Society shaped our minds into using certain words and being oblivious to their actual meanings. We speak language without recognizing the actual power a word contains for example, the words illegal immigrant and illegal alien. The word illegal immigrant versus undocumented immigrant has become a trending topic. My research on four articles ultimately lead to my conclusion: Framing Unauthorized Immigrants: The Effects of Labels on Evaluations by Redar Ommunsen et.al , Smoke Screens: Is There Correlation between Migration Euphemisms and the Language of Detention by Mariette Garange, Criminology by Xia Wang and Undocumented vs Illegal immigrant: towards terminological coherence by Mila Paspalanova. After doing the research and studying …show more content…
People support the term Illegal immigrant because it is a standard word to describe the illegal action they committed by entering the country unauthorized; however, the word “illegal” can have a negative connotation attached to it. “Being an immigrant becomes associated through the use of language, with illegal acts under the criminal law.... Illegal immigration as a concept has the effects of rendering suspicious in the eyes of the population and the world” (Garange7). When referring to immigrants as “illegal”, it automatically gives people a bad perception about them; so it leads to them being treated unethically and not given an opportunity. Society stereotypes immigrants like criminals that break the law. The immigrant comes in search of a better life, opposed to the criminal who harmed or murdered, and still isn’t called illegal. On the other hand, when an immigrant is called an undocumented worker the population has more sympathy towards them and does not automatically criminalize them, which is more …show more content…
According to the article Criminology immigrants are less likely to contribute to crime than people think; so, they should not use illegal in front of immigrant, because they are not illegal in fact no one is.(Wang764) It seems to be a stereotype that immigrants cause crimes because the negative connotation the word illegal contains. People say immigrants take their jobs and housing, but in all actuality Americans wouldn’t work for low pay and live in the inner city. A reason for stereotyping also comes from America referring to crime by race, so by doing that immigrants happen to be a large percent of the minorities who get penalized for it. “Also, a long American tradition of prejudice exists against immigrants, including characterizations of them as dangerously criminal” (Wang765). As long as we keep using perceptional language towards immigrants the stereotyping and negativity will continue with those words. Most stereotypes are just misconceptions society and the language we use
We live in a nation that has been called the land of opportunities, a nation that was developed on the hands, sweats and hard work of many people. These same people are those who are from here but are poor, or who come here for a better life and migrated from other countries some by force and others by choice. We live in a country that many look at immigrants as if they are different from the rest, what makes them different is how they speak or dress. At the end of it all we are all humans and they should not be considered to be call illegal immigrants. What is so illegal about that is the question to ask, and why it is that one word is the one to define someone’s character of who they are. One piece of paper is what define who we are in this
As has been demonstrated by Ochoa and Rios’s findings, labelings’ repercussions are negative and assign expectations that in turn limit life opportunities. In Gonzales and Tobar’s books, we see the over reactions and distorted views that labeling migrants as criminals creates. The repercussions of this is to further propagate fear to quell dissent within the migrant population.
The United States was formed by the immigration of many people from all over the world. Americans take pride in knowing that we are a people of vast ethnic backgrounds and culture. However, at the present time, the flow of illegal immigration, as well as a large influx of other legal immigrants is placing a strain on our land of "huddled masses." Legal immigration to the United States can easily be handled and is welcomed by most Americans. However, the flow of illegal immigrants, especially from Mexico, must be stemmed, due to the strain it is placing on the government, (at the local, state and federal level), as well as the general population. Illegal immigrants are costing the United States over 24 billion dollars a year in taxpayers money (National Review 12.13.93). Something must be done to reduce the flow of illegal immigration into the United States. The focus of this paper will be the problems caused by and possible solutions to the problem of illegal immigration.
Natives who oppose the entrance of immigrants into their nation offer several reasons in favor of the abolishment of immigrants. They argue that immigrants are the reasons for drug trafficking, when over 80% of drug traffickers are natives. They argue that immigration increases crime rate, yet most studies comparing crime rates and
Illegal immigration has been an ongoing problem in America for many decades. The form of law that currently governs the immigration process is, the Immigration and Naturalization Act, and it has been broken for many years as immigrants still continue to pour into the states illegally. The immigration acts enacted in the past that have been continuously modified leads up to the current policy that falls under the Incrementalism model. However, it is important to note that the current American Immigration system is broken and is in dire need of reform. There are 11 million people living in the dark and too many employers cheating the system by hiring undocumented workers in exchange for offering lesser pay. The current system is hurting the economy and bringing down our country as a whole.
