The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, an award winning work of investigative journalism, is a multifaceted look on the issue Mexican migration and the factors involved; be it the border patrol, the United States and Mexican governments and their policies, and the Coyotes, a criminal organization known for human smuggling. Urrea’s text tells the story of a group of illegal Mexican immigrants known as the Welton 26, and their Coyote guide: Mendez, who cross the border and enter the perilous region known as the Devil’s Highway, a barren desert known for its inhospitable, often deadly, environment. In this text, the Welton 26, the border patrol, the courts, and the prosecutor's all seek someone to blame. But who is truly at fault for this?…
* Mae M. Ngai, Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America (Princeton University Press, 2004). ISBN: 9780691124292…
1- Do you feel that it is ethical for a company to channel income to a tax haven in order to reduce or eliminate taxation? Explain.…
Author Amanda Rose has taken it upon herself to bring to light the horrific experiences of modern day immigrant’s flight to freedom through the Sonoran Desert. In addition to addressing the immigrant’s plight, she calls into question the immigration process or lack thereof, the United States legislative broken immigration policy, religious leaders and their roles, US Border Patrol and US citizens. Her intent is to open up a dialogue on US immigration policies and educate the American public on the devastating consequences of a hapless built dividing wall between two countries which are felt not only by the immigrants but by the people that live in and around the border. Rose illustrates the conflicts that everyday Americans citizens living on the border face in trying to help and solve border issues with their personal solutions. Do they work? Are they…
This week's readings involved introductions to problems faced by the Chicano community. It depicts how far back these cultural problems have arose and how the community continues to struggle and overcome it. For example, in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, it is a historical document stating peace, friendship, limits, and settlement for the people of Mexico and the United States. This treaty was drafted in 1848, which ended the Mexican-American War, in hopes for a better relationship between the two countries. In contrast, in the poem, I am Joaquin, the poet brings light how the treaty is broken and how the Chicano people and all people represented in the poem are oppressed socially, economically, culturally, and politically, by the "Gabachos".…
Pilcher, Jeffrey M. Que vivan los tamales!: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.…
border is filled with violence and society should be aware of all the danger. This story reveals Troncoso’s experience of the insecurity and danger along the border. The drug violence has bloodstained money and power against the civilians living along the border. We can see that the violence along the border can even affect distant families that live in New York such as Troncoso’s not just the population living in the border. Troncoso, just as many other Mexican American families have felt the loss of their Mexican culture due to the insecurities across the border without being able to express their authentic Mexican culture to their future generations. The essential idea of freedom in a place filled with danger is unexplainable for the civilians living so close to Mexico and U.S. without being able to connect their cultures leaving behind their memories. Hope is the only word that keeps them alive in this world filled with corruption along the U.S. and Mexican…
In the novel Border Odyssey, Professor Charles Thompson travels along the Mexican-US border with his wife and other travel companions to better understand the relationship between the two countries. Even though Thompson had traveled to different areas of the border before, this was his first trip attempting to cover its entirety. Thompson is currently a professor at Duke and spends a portion of his trip with students involved in an immigration experience for the summer. Much of his life’s work has been about understanding the flow of migrants into the United States, the push and pull factors the draw them in and what little can keep them out. Thompson’s encounters with people on both sides of the border give the audience an understanding of…
Like Fr. Deck, Msgr. Arturto Bañuelas tends to focus on practical theology and real issues that affect Latinos and Hispanics in the United States; and of course, no discussion of these issues would be complete without touching on immigration reform. Bañuelas’ experience with immigration is a personal one. He grew up in the El Paso-Juárez communities on the U.S.-Mexican border and saw the massive disparity between the cities firsthand; the situation, as he himself was described it, was that “For the past 15 years, El Paso has been ranked as the second safest city in the nation [The United States], while, just across the border, Ciudad Juárez ranks the second most dangerous city in the world.” (The Lies Are Killing Us: The Need for Immigration…
