Immigration is a tricky and highly contested issue in American politics and society today. The whole issue becomes “foggy” right from the get-go. The reasons for one leaving may seem voluntary to one person but to another may seem forced. Forced migration is when a person is quite literally forced to leave like a slave, or a refugee whereas voluntary migration is when a person choses to leave for whatever reason. Thus, Immigration isn’t like Abortion or Same-Sex Marriage or Gun Control where there are two defined sides but rather in this case there are different points of view and many distinct plans of action.
Every year, I have the privilege of visiting the South Dade Labor Camp in Homestead, Florida. Labor Camps are projects funded by the government that give illegal immigrants a place to stay in return for their work. The men and women who work in these camps, must either work on the field or must work in a nursing unit. The migrants come from all over Latin America but the most highly represented countries are El Salvador, Mexico, and Honduras. At any moment they could be deported but the philosophy, at least in my point of view, of these camps is “since you are already here, why not work”. Thus, most come and go and few ever stay permanently. Every year that I have gone to deliver turkeys on Thanksgiving or toys on Christmas, I have seen mostly new faces but there are always some familiar faces guiding us around the area. These men, women and children are the Faces of Immigration in our country.
Alongside this, my family is a family of immigrants. My father left Cuba when he was three years old because of the instability and violence in Cuba caused by the beginning of Castro’s regimen and my maternal grandmother left when she was 14 for the same reason. Both sides of my family left their most beloved place in order to start anew and hope to create a better life for their children.
Beginning with the Pilgrims, to the Europeans, to the Asians, to today with an influx of Latinos, the US has always been appealing because of the American Dream. When the first migrants to the US came, they longed for religious freedom and over time the reasons for coming to the US have changed whether due to political, social or economic issues each mass migration has a distinctive pattern and makeup. Today though, the majority of immigrants want nothing more than to create a better future for their families and be able to achieve the American Dream.
The American Dream is a source of inspiration. Think of what every American wishes to have: a house, a family, a good job, an education, a car and freedom. In their home countries whether they faced political turmoil, economic corruption, or social inequality or all of these, the migrants hope to escape this cycle and begin anew. In the movie “María Llena de Gracia” María enters the US as a drug mule and after escaping from the drug lords she is able to find a safe haven. Throughout the remainder of the film she discovers and understands this dream and when she has to decide whether or not she wants to stay, she choses to stay. She had encountered the hardships of the US and knew it wouldn’t be easy yet María chose to stay knowing that the US would be a better home for her child.
Throughout these past six years, the infighting in congress regarding the “issue” of immigration has shown that the American Dream has begun to corrupt itself. What happened to the country of opportunity, hope, and freedom when all many see now is racism, instability, and just a violent culture in general. Immigrants have been neglected during this period and then two weeks ago Obama issued an executive order to help these “Dreamers”. The “Dreamers” are the people hoping to achieve this goal and up until now (which may result in nothing considering congress has been quite belligerent about the whole thing) they couldn’t dream.
55 years after Fidel Castro obtained power, here I am, a very typical Hispanic Miami kid. Throughout my life I’ve felt this ambiguity towards my background and who I was. Immigration did that to me. I felt that I wasn’t totally Cuban yet at the same time living in the closest thing to Latin America, Miami, I didn’t feel wholly American. I continue to live in this limbo between my culture and my actuality and at times this feeling is disregarded. Immigrants are leaving so much behind. They are leaving behind, first and foremost, their country and all their family and friends. They are entering into a very different, fast-paced nation where they can easily get misunderstood and forgotten. They are giving it all up from their loved ones, to their culture… for what? They come to the US to achieve the American Dream and have that possibility to change the lives of their children and the future. Immigrants live very difficult lives and not even I can fathom the true pain of leaving everything and coming to a strange country, with different people, and a new language.
