feel that they are right towards how immigration is being

acknowledged in this country or whether they might feel that immigration in this country is

seriously a problem based on discrimination, these problems much likely will never have

any chance to be resolved. People might never see that the governments of the U.S

sometimes will so things that benefit people who come to the country, whether they come

legally or illegally. The opportunity that the U.S gives immigrants to become part of the

country that will bring them the opportunity to grow and to develop a better life for them

and their love ones. However, people sometimes feel disturbed due that they come to get a

better life and discrimination and mistreatments take place were they taught they would

have a fresh start. Sometimes even these mistreatments have led to the death of several

innocent people who are trying to make a change in this country. Brutality is sometimes the

reason of why people might feel very intrigued and they might feel the discrimination that

these people talk about. However, in regarding of the consequences or the mistreatments

that they might get when they arrive here, the growth of immigrant population has

increased rapidly as years have gone by. Different points of views have been made and

addressed and the misunderstanding of several topics will never give a solutions that will

benefit everyone that is around these specific issues.

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References

Immigration Statuses Survey. (2011). [Survey]. Retrieved 12, 2011, from

OnlineWeb Survey.

Commons, John R. (1967). Races and Immigrants in America. New York: Augustus M.

Kelly Publishers

Elbel, Fred. (2010). Immigration to the U.S.: 1820-2010. Retrieved March 14, 2011 from

http://www.susps.org/overview/numbers.html

Feere, Jon et al. (2008). Nationality of OCSArrests, 2005-2007. Retrieved March 14, 2011

from http://www.cis.org/immigrantgangs

Hoefer Michael, Rytina Nancy, Baker C. Bryan. (2010 January). Estimates of the

Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2009.

Retrieved March 12, 2011 from

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois_ill_pe_2009.pdf

Long, Robert E. (1992). Immigration to the United States. New York: The H.W. Wilson

Company

Swain, Carol M. (2007). Debating Immigration. New York: Cambridge University Press

Williams, Mary E. (2004). Immigration Opposing Viewpoints. Michigan: Greenhaven

Press.
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