As both of my blogs demonstrate, I stand for immigration. My ideals would appeal to a more liberal standpoint. Immigration has been a hot topic for years now. It has been a key component in both our country’s political parties: Democratic or Republican. The Republican party, known to be the conservative party, is known to advocate for less immigration flow in the country. Many of its politicians have been very open in their opposition to immigration. Our current president, Donald Trump who is Republican, has made several comments on the issues regarding illegal immigration. He has advocated for an increase in deportation. However, his ideals do not represent every Republican, but he does reflect many other American citizens’ beliefs. Although there are many reasons to stand for the immigrants in the country, it is  unreasonable to argue that we should grant citizenship to every single immigrant in the United States or that we should have our borders open to everyone. The needs of the American citizen should be the priority such as safety, economic security, and stable laws. 

I have never really looked into conservative sites. This is because when it came to researching immigration in the past, it was easy to come across sites that advoacted for immigration. The Federalist is a well known news page that is known to demonstrate many conservative perspectives.  One of the articles that hit an important point regarding immigration is “Why Mass Illegal Immigration Probably Cost More Than You’ve Been Told.” It is written by both Willis L. Krumholz and Robert J. Delahunty. Krumholz is a University of St.Thomas graduate who works in the financial service industry. Delahunty is a professor of constitutional law in the University of St. Thomas. Both authors have a wide understanding of this subject considering the article discusses the finance aspect of the economy along with the law aspect of immigration. A big pro that is always presented for immigration is the economic gain recieved from workers that happpen to be immigrants. However what is usually ignored is the cost of illegal immigration weighing down on the overall economy. Although immigrants are not completely able to recieve every benefit provided by the federal government as an American citzen, they still recieve ones that are not counted for. An example that is provided in the article is public education. Public education is able to function due to taxpayers.  “According to a 2017 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, federal and state governements pay nearly $135 billion annually to cover the cost of an estimated 12.5 million illigeal immigrants and their 4.2 million citizen children present in the country”  (Krumholz & Delahunty). This statistic reflects that many immigrants do not pay taxes but children attend public schools. However, this statistic may demostrate an overestimate of illegal immigrants and may not count for other contributions that are given by illegal immigrants. 

Another news site that I chose to give me more insight on the right-side media would be the PJ media. It is known to cover various conservative opinons and commentary. I came acorss the article, “Assessing Trump on Immigration.” This is written by Mark Ellis who is the author of A Death on the Horizon. This novel happens to center political upheavel and cultural intrigue. He breaks his article into “truths” which convey a lot of common arguments. One intersting truth he speaks about is “If you are an illegal immigrant who stayed out of trouble with the law, except for the crime of illegal entry, you’re probably home free.” This is meant to debunk many arguments made from the liberal standpoint that many illegal immigrants are acutally not in this “massive” danger of randomly being deported. The  Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE , an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, is known to rally many illegal immigrants with the purpose to deport them. Under former President Barack Obama’s adminstration, he pushed for the group to target undocomented immigrants who had committed serious crimes within the U.S. However due to Trump’s zero tolerance policy, Trump pushed ICE towards rallying anyone who is an illgeal immigrant. Due to the push, many Democrats have viewed ICE to be a part of Trump’s big picture plan on extreme harsh immigration policies ( Nixon, Ron, and Linda Qiu.) In Ellis’ argument, he claims that many illegal immigrants are safe from deportation but there are many testimonies that say otherwise. For starters, many drivers tend to find themselves in a checkpoint. This is where you’re usually checked by the police and asked for your license. Obviously, illegal immigrants will not have their license. The law they were breaking was driving. However it is not these extreme, dangerous actions that ICE should be targeting yet these are the actions that are done that cause an automatic deportation. 

An article made by the Orange County Register, tells the story of a DACA recipent named Osny Sorto-Vasquez Kidd. An agent from ICE dressed up as a police officer and claimed to be a dectective. She approached him with the claim that she was looking for a dangerous man. “But the photo was apparently fake. And the woman wasn’t a detective. She was an agent with U.S Customs and Immigration Enforcement, and she arrested Kidd, an immigrant with temporary protective status, and took him to an immigration detention center in San Bernardino.” (Kopeteman). This story reflects the direct extremes that ICE has taken to arrest people who seem “suspicous” of being an illegal immigrant. This young man has a status in this country yet he still is targeted. This proves to show that an action does not have to be done in order to be targeted. Ellis claims illegal immigrants that are not committing crimes are safe at home. If someone who has some form of protection still is messed with, it is no surprise that someone with no status is in deeper trouble? 

