Greetings and welcome to my blog titled "The Border: Where Immigration and Race Meet". The purpose of this blog is to examine the parameters of immigration in the United States, and discuss how race and other factors are shaping its perception in the public eye. In creating this blog, I hope to spark a healthy conversation that will leave myself and my audience with a greater understanding of the issues at hand.
Immigration in the United States has become a critical topic in legislative campaigns and even everyday conversation. Recently, states like Arizona have begun to create their own immigration policies due to the impression that not enough is being done at the federal level. Although illegal immigration is an issue that definitely needs to be addressed to preserve a strong nation, I can’t help but feel as if much of the anti-immigration propaganda is motivated by racism. A particular group being discriminated against is Hispanics. Due to the growing number of Hispanics in America and their efforts in entrepreneurship at the community level, there seems to be an animosity between them and the rest of society. Often I’ve heard remarks making light of the Spanish language, even suggesting that they should abandon its use since they’ve chosen to live in America. I’ve also heard disgruntled comments about the establishment of Hispanic stores and even Hispanic workers in public facilities. Many parallels can be made to the discrimination of African Americans in the 1960s, except this time the discrimination is not imprinted in law and the group being discriminated against has greater social mobility.
However aside from Hispanics, there appears to be a discontentment with anyone appearing of foreign descent whether documented as a citizen or not. As I develop this blog, I hope to investigate the following areas related to immigration such as but not limited to:
1. 1) While living in America, should illegal immigrants be protected under our laws? This is a difficult concept for me because often I attempt to defend illegal immigration with American ideals others may not apply to them.
2. 2) Should more effort be put on removing current illegal immigrants from the country or preventing more illegal immigrants from coming?
3. 3) Would making the path to citizenship more accessible decrease the number of illegal immigrants?
Please feel free to comment and critique, as I want this blog to be a true discussion and growth for its participants. Hopefully together we will make progress and inspire better relations.
