The American Dream

Monique Perez
Eng 215-Final Project
December 8, 2009
The American Dream

Immigration has been a problem for several years and has gone through many generations. North America has always been known as the place where dreams come true. Immigrants come to North America with the hopes of creating a better life for themselves, to be successful and to pursue any lifelong goals and accomplishments they might have. According to John Maggs article The Economics of Being Hispanic, it discusses negative economic impacts that the Hispanic race has brought or taken away from North America.

An estimated 500,000 migrants come to the United States each year which pushes our nation to an estimated 11.6 million undocumented or illegal immigrants in the United States. Hispanic immigrants travel to the United States in the hopes of creating a better life and pursing dreams. Many Hispanic immigrants are outraged at how they are treated and stereotyped. “The largely Hispanic demonstrators say they deserve a shot at the American dream, no matter how they got here” ( Lynch & Woodyard). Hispanic immigrants are essential workers on American farms, in hotels and restaurants and on construction sites. An estimated 7.2 million illegal immigrants provide much of the unskilled muscle that the United States Information Age economy requires: 36% of insulation workers, 29% of farm hands and 27% of butchers. Many of the Hispanic immigrants do labor under harsh conditions and take any job they can get because they need to make a living and support their families.

Hispanic immigrants are mostly poor and when they arrive to the United States they take the lowest- paying jobs. They do this due to the lack of education they have received. Many of the Hispanic immigrants come to the U.S. hoping to find a better career and/or purse school to expand education and to get specialized for a certain career field. Many Hispanics immigrant have trouble attending school now with the law being so strict and not having the necessary funds to pay for school or have the ability to apply for scholarships. Many Americans complain that Hispanic immigrants are destroying our nation because they are not contributing by paying taxes, when in doubt 55% and 65% of illegal migrants have income and social security taxes withheld from their pay. Those who buy or rent homes also pay property taxes and in some communities that impost sales taxes, Hispanic migrants are paying those as well. “Despite popular suspicions that Hispanic immigrations are taking away jobs, depressing wages, and draining tax dollars, the evidence suggests otherwise” (Maggs 421).

Now, there are those Americans who feel that illegal immigrants are a direct threat to their livelihood because they feel Hispanic immigrants take way jobs. With the fall of our economy many Americans who lost their jobs felt that they could not get work because most descent jobs were taking by immigrants. “Jobless for three months, construction worker Michael Williams, 49, says the immigrant workers he sees gathered outside Los Angeles area Home Depots will work for half his customary $100 daily wage. "You have a lot of illegal aliens here," says Williams. "It takes food off the table."” (Lynch & Woodyard). The government should be looking at the employer who is paying the illegal immigrant under the table and blame the employer instead of pointing negatively at the Hispanic Immigrants as if it is their fault for our falling economy. President Bush made this statement on the issues of immigration by saying, "There are people here working hard for jobs Americans won't do." This is in fact true, I believe that Hispanics are willing to do the work that most people wouldn't like to do or normally just don't do. People hire them because Hispanics are willing to work for a cheap price and it is not because they’re not worth more money but they work for whatever they can get because at the end of the day they have a family to support just like any other person in the U.S.

“Mexican immigrants risk their lives on the way here and in the process spending most everything they’ve got” (Dougherty). Why would Hispanic immigrants want to return home? This is the land of opportunity and if they want to better themselves with a career or through school, we should allow them to try to become U.S. citizens to accomplish these goals. Regardless, of what ethnic background a person comes from should not be used to determine a person citizenship. If they are paying taxes and contributing to our economy than they should be considered American as any other person in North America. North America is land of opportunity and if that's how we view our country than we should allow others to experience it.

