“It was very painful for all of us, his brothers, his parents, for me. But perhaps those who are suffering the most right now are our children. My kids ask me all the time: 'Why did they kill my dad? What happened to my dad? 'It is a question that I have no answers to, because I do not know why they did this. " -- Maria Puga, the widow of Alejandro Hernandez Rojas in an interview by Amy Goodman from PBS. The piercing, fiery screams of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas were real. They stripped the night of its beauty and burnt holes into the hearts of witnesses who stood helpless at the California-Mexico border in May 2010. His cries of “Ayudeme! Por favor!” left embers of pain across both sides of the border as bystanders videotaped U.S. Border Patrol officers ferociously beating the life out of Rojas after they caught him crossing the border illegally. Rojas had lived in the United States for 25 years and had five U.S. born children with wife, Maria Puga. After leaving the United States for some time, he was coming back to reunite with his family- until corruption at the border altered his fate. According to Border officers, Rojas was hostile and belligerent, leaving them with no other choice but to tazer him, which ultimately lead to his death. The video footage that was finally released to the press in April of 2012 shows Rojas lying helpless on the cold ground as his wrenched pleas for mercy shook the trees and tainted the land with a new culture that is quickly spreading throughout the border (PBS Need To Know, April 2012). The death of Rojas is a sign to us all that the battle on the border needs to end. Granted, Rojas broke the law, but did he deserve to die because of it? In 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Statistics reported ... ... middle of paper ... ...May 2012. < http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.depaul.edu/ehost/detail?sid=43343e08-851d- 487684fcde3f3baa6484%40sessionmgr11&vid=1&hid=24&bdata=JnNpdGU9Z Whvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=58663908> Stump, Scott. "Born to American Mom, In-vitro Twins Denied Citizenship." Today.msn.com. 17 Apr.2012. Web. May 2012. . The University Texas of Law. "The University of Texas at Austin  School of Law." The Texas-Mexico Border Wall. 2010. Web. 04 May 2012. . Urrea, Luis Alberto. The Devil's Highway: A True Story. New York: Little, Brown, 2004. Print. “US Citizen Apply Guide." Web. 18 Apr. 2012. .
concept for a better life can be seen in the life of how my parents came here to the United States from Mexico. As a matter of fact, in the event, like being stopped by police because of a faulty tail light or being caught by using a fake social security, can have disastrous consequences, especially if you’re living in this country illegally, which is what most immigrants fear in today's world. It’s important to realize that, one day, you’re living the American dream; the next, you’re being deported
Illegal immigration is a current hot topic in today’s society. One third of our inmates now serving time in federal prisons come from another country. Our nations criminal justice system is the target of serious budget cut backs. We can not afford to be paying for another nations citizens to be comfortably housed in Americas correctional facilities. America needs to do everything in it's power to ensure illegal immigration stops. There are estimates anywhere from 12 million illegal immigrants in
with their neighbors to the south, Mexico. It also considers, through many interviews, the affairs of one nation. It is a work held to high esteem by many critics, who view this work as an essential part in truly understanding and capturing Mexico’s history. In Mexican Lives, Hellman presents us with a cast from all walks of life. This enables a reader to get more than one perspective, which tends to be bias. It also gives a more inclusive view of the nation of Mexico as a whole. Dealing with rebel activity
Luís Alberto Urrea’s Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border takes an in-depth journey into life on the other side of the border for Mexican refugees. Urrea highlights that despite the numbers of refugee crossing over the U.S. border from Mexico, ultimately a majority of the refugees that enter the U.S. from Mexico only escape to a less harsh poverty from which they fled. In this essay particular, I want to prove the notion that Urrea literary piece symbolizes the overcoming of
national security, one of the first mentioned are “Illegal immigration”. Every year, over a million illegal immigrants try to cross the border between the US and Mexico. A lot of them get caught and some even dies in the attempt. The problem is so comprehensive that the border patrol can’t handle it. Therefore a group of, mainly, senior citizens have gathered to help the border patrol. The seniors are often former police officers or soldiers. The creators of this project, started in Arizona, Jim Gilchrist
The United States of America and Mexico are countries that are so close to each other, yet so different. From my experience, living in each of these countries for a long time, feels like living in a whole different world. Each country offers different things to the people. The United States of America is a better place to live than Mexico because of their climate, their culture and their higher quality of education. The climate in the U.S.A is different across the country. The southern part of the
neighbor, and the accompanying scapegoating campaign has manifested itself in the cry for a border wall. This concept was led on the Presidential campaign
Hadrian’s Wall could be compared as one of the first small scale versions of today’s U.S, Mexico border wall because they both serve a similar purpose of controlling the flow of goods. Hadrian’s Wall main purpose was not to necessarily defend Rome’s territory, but to provide a sort of monitoring system for the trade that flowed in and out of the border with present day Scotland, in order to ensure they collected all the taxes they could for their government. Truth be told, it turns out that the wall
the belief that many Mexican immigrants had about “El Norte,” they believed that the north would provide them with the opportunity that their life in Mexico had not. Many Immigrants believed that the United States was “the land of opportunity,” a place to find a successful job and live out the life that one only dreamt about living. The North was an open paradise for the immigrants. They were told by the people who had already ventured to the north that the United States was a “simple life, in which
heartbreaking book The Land of Open Graves, we get an indepth ethnological account of the many people who's lives have been shaped in one way or another by the Mexican-American border, and the weaponization of the inhospitable Sonoran desert. In this section of border crossing, 4 million undocumented migrants have been arrested (more than one third of all immigration arrests), and countless others have tried, failed, succeeded or died (1). De León also frames Border Patrol as a tool of state-sponsored
Mounted Watchmen of the U.S immigration service patrolled the border in an effort to prevent illegal immigration since 1904, but their efforts were irregular and undertaken. The inspectors, operated out of El Paso, Texas. Though they were no more than 75, they patrolled as far as west as California trying to restrict the flow of illegal Chinese immigration. In the Early years, officers were quickly recruited for the new positions. The border patrol expanded to 450 officers. Liquor smuggling was a major
close to the border, it was reasonable that most of the kids were Latinos because a lot of them came from Tijuana, Mexico. My first speaking language was Spanish, so it was hard for me as well as the kids that cross the border to understand English. As I grew up going into junior high my classes were all English and with no Spanish. I certainly believe that we, the bilingual kids are lucky enough to know two languages. Yes, it’s America and the spoken language is English, but because it’s only English
Life on the Border I used to be a person who was hung up on material possessions. I was always wanting more, never satisfied with what I had. Whenever I would go to the mall, I would want everything that I saw. If I had money I would always spend it. I was constantly buying things that I didn’t need or only used once. I felt like I was unfortunate because I didn’t have a new outfit every week, and I couldn’t get a new pair of shoes every time I walked out the door, but that all changed the summer
Gasses on Mexico and it's Effort to Reduce Environmental Damage Introduction For over a hundred years, scientists have been carefully gathering and verifying data on the earth's temperature. The latest data reveals some striking trends:All 10 of the warmest years on record have occurred in the last 15 years The 1990's have already been warmer than the 1980's- the warmest decade on record The global average surface temperature has risen 0.5 degrees (site source)For the first time ever, the Intergovernmental
more each day and I believe that it's time for America to change its ways. America. The Land of freedom. Maybe even too free. Especially with their gun laws. Well known for their gun massacres and school shootings and one of the main causes of this problem is because America is the only country in the world to relax gun laws after gun massacres. An example of this is the 1991 Texas diner massacre when a local man collided his truck into a diner then progressed to open fire and murder 22 people. Texas