An illegal immigrant, who works for their keep in an unknown country, contributes to taxes, stays out of trouble, and just wants a better life in a foreign country, on unknown land should be recognized for their contribution to that particular society. An illegal immigrant is a person who migrates to a different country in a way that is in violation of the immigrant laws of that country. Immigration has been a divided topic for many years in America- illegal immigrants are sometimes seen as a burden to America, but others view them as an economic savior. There are over 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States and many Americans have mixed views about where there stance should be regarding citizenship. Illegal immigrants should be granted citizenship based on the United States need for e legalized workforce, the increase in tax revenues that would decrease the nation’s debt, and the boosting of America’s economy.
The United States of America, being a country founded by immigrants, is known all over the world as the land of great opportunities. People from all walks of life travelled across the globe, taking a chance to find a better life for them and their family. Over the years, the population of immigrants has grown immensely, resulting in the currently controversial issue of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are the people who have overstayed the time granted on their US, visa or those who have broken the federal law by crossing the border illegally. Matt O’Brien stated in his article “The government thinks that 10.8 million illegal immigrants lived in the country in January 2009, down from a peak of nearly 12 million in 2007.”(Para, 2) While some argue that illegal immigrants burden the United States of America and its economy, others believe that they have become essential and are an important part of the US, economy.
Any immigrant who commits murder or other offense after coming to this country will be dismissed. Their legalization will never come. Most illegal immigrants who come to this country are asylum seekers. These immigrants seek refuge and peace in the United States. Nevertheless, some illegal immigrants come here for disastrous reasons. These immigrants come here to harm United States citizens. In an article by Breitbart called “Illegal Alien Accounts For Over 30% of Murders in Many States” it asserts, “Between 2008 and 2014, 40% of all murder convictions in Florida were criminal aliens. In New York, it was 34% and Arizona 17.8 %”(Tancredo). These immigrants who commit serious offenses like murder, do not deserve to be here. These immigrants will not receive the chance to become rightful
Putting some thought in this subject, illegal immigrants have some of the hardest jobs, that require so much labor, and don’t get paid as well, while a legal person would think it is not worth getting exhausted over.
Its people like Donald Trump that try to give them a bad rep just because they need someone to blame and that seems like an easy target. Immigrants are made to look like they come into America and take Americans jobs. I have always said that if an immigrant who doesn’t speak English comes and seals a job from you it was never really your job. Immigrants come to America to have a better life but most of them get low wages and no benefits but to them it doesn’t matter because it
To begin, an illegal immigrant is defined as “an alien (non-citizen) who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa.”(“illegal immigrant”,def.1). It is important to first define “illegal immigrant” before continuing this discussion. Illegal immigration has progressively gotten worse throughout the years, and has lead some Americans to believe that illegal immigrants have caused major economic problems and continue shrink the domestic job market for foreign workers or more importantly United States citizens. But is that really the case? The current positive economic impact made by illegal immigrant workers is tremendous, if we decided to mass deport all of them, it would cripple the United States economy. Illegal immigrants provide the United States with low-wage workers that are difficult or even scarce to find. Which allows our businesses to provide us with products at a
The definition of immigration has developed to include a profound understanding of migration. Immigration has put an emphasis on the effects of school funding. Evidence suggests that the largest challenge in school funding is the result of increase in migrant children in schools. As a result, as the South Carolina State Superintendent of Instruction a policy must be in place for the anticipated increase of immigrant children.
Though the United States is home to many immigrants, controversy surrounds the issue of immigrants in the United States. The United States in a melting pot of various backgrounds and cultures, yet it is hard for all to merge into acceptance of one another. The first chapter of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and class covers stratification, prejudice and discrimination, and inequality.
For example, Hispanic immigrants are far more prone to commit crimes than Japanese immigrants. This makes it unfair to consider that because a Japanese person is an immigrant, they are also more prone to commit crimes. Much like in the past, the public debate over immigration today is laced with myths and often portrays immigrants as uneducated, unemployed and, because of various social- and health-related problems, are a drain on our welfare and healthcare systems.... ... middle of paper ...
The definition of illegal immigration is the migration of people across national borders in a way that violates the immigration laws of the destination country. Illegal immigrants are a