There are many grey areas when it comes to the overall immigration issue. There is a lot to work on. Both conservative and liberal bring very important points that should be taken note of. I identify more with liberal standpoints but there are many conservative points made about immigration that I agree with. American citizens should always come first in both an economic and safety standpoint.  As a country, we do need to control our borders. We need to secure a system that provides us with more legal immigration. However, we need to be consious of immigrants being humans too. Their lack of status does not mean that it is a ticket to disrespect or degrade them. It is time to see both sides with an open mind to ensure a stronger immigration system. 

                                                                  Works Cited 

Ellis, Mark. “Assessing Trump on Immigration.” Pjmedia.com, PJ Media, 23 Apr. 2020, 

https://pjmedia.com/columns/mark-ellis/2020/02/26/assessing-trump-on-immigration-n380020

Kopetman, Roxana. “Lawsuit Targets ICE Practice of Posing as Police.” Orange County Register, Orange County Register, 17 Apr. 2020, 

Lawsuit targets ICE practice of posing as police

Krumholz , William L, and Robert J Delahunty. “Why Mass Illegal Immigration Probably Costs More Than You’ve Been Told.” The Federalist, 16 Aug. 2019, https://thefederalist.com/2019/08/13/mass-illegal-immigration-probably-costs-youve-told/

Nixon, Ron, and Linda Qiu. “What Is ICE and Why Do Critics Want to Abolish It?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 July 2018, 

“We need to build a wall!” “We need to stop people from crossing the southern Mexican border!” “There are children being put in cages, this is devastating and heartbreaking!”  “The immigration system is messed up!” These are statements that are often highlighted in the media of the current immigration situation. There is a wide spectrum of those who are for and against immigration. The controversy has been going on for years however the news highlight the Trump administration creation of new ideas and policies to stop the flow of illegal immigration from the southern border. However, what does this do to current illegal immigrants in the United States trying to become legal? Although illegal immigration should be resitrcted due to population and economic reasoning, the soultion should not be to completely disregard immigrants, who have been present for years, and ignore their situations and treatment. 

Georgia is home to over one million immigrants. As of 2017, 10.71% of Georgia’s population are immigrants. This is according to the Migration Policy Institution but there are many immigrants who go not unnoticed. This means a lot of people are a part of the communities and contribute to the Georgia economy and life. Many have interest in citizenship in order to move up in society and contribute much more but often are found in extreme difficulties to do so. In Jeremy Redmon’s, a well known Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer on politics, immigrations, and refugees and military affairs, an article called “Georgia’s immigration court judges among toughest in the nation for asylum,” he highlights how often people are denied asylum in Georgia. According to Redmon’s article, two of Georgia’s immigration courts have the second and third highest average asylum denial rates in the nation. The national average is 58% yet the two surpass this percentage at 94% and 95%. This reflects a great difficulty in winning a case in the state of Georgia in immigration matters. Redmon states, “Winning asylum in the United States can be a matter of life and death for people fleeing terrorists, brutal governments and religious and political persecution in their home countries. But the Trump administration says many newcomers are clogging the system with meritless or fraudulent claims.” This quote states the difficulties many immigrants face. 

Many immigrants are escaping danger in hopes of a secure home for their families. Personally, I know many people who escaped their countries for the matter of living. My family escaped El Salvador because of war and poverty. One of my best friends escaped Colombia because of political persecution. The stories are endless. It shouldn’t be disregarded because of where they come from or prior judgement. Many immigrants have the potential to contribute millions to the the government. However they’re being ignored. Redmon claims that Georgia judges are failing to assist those in need. The article specifically focuses on Judge Wilson who happens to typically lean in his chair, had his eyes closed, and would have his head turned away from the people in court. This demonstrates a mistreatment of immigrants because he does not care enough to do his job properly and respectfully. 

