The Truth Behind Immigration In America
Immigration is not the same as it is often portrayed to the public. The way media and the internet romanticize immigration is not only an offense to all immigrants, but also to all the gullible citizens who believe America treats their immigrants so preciously and lovingly. Even though immigration may seem flawless at times, in a contemporary American society, it is actually extremely time consuming, degrading, violent, and features not only discrimination but also human rights abuse.
Safety precautions, stigma, and just pure discrimination against immigrants has caused the whole immigration process to be extremely difficult and time consuming for legal and illegal immigrants alike.
My mom, an immigrant from China, told me when I was little that when she first arrived in the U.S embassy for immigration check almost twenty years ago, she was excited and looking forward to a new and prosperous life, but that mindsight changed pretty quickly after her horrendous experience in the embassy and customs. She did not only experience harsh discrimination but was also unreasonably questioned about terroism and communism by over 10 different governmental embassy officals! The whole paperwork signing process also took well over a week, during this time she was forced to stay at the embassy which provided her with extremely poor hygiene and limited supplies of food. She felt she was not even treated like a person but only as a potential future labor asset. I am sure the process for legal immigration is much more ethical now, but my mom’s hope to achieve the American Dream, was shattered by the realities of immigration at the time and all of the harsh realities related to it. My mom, like so many other immigrants was influenced by the media and falsely believed that immigration was just easy and simple with no legitimate complications or controversies involved.
Immigration can also be extremely violent and unethical, as shown by the many killings by the U.S Mexico border. In 2016 there was an estimated 322 migrant deaths by the U.S Mexico border, the worst obviously being violent unethical killings. Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reported around 117 cases related to human rights abuses against Mexican immigrants by US police or officials in the span of 2 years. An example of death because of human rights abuse is a case in 2010 where a 15 year old Mexican boy was shot to death near El Paso, Texas. The U.S. Border Patrol attempted to defend the officers by reporting that the officers only responded to a group of suspected illegal immigrants who were allegedly throwing stones and pebbles at them. President Felipe Calderón of Mexico criticized the American officers by stating that 'the use of firearms to repel attacks with stones represents disproportionate use of force.” Violence and discrimination towards immigrants has been prominent for many years now but it is often kept away from the public or shamelessly sugarcoated. Deaths like the stated 15 year old immigrant boy happen constantly in the U.S but unless you have really experienced the difficulties related to immigration or have been exposed to reliable unfiltered news, you might not even believe that the “fair and ethical America” could accomplish something so heartless to its immigrants.
Immigration is an incredibly gruesome process that is often covered up and edited online to the benefit of U.S’s human rights reputation. Although immigration may be portrayed glamorously on the news, media, and entertainment, the real experience is stained with incredibly intense physical and emotional pain. This immigration problem holds especially true in contemporary American society where an influx of starry eyed immigrants come in every day with their hopes crushed almost instantaneously after their hardship filled arrival.
