Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CH S 098
Nancy Cheeks
11/29/2007
When you wake up on a Tuesday morning what do you usually wake up and see
that you never really notice? Is there a fresh fruit bowl on the counter perhaps? Maybe
there might be a morning newspaper at your front porch? Why is your lawn always
presentable like maybe someone probably has been cutting it once a week? Who might be
the one who is out there doing all of these jobs that Americans pay for others to do? Who
is the one who is doing these jobs that not even unemployed workers will do? Well it s
obvious because for a couple of years these workers have been seen as an issue. They are
the immigrants who come to the USA because to their knowledge they have heard that it
is were anybody can accomplish the American dream. They have basically played the
role of America’s little helpers. Although, these immigrants did not come America to
cause us any problems, but rather to boos t their economic situation. What they make in
their country is basically nothing compared to what they can make in the USA. For
example, Mexico, the workers over there can barely manage to make about five dollars in
a whole day. Were as in the USA even though they earn below minimum wage, seven
fifty an hour, they can make those same five dollars in a hour. Whether they came here
illegally or not should be put aside, but the fact that they do so much for us should be
kept in mind. Immigrants have roamed the USA working low income jobs for quite some
time now and they do not ask for anything in return except perhaps legal freedom.
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Immigrants should be granted amnesty or at least some type of legal to be able to work
and live peacefully with no fear of law enforcement were ever they go.
Immigrants are the low income labor force of America whether anyone recognizes
them or not. The laborers that are waiting for someone to pick them up at Home Depot
parking lots are there just with the hope that somebody who needs them will pass by and
pick them up. Unfortunately, it is not that easy the immigrants have to worry about the
police giving them a fine and immigration passing by undercover employers and taking
them away.
“‘A proposed amnesty for more than 3 million undocumented Mexican workers
and their families might help all Latinos in the United States, particularly those in
rural communities, where they are often viewed with suspicion,’ says Jorge
Chapa, IU professor and director of Latino Studies, and Ann Millard, a Michigan
State University professor who recently surveyed Latino immigrants. They found
that 55% of the immigrants interviewed felt they were viewed with suspicion,
Voice Newspaper)
Immigrants are seen with a suspicion as if at any moment they will take off their coat and
reveal a bomb. Referring to the quote, how will an American fell if they were always
being watched oddly, if they were insulted because of race, or even beaten up because
they look “white”? It would not feel nice and most likely they would do something about
it to stop such actions from occurring. Although, many immigrant lives with fear of
deportation in the United States, therefore they keep silent. They suppress all anger and
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problems that might end up being their deportation. These immigrants might be here for a
Illegal immigration has been around for awhile and since been looked at and
handled with deportation. Although, there is now a bill that makes illegal immigration a
felony, so basically now immigrants can fall into the three strikes law. “The provision
making illegal immigration a felony was part of a bill pushed by House Judiciary
in December by a vote of 239-182 with only 36 Democrats supporting the final version of
the measure.”(Sentinel News). Now with this bill that has been introduced immigrants
will face prison time before they are deported. The point of this might be destroying any
kind of work employment or housing that the so called criminal can go back to
immediately. Allowing time in prison will most likely scare off immigrants so they will
stop coming back again. If crossing the border was not hard enough as it is, the bill also
proposes to form a blockade to make it harder at the crossing. “Sensenbrenner's bill also
calls for building 700 miles of security fence along the Mexican border.”(Sentinel News).
Why are we playing such a childish game with the whole immigration deal? Obviously,
immigrants are still finding there way around every obstacle. There has to be some type
of legal documentation process to solve this problem because all other attempts to solve
immigration issues have seemed to fail. Amnesty is such a large step and to do such a
thing will cause problems all around with topics such as economics and population.
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A solution to this problem may possibly be some type of permanent work permit that can
The work permit idea has been introduced before in countless occasions.
Although, whether the permit will be permanent or temporary is still an issue. “Bush said
on Tuesday, March 21, that he was opposed to amnesty or automatic citizenship for the
The idea of amnesty is overwhelmingly harsh and just the concept of giving illegal
immigrants amnesty is unwise. Basically, it is almost the same thing as rewarding them
for crossing the border illegally. A better idea would be to provide a work permit for
immigrants who seek jobs in the USA. “Amid an intense debate over the issue among US
lawmakers, Bush ruled out amnesty for illegal immigrants but said he favored a "guest
worker" program that would provide legal status for workers for a limited time
period.”(Filipino Express). Bush seems to have a good idea of possibly a very good
family background my family always says, “What good is temporary for if you can not
establish a balanced life with it.” What really needs to be looked at is finding a way to
grant permanent work permit to those immigrants that have been in the USA for a long
period of time. They deserve a permanent work permit that will grant them benefits that
they have never received. They need something that will protect them from law
enforcement and immigration services. That is the least we can do for the immigrant
workers who have helped run our country for so long with nothing in return.
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Why is a work permit such a big deal? Why do immigrants even need one? All
they are going to do is work, right? Well, immigrant workers don’t exactly have
appropriate working conditions. They have to deal with what they get if you do not like it
“‘ The proposed amnesty would benefit both the United States and Mexico
economically and provide basic human rights protection to a group of people who
often live in danger and secrecy,’ said Chappa. ‘Undocumented workers often are
placed in dangerous jobs and must live without the benefits of even the poorest
Americans.’ Chappa observed that illegal immigrants are helping to hold the U.S.
economy together because of their willingness to work in jobs that often are
unpleasant, dirty and dangerous, with no prospects for upward mobility. This fuels
Newspaper).
Immigrant workers get taken advantage of by there employers because they can not
defend themselves. They have no basic human rights in the work zone. They are there
because they want to be there and if they oppose the rules then they are put out. Safety
conditions are horrible people get hurt and they keep working because they are afraid that
if they complain they get put out. All they want is work, most of there earnings are sent to
Mexico in order to support the family. They are the perfect target for unfair employment
and they are the ones who employers take advantage of. Many employers would hire
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immigrants and when pay day came they would call immigration so they would not even
In the USA there has been a “guest worker” program in play that has not really been
emphasized. “Under the current system, called the H-2 program, employers brought
about 121,000 guest workers into the United States in 2005” (close to slavery pt. 1). This
might seem like a good program but how are these workers treated? What rights do they
exactly have?
“Bound to a single employer and without access to legal resources, guest workers
are: routinely cheated out of wages; forced to mortgage their futures to obtain
who seize their documents; forced to live in squalid conditions; and, denied
Basically, it sounds like slavery is being brought upon by this H-2 guest worker program.
It almost sounds like if this were slavery in the making. After all is it not 2005? Are we
not supposed to be educated? Unfortunately, the guest worker program seems more like a
In Conclusion, Immigration has been an issue for many years. Many immigrants
currently want amnesty, but that would bring along other issues. Guest worker programs
are taking advantage of immigrants and bringing them into an unsafe work area. The only
resolution that I have is providing permanent work permits for immigrants that have been