Jennifer Rubin, a politics and policy writer for the Washington Post, wrote an article called, “Trump has no excuse for mistreatment of children.” Rubin is not in favor of Trump’s administration. She states, “President as usual refuses to accept responsibility for his administration’s ineptness and cruelty. He insists the Obama administration was the one to start separating children from their families. But, once more, the Obama administration did not create a zero-tolerance policy that resulted in the detention of thousands of children, a situation the administration has never sufficiently prepared for.” The zero-tolerance is a policy that was placed to criminally prosecute all suspected  immigrants who crossed the border illegally even the ones who crossed beforehand. Rubin argues that Trump has blamed the mistreatment of immigrants on everyone but himself. Hundreds of migrant children have been placed in terrible conditions. These children are getting sick and dirty. They are separated from their parents. She claims that Trump has invested in a “useless” wall and spent months on a government shutdown, refusing to give aid to Latin American countries in which people are escaping from, and threatening raids to illegal immigrants. I cannot help but agree with the author here. Why not start the root of the problem? Why are people leaving their homes in the first place? There are powerful reasons that could be fixed in order to have the flow of immigration decrease. Although there are multiple issues to why someone would leave their country, there is a common thread. War, poverty, and crime are often similar reasoning to why people leave their country. Personally becoming better allies with many countries in Latin America could be way more useful than a wall in both social and economic terms. Trump’s administration has seemed to disregard good ideas that could actually establish good change in the immigration reform that is safer and does not violate basic human rights. Rubin explains, “Had the administration put such nonsense aside and requested a stand-alone bill to greatly increase the number of immigration judges (thereby speeding up the process of asylum requests) and expand facilities- or simply discontinue automatic incarceration of innocent women and children- we would be faced a human rights disaster of Trump’s own making.” It is evident that a change needs to be done in the immigration process. Although I cannot pin Trump as a complete villain, his choice in actions have been interesting. Like Rubin, I agree there is a clear violation of human rights and a shift in priorities is needed. 

People often ignore the fact that the  immigration system is not easy. The system is complicated and often takes years for undocumented immigrants to become documented. It’s not that people choose to be without papers but it’s difficult to progress in the system. After thirty years of being in the United States, my parents finally managed to become citizens. They invested over fifty thousand dollars in getting citizenship. Immigrants are human beings. They are not from here but it does mean they deserve to be violated and ignored.  The United States is one of the countries with the highest amount of immigrants. This country was built off the labor and efforts of immigrants. However, it is unreasonable to argue that we should grant citizenship to every single immigrant in the United States or that we should have our borders open to everyone. The needs of the American citizen should be the priority such as safety, economic security, and stable laws. The current immigration situation is out of control and should be reinforced. The solution should not be to throw everyone out. There are so many misconceptions surrounding immigrants such as they don’t pay taxes or have not contributed to America. They have contributed billions to the country’s GDP in taxes and creations of jobs. This creates positive results in the overall American economy. 

Citations: 

Redmon, Jeremy. “Georgia’s Immigration Court Judges among Toughest in Nation for Asylum.” Ajc, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 26 July 2019, www.ajc.com/news/breaking-news/georgia-immigration-court-judges-among-toughest-nation-for-asylum/svQ2CmRGXS5Hgi2utVTmrO/.

Rubin, Jennifer. “Opinion | Trump Has No Excuse for Mistreatment of Children.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 25 June 2019, http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/25/trump-has-no-excuse-mistreatment-children/.

“State Demographics Data – GA.” Migrationpolicy.org, 1 Feb. 2020, www.migrationpolicy.org/data/state-profiles/state/demographics/GA.

    Immigration has been an ongoing topic of discussion since the start of the United States. Immigration is the foundation of the country. Over the past century, the like for immigration has been like a roller coaster. Immigrants have come in huge amounts. Similar to now, people came in with their hopes of their American Dream. Records as early as 1855 show the presence of immigrants coming into the country. History shows business owners were happy to hire workers who worked for low pay. In the construction of railroads, a project that shaped the United States, took in workers that immigrated from China. Many European immigrants were hired in factories. Since the beginning of time, immigrants were often mistreated and taken advantage of because of their lack of status. They were barely paid or sometimes even killed so they would not have to be paid. American society displayed a form of division,  as some argue that is felt now, of American citizens hating immigrants. In the past we see acts such as the immigration act of 1907 and the Chinese Exclusion act are passed in efforts to decrease the amount of immigrants coming into the country. Demands for quotas continued on in history. The situation occurs today. President Trump has frequently spoken of the immigration situation. Immigration is at an all time high. The biggest difference aside from the immigration train shifting from mainly European and Asian to Latin American, is how high the overall American population is. Overcrowding has been a concern. News floating around the treatment of immigrants and their future in the United States have continued to make headlines. 

             In the article,”Immigration Raids Turn Victims into Criminal and Violates Worker Right,” written by Danielle Maestrretti, focuses on immigration law enforcement and the violation of the human rights of immigrants. Maestretti states, “In the absence of meaningful immigration reform, we’ve arrived at a de facto policy that punishes workers, not the corporate bosses who benefit from their low wages and long hours” (¼). Maestretti emphasizes on the effects of communities as people are too scared to leave their homes. The children of these immigrants, who a big percentage happen to be U.S citizens, are going through their everyday lives with constant worry of the deportation of their parents. Maestretti continues her argument stating, “The raids are the most visible symptom of a dysfunctional system-and, perversely, the government may be stepping them up to push for the policies that corporate America wants” (¼) The articles continues to focus on the profiting of immigration reform in receiving both low pay in high labor and limiting people to rights such as limiting their ability to organize. Also if more people are being arrested and detained, the more jails are profiting. People are being arrested for minor incidents such as driving with no seat belt or fishing with no licence. This means that these private businesses don’t care for the fact that people are illegal. They don’t do it to conserve the law, but rather to increase their profit. It’s more important to capture as many people in order to maintain their businesses. This is a big piece of information that immigration deportation is profitable for corporate America. Maestri ends her article with a a quote to empathize with the readers. She states that the need for a better life for a family is not a crime. 

