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Growing up with a background of family that immigrated from Mexico to the United States has made me want to dig deeper into the rights and the policies for immigrants. In the United States, immigration was first introduced in the 19th century. Immigration rights has been a controversial issue for decades all around the world even up to this day. In today’s immigration law, it differentiates for immigrants to either have the ability to stay in the United States or to go back to where they were born at.
Many immigrants have desired to come to the United States for better job opportunities, education, and a better living environment. Not just adults immigrated to the United States, but also did many children. Many acts and policies have been passed over the decades, some have granted immigrants the chance to live their American dream, meanwhile, most immigrants were not granted their wish on living their life in the land of the free.
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Up to this day immigration rights is still a major issue in the United States. Innocent immigrants who were deported in the last two years were most likely separated from their families or did not do any harm. These immigrants desired to live in the United States because they wanted to live and pursue the American Dream.
In my paper I will study the immigration rights in the United States. I will explain the ethical values and moral imagination between immigrants in the society. I will examine the different viewpoints of people who are for and against illegal immigration.
Michael J. Hyde’s definition of ethics is, “Ethics is a discipline that deals with what is good and bad with moral duty and obligation.” (Hyde). Relating to others with great listening and honesty skills are both forms of great ethical skills. Multiple people have their own ethical ideas about immigrants having the right to live in the United States.
Paula S. Tompkins defines moral imagination as, “The ability to recognize and consider ethical issues from different points of view, especially points of view that are different from your own.”(Tompkins). Tompkins also explains, “Without a well-developed moral imagination, it is difficult to discern and deliberate what is good, right, or virtuous to communicate.”(Tompkins).
One of the many claims that Americans typically make is that these illegal aliens are taking over jobs and are not paying taxes. Another claim is that Americans believe all immigrants are criminals and bring violence with them wherever they go. Numerous amount of people hold different and multiple misconceptions about immigrants. The current president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, has shown many examples of having unethical communication and opinions against immigrants or “illegal aliens.” By studying the policies and different perspectives of people who are against or are for immigrants living in the United States, I argue that immigrants should be capable and eligible of having more freedom and deserve to be treated like any other person living in the United States.
In 1882, the first immigration act was passed, it was called the Chinese Exclusion Act. This law restricted Chinese to enter the United States illegally for ten years. After the ten years, the Chinese Exclusion Act was renewed for another ten years in 1902. In 1917, another immigration act was passed, it is known as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act. This law prohibited Asian immigrants and people who were “undesirable” to come to the U.S.. In 1921 the Emergency Quota Act was passed, it limited the amount of immigrants to enter the United States. The Immigration and Naturalization Act or also known as the INA, was passed in 1965. It’s purpose was to reunite immigrant families and to attract labor. The INA is the current immigration policy for the United States.
Deferred Action for Childhood, or as known as DACA, was first established on June 15, 2015. It is a policy that allows immigrants who were brought into the United States as children to stay without having to get deported back. DACA gives the opportunity to these individuals to stay with their families meanwhile being able to go to school and to work. As of September 2018, about 800,000 immigrants are currently being protected because of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. In September of 2018, Donald Trump announced he wanted to put an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This brought so much attention and fear to the individuals who are under DACA.
In 2016, when Obama was in office there was a total of 110,000 immigrants that were arrested but only 16% of those were not criminals or had not committed no crimes to have a reason to be arrested. In 2017 a total of 115,000 immigrants were arrested by ICE. Many of those that were arrested were innocent and did not have a criminal record. Out of those 115,000 immigrants arrested, 30% of those were not criminals. Meaning that at least 34,500 immigrants were arrested for committing no crime. In 2018, more than 256,000 immigrants were deported. Most of these immigrants who were deported were forced to leave their families. In 2007 nearly about 400,000 children were born to unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. The deportation of these innocent immigrants not only scars the immigrant alone, but also dramatically scars the families as well.
In the reading from chapter three Ethics, Rhetoric, and Discourse from The Handbook of Communication Ethics by Michael J. Hyde, his definition of ethics is, “Ethics is a discipline that deals with what is good and bad with moral duty and obligation.” (Hyde). Ethics is a way of relating to others with using great listening and honesty skills. Using hasty generalization, failure to listen to the speaker, or being dishonest are all possible forms of unethical communication.
Paula S. Tompkins defines moral imagination as, “the ability to recognize and consider ethical issues from different points of view, especially points of view that are different from your own.” (Tompkins). Tompkins also explains, “Without a well-developed moral imagination, it is difficult to discern and deliberate about what is good, right, or virtuous to communicate.” (Tompkins). In order to have an advanced moral imagination, it is important to be open and understanding about other people's thoughts and opinions. Having a good moral imagination can make an impact on today's society.
Donald J. Trump shows multiple examples of unethical communication and an undeveloped form of moral imagination. One example is from Trump's announcement speech on June 2015. Trump says, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best… They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” (Trump). This is a perfect example of an undeveloped form of moral imagination. Trump assumes and has a mindset that all illegal immigrants are terrible people. Donald Trump brought and extensive amount of tension between people who are for or against illegal immigration. Trump has a difficult time looking at the immigrants points of view, he does not see how multiple of these immigrants are respectful and hard working people. He only focuses on the bad ones and portrays them all to be like the bad ones. Trump is great at giving speeches and persuading people and that is why he has a countless amount of supporters. Many people agreed with Trump and some of those who were anti-immigration treated immigrants as if they were all criminals and rapists.
