Latin American Immigration Research Paper

Immigration and Latin America

The immigration and Latin American Experience

Latin American migration toward the United States has become a phenomenon that is noticed in our daily life. Illegal Immigration issue is viewed from different standpoints and has long been described as being a critical phenomenon. Large number of immigrants in the US are illegally looking for better living conditions. Living condition in Latin American countries is very difficult and it is below the international standards, corruption makes it impossible for them to live without being oppressed by the higher authorities. The drug dealing, gangs and corruption have increased poverty in their countries, it has made the rich richer and the poor more poorer. This
condition is the reason why so many immigrants have come to the US to look for to search for job oppurtinities and democracy that The US offer. They see in the US a country where the concept of democracy is respected, where people benefits from their basic right.
The Latin Americans have gone through and are still going through difficult times trying to adjust and find their way out as they are illegal immigrants.

Shortly after it started, the number of illegal immigrants in the US has increased, Illegal immigration rapidly attracted the attention of Americans, Americans were not happy with this fast growing phenomena and the consequences that might lead to. Americans had expressed their dissatisfaction of the poor performance of the economy, social problems, and blamed that on Illegal immigration which caused them to direct their anger against immigrants through Discrimination in it various types against both legal and illegal immigrants . This adds up to the list of struggles that the Latin American immigrants were going through.

Enrique’s journey is a very overpowering story that covers what most Latin American kids and parents go through; it is a story of the journey of a Latin American Boy called Enrique , also it is the story of many other Latin Arican Kids and Latin American people. The story started when Enrique’s mother had to leave him to go the US for a job, Her goal was to spend only a couple years to save some money and then go back to take care of her kids or she would have to find way to get her kids close to her in the US, she want to save her family from poverty and
guarantee a good future for them . The mother went through hard times , hard work and pain, her expectation to stay for one year or two has turned to be a longer than ten year period where the distance from her family has grew bigger and bigger, her expectations to make money and return has only been a dream she thought she could realize while her illegal immigrant situation has been her biggest barrier in terms of her situation. In addition to her boys struggle to make their days in between relatives having no understanding of the reasons that made his mother leave. Enrique grows and tries to figure his way out to survive in a hard life, he become implicated in drugs addiction and leaves school, which would have been his only shot to have a decent life in the future, his current situation only became worse as his needs were growing so he ended up selling his belongings, that’s when feels the need to go look for his mother where he becomes an illegal immigrant and faces several dangers, the heaven he thought he would see turned to being a living hell, he becomes endangered by the gangs and the corrupt authorities on his way through the borders, crossing these latter does not ease because being in the US does not make his situation any easier as he is on the risk of being caught and deported at any time, so he lives his life in a constant fear. The story also highlight the challenges that he had to face once he got reunified with his mother especially when it came to the language, the cultural differences and the expectations that diverged with the reality of the situation, he remains there trying to fight for his life and win his bread, his girlfriend joins him and leaves their kid behind with some family members, leaving their child in the exact same situation Enrique has been through. And the story repeats itself with many other Enrique’s.

The story of Enrique addresses the difficult life that Latin Americans are having in their countries as well as the actions they take to run from their current life to come to the US where they continue to suffer. It is a story about the struggle that starts in their country and continues in the US. Many Latin Americans believe that migrating to the United States is the only solution to their problems, they think if one member of the family succeeded to cross The US Mexican brothers they will be able to find jobs that help them support their families, and may be find a way for them to join them in the US