    The other article I read was called, “Enforcing Existing Immigrantion Law Violates Rights of Illegal Immigrants.” The author of this article happens to be the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee rights. The NNIRR focuses on the rights of all immigrants and refugees. The article begins by highlighting the ongoing pattern in violating the rights of immigrants by law enforcement. The NNIRR states, “Meanwhile, Congress continues to inflate the DHS’s [Department of Homeland Security] ICE and CBP [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] budgets for militarizing the southwest border region, linking it to the intensification of interior enforcement. This consists of lawes, practices, policies and new proposals increasing policing, wall building and incarceration of immigrants and a growing reliance on private security corporations” (⅛). Similar to the first article, it emphasizes the benefits the government receives in incarcerating immigrants. Detention centers make money. In 2005, the U.S passed a bill called the Sensenbrenner bill that makes immigrants felonies if they are undocumented and making it illgeal to give them services. Since then the amount of  ICE raids have increased immensely. Between the years of 2006 and 2007, the percentage of raids increased over twenty percent. Another similarity found in the article as the first one is highlighting the effects faced by children. Who would want to leave a child on its own? NNIRR states, “Studies estimates that between 3.1 million and 5 million children- who are U.S. citizens- are living with at least one undocumented immigrant parent” (⅜). The article states that the U.S needs to invest in different strategies in means of decreasing immigration. It’s no longer just immigrants who are affected but actual U.S citizens. These citizens become orphans. Children who are left helpless. 

      Overall, immigration reform is a very controversial issue. Whether people are pro or anti immigration, it’s important to recognize that a human’s right is violated. A human is a human regardless of legal status. Families are being separated and people are being mistreated for their status. The quality of living in these detention centers are horrible. Children are being forced to live in unacceptable conditions. A person’s status does not determine their value as a human being. A change in the treatment of people has to occur. It needs to also be recognized how much immigrants have done to the U.S both socially and economically. The ending statement of NNIRR article says it all, “Additionally, the U.S. government must address the root causes of migration by upholding and protecting human rights and implementing sustainable economic development” (6/8). 

Ciations: National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “Enforcing Existing Immigration Law Violates Rights of Illegal Immigrants.” What Rights Should Illegal Immigrants Have?, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale In Context: Global Issues, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010419215/GIC?u=ggcl&sid=GIC&xid=10fa01b5. Accessed 6 Feb. 2020. Originally published as “Over-Raided, Under Siege: U.S. Immigration Laws and Enforcement Destroy the Rights of Immigrants,” 2008, pp. 1-47.

Maestretti, Danielle. “Immigration Raids Turn Victims into Criminals and Violate Worker Rights.” What Rights Should Illegal Immigrants Have?, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale In Context: Global Issues, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010419219/GIC?u=ggcl&sid=GIC&xid=3b4437f5. Accessed 6 Feb. 2020. Originally published as “Shelf Life: Immorally Detained,” Utne Reader, Jan.-Feb. 2009, pp. 22-23.

Many social justice related issues are found within society. I am going to focus my blog on Immigration. Specifically, I’d like to focus on the rights of immigrants while relating it back to the overall immigration system. Immigrants play a huge role in the building of the United States of America. As the daughter of immigrants, I’ve watched the struggle of becoming an American citizen. There is a long law process behind. People discriminate against you for your lack of English, status, and skin color. Through it all my parents taught me to preserve and value this country. They taught me that for anything you have to always work hard. They carry a similar mindset of other immigrants. People often forget the reasons people choose to leave their home. For my parents it was war and poverty. A war that led to a lot of damage for the country El Salvador. It’s just one of the few countries that people escape for a better reality. As anyone in this country, people want a bright future. Immigrants establish themselves here. They start to raise a family, only to be ripped apart from them. It is true that not every immigrant can be accessed a free entrance to the country. Citizens’ economic security and safety should always be a priority. However, this an ongoing issue that’s been going on for decades. It needs to be resolved but not in an inhuman way. People are detained and placed in awful living circumstances. Children sleeping in cages. A person being from a different country does not stop them from being a human being. Stories like these should not be left unnoticed but recognized through by our government. Law enforcement needs to understand that it is not a crime to want a better life for your family.