7 December 2016
Final Essay – Prompt 2
In Golash-Boza’s work, many reasons are presented for why immigrants leave or flee their home country for the United States – labor, U.S. military and political involvement, and the havoc neoliberalism wreaks on their country’s economy (Golash-Boza, 2015, 19-27). Each of these reasons have varying degrees of influence from the United States, whether it be actual military staged coups or a meaningfully ignored problem to prevent responsibility for the aftermath. Labor incentives like the Bracero Program brought in immigrants from Mexico to work in agriculture. United States military and political involvement means that the United States is admitting there is a problem in these countries (or at least a problem as perceived by the U.S.) and therefore – by international law – we become obligated to let in refugees or immigrants. A lot of the times, the United States ignoring an actual problem in another country is just as big of a statement as the United States addressing one, Syria being a prime example. Finally, the United States’ economic system itself draws in immigrants – neoliberalism ruins the economies of the countries the immigrants and refugees are fleeing from. Each of these reasons is inextricably linked to United State’s involvement or even the purposeful lack thereof.
The Bracero Program was a huge reason for immigration from Mexico spanning from 1942 to 1964. The United States essentially imported Mexican workers to do agricultural work under contract. The workers were necessary to preserve the workforce of the agriculture industry because men left for World War II, there was no one to do the work they had left behind. Upon their return, they didn’t ask for their old agriculture jobs back, but instead took up industrial jobs cementing the role that immigrants now have in the United States of taking and doing the jobs Americans do not or will not do. The bracero workers were even hailed as heroes for a brief period because their labor single-handedly saved the American agricultural industry. While the Bracero Program was set up with certain precautions to attempt to avoid permanent settlement in the United States, it didn’t work as planned and inevitably lead to immigration from Mexico. Employers would offer permanent jobs to their contracted workers, encouraging their move.
United States military and political involvement is another key factor in immigration. When the United States gets militarily or politically involved in another country, it is an admission of a problem in that country (or at least a U.S. perceived problem). When we acknowledge a problem in another country we are then obligated to let in immigrants or refugees. This is why the United States government has said very little on the Syrian refugee crisis, because once we take the stance that human rights are in fact being violated, we are obligated to allow refugees due to agreed upon international law. The United States has fueled immigration from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, and even Vietnam from military intervention (Golash-Boza, 2015, 24-26). In cases like these, the United States either got involved in elections, ousted political leaders by sponsoring coups, or attempted to influence the state of government. A lot of times, the leaders that followed the ones we removed were worse for the country than the original leaders and this lead to immigrants seeking political refuge from these countries. In countries like Guatemala, our intervention led to an all out civil war. However, sometimes the United States purposefully does the opposite. Ignoring a political situation or war means we can claim ignorance when it comes to allowing immigrants and refugees. If we deny a problem exists, we do not have to claim responsibility for the aftermath.
One of the biggest reasons for immigration lies in the way the United States and other big countries run the economy. Neoliberalism wreaks havoc on the economies of the countries and labor forces we exploit for our own profit.
The two most dominant narratives surrounding immigrants are actually extremely contradictory of one another. The first claiming that immigrants are lazy and are coming to the United States to live off of social programs and “hand-outs”, and the other being that immigrants are stealing American jobs. The first narrative is completely disproven by the fact that the United States brought immigrants here to work with the bracero program. The second is disproven by the fact that immigrants are doing jobs that Americans do not or will not do and for much less. Immigrant youth are doing some of the most important work in deconstructing the narrative that immigrants are lazy. Undocumented youth fought for access to higher education with legislation like DREAM Act and DACA. They also organize sit-ins and have even gone as far as chaining themselves together to physically block buses from deporting families. (Dreams Deported Introduction, 2015, 1-2). Lazy and the ability to create mass social organization are not qualities that go hand in hand, as movements require leadership, intense planning, and mass effort. The fight and desire for higher education to be able to improve their lives does not support the idea that immigrants are lazy and looking for hand outs.
There are many things wrong with the immigration system, such as the disparities between which immigrants get into the country and at what speed they are granted citizenship. Rich and white immigrants often get first dibs on citizenship because they can afford it. Poor immigrants usually struggle with getting citizenship because of how much it costs. However one of the biggest threats to human rights in the immigration process in America is the deportation detention facilities scattered in border cities. The documentary 13TH addresses the issue of detention facilities and the human rights violations that surround them. Corporations make a profit off of detaining immigrants while they await deportation, so this purposefully extends the process (DuVernay, 2016). These detention facilities are essentially prisons for immigrants, and this is even further proven by the fact that they are run by the same corporations that profit off of private prisons (DuVernay, 2016). Denying that they are anything but prisons for the soon to be deported is a denial of the truth. Another issue with immigration is not a contemporary one, but a historic one that still resonates today. In an attempt to attain racial purity, immigration quotas were established in the past. These immigration quotas varied in exactly what they did and who they did or did not let in the country, but the target was always the same: poorer, non-white immigrants. Post railroad and gold rush boom, immigration quotas sought to ban Asian immigrants, specifically Chinese immigrants. Post Bracero Program, the focus is now on latino immigrants. The United States does whatever it can to prevent the people we label “undesirable” from coming in the country.