Donald Trump tweeted the following tweet on July 3, 2015, “I love the Mexican people, but Mexico is not our friend. They're killing us at the border and they're killing us on jobs and trade. FIGHT!” (Trump). In this tweet, Trump elaborates that people from Mexico, the illegal immigrants, are coming to the United States and are taking over jobs. Illegal immigrants make up most of the farm working jobs here in the United States. According to a cbs article, illegal immigrants only take up five percent of the United States workforce. If there were to be no more immigrants than that would mean there wouldn't be as much people working their jobs. Most Americans will unwilling take their jobs because of the hard work, long hours, and low wages.
In the film Farmingville, immigrants battled to pursue the American Dream. Around the 1990’s about 1,500 illegal immigrants immigrated to Farmingville to seek labor opportunities. They did work such as landscaping and construction. They did the work that the people did not want to do. The majority of the residents from Farmingville were not too happy with them there. In the film, they interview both sides of those who are for or against these laborers. Throughout the film, Margaret Dyber expressed furiously how these immigrants were destroying her community and her home. Most anti’s were angry at the fact that these laborers would stand out on a corner peacefully looking for labor. When they would be out there, they would constantly get confronted by anti’s telling them to leave and to go back from were they came from.
Paul Tonna, the county legislator, supported these laborers. He seen how badly they were being treated for doing nothing. The anti’s threatened Tonna with violence and he received a great amount of hate. Joe Madsen, another labor supporter says, “I was the only person who actually stood up and tried to say that these are good, hard-working people that would make good neighbors and I got that far before people started screaming at me.” (Farmingville). The very few labor supporters understood the points of view of these immigrants. They knew that they came to Farmingville to just seek for job opportunities. The anti’s showed possible forms of unethical communication such as threats and hasty generalization. As soon as a supporter would say something positive and honest about the illegal immigrants, they would attack the supporter. They wanted it their way and lacked empathy and openness.
On June 30, 2018 the ‘Families Belong Together’ march and rally was held in Washington D.C. About more than 30,000 protesters marched to protest against president, Donald Trump's immigration policies. Donald Trumps, “zero tolerance policy” is a policy that has separated many children from their families. During the first couple days of Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy, nearly almost 500 children were taken away and separated from their families. This occurred during the summer of 2018. These kids that were taken away and were put under custody in government detention centers. These kids were put in cages like as if these kids were being portrayed as harmful criminals. Some of the children that were taken away were under the age of five. They had no clue what was going on and just wanted to be reunited with their families. These kids were in the centers for days, weeks, and even months. The parents of the children had to make a decision on whether to have their kid sent back with them or let them stay in the United States to pursue their dreams without their families beside them. Many protests and marches were being held all across the United States due to Trump's “zero-tolerance” policy. Leah Cayasso is a 12-year old girl who spoke in the rally in front of thousands of people. Leah Cayasso was one in multiple children who are in constant fear of losing their mother or father and in some cases, even both. Cayasso said in her speech:
“ 'I live with the constant fear of losing my mom to deportation. My mom is strong, beautiful and brave. She is also a person who taught me how to speak up when I see things that aren't fair.
'ICE wants to take away my mom from me. I don't like to live with this fear. It's scary. I can't sleep, I can't study, I am stressed. I am afraid that they will take my mom away while she is at work, out driving or at home. I don't understand why this administration won't support mothers who just want a better life for their children. This needs to change!
'We cannot allow them to keep hurting families, communities and children. I know that together we can make things better for families and kids.
'I want to be an example to other kids who are going through the same problems as me. I want to tell kids at the border and all over the country not to give up, and fight for their families. We are all human, and deserve to be loved and cared for. We are children!
'Our government has to do the right thing and stop separating us from our parents and stop locking us up. I won't give up fighting for the right to stay with my mom. I am not asking for a favor. It is my right to stay as a child to live in peace with my mother and the rest of my family.”
Cayasso expresses how hard it is to be living in constant fear of losing her parents. According to the Migration Policy Institute, in 2017 roughly about 18 million children in the United States of the age eighteen or younger have at least one immigrant parent. Numerous amount of children suffer with this constant fear and for those that already lost their parents due to deportation, are suffering in depression.
To conclude, after analyzing the different viewpoints from people who are for and against illegal immigration it is safe to say that unethical communication and a lack of moral imagination is being used while arguing this debate. Donald Trump's lacks listening to others opinions and putting himself in a situation as if he were an illegal immigrant trying to live the American dream. The people from the Farmingville film show both sides of people who are for and against illegal immigration. The people who were anti-immigration were disrespectful towards these immigrants and used hasty generalization. The protesters during the “Families Belong Together” campaign showed transparency and empathy as some protesters had the experience with dealing immigration or knew how terrible these immigrants were being treated. Illegal immigration has been an issue since the beginning of the nineteenth century and it will continue to be an ongoing debate and controversial issue. With having great ethical skills such as normative values and a developed moral imagination, it is possible for illegal immigration hate to decrease. As a society, we can make an impact by being open to other people's opinions and thoughts. We could also put ourselves in the points of view of other people. We can imagine what it would be like to live a life as an immigrant. To live in such a way where you work all day in a field or construction site to help support your family, live in constant fear of getting deported, and being treated as if you are a criminal. It is important to show empathy to others and humanization to understand others points of view.
Immigration Rights in United States. (2021, Feb 10). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/immigration-rights-in-united-states-essay
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