Leaving your own country and taking the risk to migrate to the US to achieve the American Dream is one of the toughest decisions that a Latin American has to take. Illegal immigrants come to the US looking for better living conditions, this people go through hardship to find ways to survive . Most of illegal immigrants come to the US with the intentions of working for few years then go back, however upon their arrival to the US the reality hits, then they know it is even harder to survive in the US especially being undocumented. In their attemps to survive in the US, illegal immigrants face many problems such as robbery, rapes, murder.
Learning about the hardship that illegal immigrants go through leads us to think about the responsibility that Latin American Government take in this phenomena. It is the Latin American Governments policies and regulations that are encouraging illegal immigration. The non-existence of human rights and the existence of corruption is simply making the life of the poor communities a living hell.
Developed countries such as the United pay a high price as the cost of illegal immigration, Many social, economical and political problems have emerged due to this phenomena, problems include Drug dealing, Human smuggling, corruption, and Human rights violations.
The increase in the number of illegal immigrants in the US provide opportunities for drug dealers to increase their activities, illegal immigrants are employed by drug dealers to participate in drug distribution and human smuggling cross the US Mexican borders, tons of drugs and weapons cross the US borders every year, the number of Americans that use drugs have increased, the number of murders and crimes augmented compared to other countries such Canada. Furthermore, illegal immigration encourages corruption in the United States, drug dealers use money to buy Border guards making it difficult for the US governments to enforce illegal immigration
laws.

Illegal immigration leads to high rates of poverty among Latin Americans both in the Latin American countries and the US, “real Women Have Curve” is good documentary that I have watched while investigating the issue of illegal immigration and its impact on the rates of poverty. It is an eye opener to the high rates of poverty in Latin America and also in the Latino areas of the United States. The documentary describes the low wages jobs as one of the causes of Poverty among Latin Americans. Some American employers view illegal immigrants as a cheap labor , the employers would take advantage of the fact that an illegal immigrant is willing to do anything for the sake of having a job and because they are in a great need for money. Another cause of poverty described by the movie is the lack of education among women, the culture of poor Latin Americans does not encourage women to go to university and obtain higher education, women according to the Latin American culture as well as any under developed country is responsible for performing daily housework rather than going to school , it was shown in the movie, the girl Ana after graduating from high school was not allowed to pursue her education although she was admitted with a scholarship in one of the best universities in the United States. Ana knew that her future lied in her education, however, her family duties were calling, she reached a certain age and her family needed her as the member to go work and provide for the family.

This story exposed the argument that the Latin American Culture among the poor is one of the major factors that limits their success as nations. Women according to the Latin American culture are raised to be housewives, they are relied on to get the daily house work of the family done, Latin American women barely attend high school if they are lucky, most of them do not have the opportunity to educate and qualify themselves for higher paying jobs that will support them and their families. As stated by the movie Ana had a chance to go to Columbia university and earn a high level degree that will qualify her in the future to have a better life for herself and her family; however, the family duties are also an important factor in the culture, where the generations once done with high school become part of the bread winners of the family.

The struggle of the Latin American immigrants will continue to grow until the situation of Latin American both in the Latin American countries and outside Latin American countries improve. Corruption and the role that the gangs play in Human smuggling will continue to provide these phenomena with the appropriate conditions to grow. The number of Latinos has been increasing every year ever since the sixteen century and this rate has reached 850,000 immigrants to the US per year, and this rate has increased by half in the nineties. The rate in the twentieth century is not comparable to what it was in the past because the oppressions and bad living conditions in Latin America were only getting worse, but the immigration conditions had also changed, the barriers were tightened up and it became harder for Latin Americans to illegally immigrate, but they would still find out ways to do it but with means that can be life threatening. The new declaration of the President Obama comes as big relief for the illegal immigrants to have their situation fixed, also through the years, the discrimination in all its forms has started to fade away little by little. The one thing we should know is that these immigrants do come illegally by choice, but because it appears to be the ultimate alternative for them hoping the one day the conditions in their countries will become better.
Enrique journey, Real women have curves , along with the course materials are perfectly related to each other and support one another . They conclude that poverty and Government corruption are the main causes of illegal immigration, a phenomena that leads to dangerous consequences that affect society as well as the economy.

References:
Thomas, S., Smith , P., & Green , J. (2010). Modern Latin America . New York : Oxford University press .
Video 1 : Sonia , Nazaio . Enrique”s Journey . 2006
The Pew Hispanic Center Website www.pewhispanic.org