Laura, a Mexican immigrant and student in Rose’s remedial English class, has a completely different frame of reference than California born UCLA students she finds herself in class with. She remembers in detail how her father made a meager living as a “food vendor” in Tijuana. The types of food, the smells and the other items he sold are cannot be forgotten by Laura. She emigrated, with her parents, to the United States at the age of six (Rose 1). These memories keep her connected to Mexico.…
One of the greatest questions we ask ourselves is “Who am I?” We gain life experiences, entertain ourselves with personality tests, and even inquire psychics about our being. The truth is, our identity is not a static matter. Richard Rodriguez struggles with his cultural identity between California and Mexico. His conflicting feelings are conveyed within the introduction of his written work, Days of Obligation. Through juxtaposition, paradox, and oxymoron, Rodriguez compares the cultures, and eventually comes to the conclusion that both represent him equally.…
Throughout my life I’ve been fortunate enough to travel outside of the country to Puerto Penasco multiple times. In the first trips I never thought about the people or the conditions surrounding the place I was traveling to. I was naïve and unable to understand my surroundings. However, as I matured the way I viewed Puerto Penasco changed as did my worldly perspective. I was able to understand the divide of wealth in Mexico, how the drug trade is affecting those who don’t want anything to do with it, the beautiful culture and people of Puerto Penasco and how U.S.A is benefiting and improving this amazing country.…
Born in a Mexican immigrant family and moving to a city in California, Sacramento, Rodriguez had already known from the start that he’s “different” from the rest of the children in the area. He was hispanic. He felt the difference expressively at school and it was not just because of his physical appearance. The difference of is what isolated him the most. They differed socially. He felt a disconnect between Spanish, the language he used at home which offered comfort, versus English, the language used in the public world which to him was foreign. Rodriguez felt the separation from his English-speaking classmates, as he struggled to master this “public” language and hopefully gain acceptance. Since its founding days, U.S. had always been a melting pot of diverse ethnicities. Welcoming newcomers while insisting they learn and embrace its civic culture. It was suggested that those who come here in America should become Americans. Upon entering grade school, it was a massive culture shock for Rodriguez. He was put in an ESL class expected to learn English, to speak English, and communicate in English, but of course in a “English as a Secondary language” setting. It was a challenging transition, however, with practice, Rodriguez began to slowly adopt the English language giving him and his…
Back home I was used to water parks and a million other things to do. In the beginning, I found nothing amusing about New Mexico. I guess this is where my isolation began; New Mexico was so different from my hometown that everything just reminded me of how much I missed California. I ended up staying indoors all the time. The biggest impact that New Mexico had over my person was not the land but the cultural shock that I encountered. I come from a Mexican background and have been speaking Spanish since I was in diapers. I was proud of what I thought I knew about my culture, but the first few months in New Mexico taught me that I couldn't be more wrong and different from the real Hispanic population. I thought I spoke Spanish but upon hearing almost everyone around me speak it, I thought so myself, I’m in trouble. The Hispanic population is overwhelming in New Mexico, and in the beginning I felt very isolated even though we shared a common language. Everything literally spiraled downward from this point. If my family and I couldn't even be comfortable with our own people how were we suppose to mix ourselves with a whole new community? Little did I know that moving to New Mexico was actually going to strengthen my Hispanic culture because I ended up celebrating a very important tradition in the Mexican culture; my quinceanera. A quinceanera is celebrated…
As I walked up the stairs of a school in a foreign country, I felt my fingers slowly lose grasp of my books. In school every pair of eyes set on my nervous smile and my wandering eyes dancing to every corner. And as I said my first word in my accent, everyone started laughing. That’s how I started my journey in America. My parents moved here from India when I was in 9th grade. When I landed in Los Angeles, the enthusiasm soon turned into weariness. The streets were filled with unknown faces and voices speaking in an accent hard to understand. There was a big cultural shock for me, from strict disciplined schools of India to a free style, amenable schools of Los Angeles. I felt like a stranger in this new world that I was exposed to.…