IMMIGRATION DEBATE
Unauthorized arrivals: An estimated 11.1 million illegal immigrants came to the USA from 1980 to March 2005, with 40% of them arriving between 2000 and 2005. Number of arrivals (in millions):
1980-1989
1.8
1990-1994
2.0
1995-1999
2.9
2000-20051
4.4

Where they work: Unauthorized workers are employed in a variety of jobs in the USA1:
Service
21%
Construction
19%
Production, installation, repair
15%
Sales, administrative support
12%
Management, business, professional
10%
Transportation, material moving
8%
Farming
4%
1 - as of March 2005. Source: Pew Hispanic Center








References:
Beedles, Bonnie and Petracca, Michael . Academic communities/Disciplinary Conventions. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall, 2001. Print.
Lynch J. David, Woodyard Chris. Immigrants claim pivotal role in economy. USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2006-04-10-immigrants-economicimpact_x.htm
Dougherty Conor. Hispanic Immigration Down With Economy. The Wall Street Journal
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/07/23/hispanic-immigration-down-with-economy/
Why Hispanic Immigration is Not a Threat to American Identity. Science Blog
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/why-hispanic-immigration-not-threat-american-identity-12910.html
Pew Hispanic Center.2007 National Survey of Latinos: As Illegal Immigration Issue Heats Up, Hispanics Feel a Chill. December 19, 2007
http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=84
Devine, Jennifer. Hardworking Newcomers and Generations of Poverty: Poverty Discourse in Central Washington State. London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Geography and the Environment, London, UK. Nov2006, Vol. 38 Issue 5, p953-976, 24p, 3 maps.

Great work!!

Kayla,

As I went through your post I noticed how strong of a writer you are. It seems in the beginning you were hesitant but you have sure grown better through your writings and posts. I like how you write, it seems you know the perfect time to use personal opinions to help support or backup your statements. There were so many post that I enjoyed but my three favorite were "materialism", "The gay side of nature", "and "American Dream".

I liked "materialism" because your personal opinion was great! I like the direction you took in your post because I think it is one of the first that I have seen that has disagreed with the statements. I understand your point and I truly believe it is better. In the The gay side of nature post I felt you had a lot of support and great ideas. We both took a similar approach.

The American Dream post, I really enjoyed! I like your stance of opinion and completely agree with you . I agree, we really need to be looking at the company's who pay their workers under the table. Overall, your post were good and it seems you have opened up through out the semester. I did see some small grammar errors but that is about it. Thank you for your comments for this unit, wish more good writings.



Mary,

You have a great blog page, I really like the design you choose, it seems like it fits your personalty really good! :) I like how your blog always Say's smile and you have a picture of yourself smiling, its really cute! Its good to smile once in a while, I totally agree. I really enjoyed reading all of your post. They were really good and were well written very well. You are a strong writer who has developed stronger through-out the semester. It seems all of us were hesitant at first, but as the semester went on it seems we all got used to blogging and actually found it fun. You had good posts it was hard to choose but my three favorite posts were "America, A Place of Peace", "Big Spender", and "Some Shoes".

What caught my attention in your posts was how you used questions to keep your posts alive. I think the questions made everything interesting and definitely catches the readers attention. You used them very well. The some shoes post was a good story and it was something I could relate too. In the Big Spender post I like how you explained personal materials and how they are important to people's everyday life.

In the America, A place of Peace post, I liked how you explained the history of Native Americans. The information you provided was excellent and provided good support for your idea and concepts. I totally agree that Native Americans were the first to call America their home and to establish crops, etc. Overall your a good writer, thank your for your comments for this unit and wish more good writings.


Victoria,

Good writing! You have truly developed to be a wonderful writer through out this semester. I like how your post are short and simple, meaning you get straight to the point but provide good information to support your ideas and concepts. Your "Finance" post was very good. I liked how you explained the process finance.

In the post "What side of the Spectrum do you lie on??", I feel you used the class book very well to support your ideas. I think it is your best one! In the post "Money, Money, Money!", I liked how you ended your conclusion. You made the reader think for a moment on their own opinions and then you elaborated your opinion that it is an individual decision.

You overall were a very good writer and seem to grow a lot through the different assignments. Some post had grammar errors but all post had good ideas and concepts. I like your blog page colors, they are very simple yet unique. Thank you for your comments on this unit, wish more good writings.