Us Immigration Myth

61 million, that is the number of immigrants currently residing in the United States (Ziegler). For the past year, there has been a great deal of negativity surrounding incoming immigrants, recent immigrants, and immigration in general. These attitudes were made more prevalent when the newly elected president, Donald Trump, instituted an executive order to temporarily ban entrance to the United States to seven Muslim-majority countries (Trump). This ban was eventually lifted by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Liptak). Although in the United States there continues to be negative stigmas around immigration and allowing immigrants into the U.S., immigrants greatly benefit and contribute to the United States by improving the economy, creating
is that they take natural-born citizens’ job opportunities. Also, people believe they create competition with low-skilled workers and drive down wages (Chomsky). The reality to this myth is that in order to not spend as much money paying Americans fair wages, the U.S. outsources jobs to other countries where they can spend less producing their products (Chomsky). Therefore, companies have opportunities to stay local and give jobs to Americans but would rather save money. Which means that immigrants are not the ones taking away work from others, companies in the United States are giving them away to people in other countries. Rather than being mad that there are less opportunities in the U.S. and believing other people are taking them, it is better to research and stay informed about what is really
And even though this is a reality of the country it does not mean it needs to continue and stay that way. Becoming an educated ally to immigrant and refugees is one of the best ways to help stop discrimination. Checking one's privilege is a good way to begin, if a person is not an immigrant or refugee that status gives the, privilege, and realizing that they have it makes one much more sympathetic to those who are not. Another way to become an ally is to lend an ear and offer to listen to those going through difficult times during these political tensions. And with listening comes refraining from offering opinions or complaining. A third way to become educated is to be informed on what it takes to come to the United States. Many anti-immigrant and anti-refugee comments come from misunderstanding the level of difficulty it takes to become a legal resident. Finally, to help those immigrant and refugee brothers and sisters, learning about and supporting resources that help them is a big help. One such organization is American Civil Liberties Union Oregon, or ACLU Oregon, which is non governmental, nonprofit, and independent. Coming straight from the ACLU Oregon website and definition of their mission, “The Oregon Affiliate of the ACLU is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of civil liberties and civil rights.” Therefore if one