Obama’s decision will hopefully stay. His decision to grant the 5 million illegal immigrants (probably more) a chance to attain citizenship and a true chance radically changed the lives of so many. They now do not have to hide and now do not have to live in fear but can contribute everything they have to society. Immigration is very near and dear to me and it has made me who I am. If I could have one hope it would be to end the hostility towards immigrants and to end the stereotypes and generalizations against them.
Every year, I have the privilege of visiting the South Dade Labor Camp in Homestead, Florida. Labor Camps are projects funded by the government that give illegal immigrants a place to stay in return for their work. The men and women who work in these camps, must either work on the field or must work in a nursing unit. The migrants come from all over Latin America but the most highly represented countries are El Salvador, Mexico, and Honduras. At any moment they could be deported but the philosophy, at least in my point of view, of these camps is “since you are already here, why not work”. Thus, most come and go and few ever stay permanently. Every year that I have gone to deliver turkeys on Thanksgiving or toys on Christmas, I have seen mostly new faces but there are always some familiar faces guiding us around the area. These men, women and children are the Faces of Immigration in our country.
Alongside this, my family is a family of immigrants. My father left Cuba when he was three years old because of the instability and violence in Cuba caused by the beginning of Castro’s regimen and my maternal grandmother left when she was 14 for the same reason. Both sides of my family left their most beloved place in order to start anew and hope to create a better life for their children.
Beginning with the Pilgrims, to the Europeans, to the Asians, to today with an influx of Latinos, the US has always been appealing because of the American Dream. When the first migrants to the US came, they longed for religious freedom and over time the reasons for coming to the US have changed whether due to political, social or economic issues each mass migration has a distinctive pattern and makeup. Today though, the majority of immigrants want nothing more than to create a better future for their families and be able to achieve the American Dream.
The American Dream is a source of inspiration. Think of what every American wishes to have: a house, a family, a good job, an education, a car and freedom. In their home countries whether they faced political turmoil, economic corruption, or social inequality or all of these, the migrants hope to escape this cycle and begin anew. In the movie “María Llena de Gracia” María enters the US as a drug mule and after escaping from the drug lords she is able to find a safe haven. Throughout the remainder of the film she discovers and understands this dream and when she has to decide whether or not she wants to stay, she choses to stay. She had encountered the hardships of the US and knew it wouldn’t be easy yet María chose to stay knowing that the US would be a better home for her child.
Throughout these past six years, the infighting in congress regarding the “issue” of immigration has shown that the American Dream has begun to corrupt itself. What happened to the country of opportunity, hope, and freedom when all many see now is racism, instability, and just a violent culture in general. Immigrants have been neglected during this period and then two weeks ago Obama issued an executive order to help these “Dreamers”. The “Dreamers” are the people hoping to achieve this goal and up until now (which may result in nothing considering congress has been quite belligerent about the whole thing) they couldn’t dream.
55 years after Fidel Castro obtained power, here I am, a very typical Hispanic Miami kid. Throughout my life I’ve felt this ambiguity towards my background and who I was. Immigration did that to me. I felt that I wasn’t totally Cuban yet at the same time living in the closest thing to Latin America, Miami, I didn’t feel wholly American. I continue to live in this limbo between my culture and my actuality and at times this feeling is disregarded. Immigrants are leaving so much behind. They are leaving behind, first and foremost, their country and all their family and friends. They are entering into a very different, fast-paced nation where they can easily get misunderstood and forgotten. They are giving it all up from their loved ones, to their culture… for what? They come to the US to achieve the American Dream and have that possibility to change the lives of their children and the future. Immigrants live very difficult lives and not even I can fathom the true pain of leaving everything and coming to a strange country, with different people, and a new language.
Obama’s decision will hopefully stay. His decision to grant the 5 million illegal immigrants (probably more) a chance to attain citizenship and a true chance radically changed the lives of so many. They now do not have to hide and now do not have to live in fear but can contribute everything they have to society. Immigration is very near and dear to me and it has made me who I am. If I could have one hope it would be to end the hostility towards immigrants and to end the stereotypes and generalizations against them.