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Enya Duarte
Critical Essay
English 1102-Hon01
November 20, 2015
Stop Immigration War
As an American of the United States I know what it feels like to have freedom, but there is
millions here that do not. For many years immigrants have been coming from all over the world
illegally looking for the land of the free. For Example I interviewed Guadalupe Cruz who
migrated from Tampico Mexico, to Houston Texas. Guadalupe told me that she had come to
America for work and freedom. I wasnt here to steal money from Americans, I was making no
more than 30 dollars a week and that was to feed my children and put clothes on their backs
(Cruz). She made sure to mention that she didnt come to steal our jobs, she just wanted to have
freedom and give her children a better life. When people think of an immigrant the first thing
that pops up in their head is criminal, gang members, drug dealers, or job stealers. Not all
immigrants are criminals or bad. They do not come to America to steal our jobs or to work
against our government. The reason immigrants migrate to a new residence is to live a life they
could not live in their country. Not only do they want freedom, but they want their children to
have a better life with life changing opportunities. The immigration war in America has carried
on too long, it is time for a new beginning in America and that new beginning starts with
immigrants today.
Obama started a fight for immigration that has brought many others to realize the
importance of it. Bernie Sanders a democrat currently running for president is another leader
whose main focus is stopping immigration war. Sanders believes it is time that immigrants come
out of the shadows and join us as a whole. Our country faces many problems right now and they

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cannot be faced if we are not united. For many years the discussion of picking up men and
women and their children and sweeping them out of the country has been brought up. That
discussion needs to end now. As I was reading Bernie Sanders website on immigration I came
across a quote of his that really stood out to me. We are a nation of immigrants. I am the son of
an immigrant myself. Their story, my story, our story is a story of America: hard-working
families coming to the United States to create a brighter future for their children. The story of
immigrants is the story of America, a story rooted in family and fueled by hope. It continues
today in families all across the United States (Sander). Those 11 million undocumented
immigrants are what shapes our country till this day.
Bernie Sanders and President Barack Obama are a few of the leaders who approve of
accepting immigrants into the U.S. Many politicians do not take the time to see the positives that
immigrants bring to us, they focus on all the negatives. According to Market Watch, immigration
increases the efficiency of the U.S economy. Immigrants reduce bottlenecks caused by labor
shortages, in both high and low skills of labor. Many do not realize that Immigrants are about
16% of the labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, yet represent 50% of the
labor force without a high school diploma. Furthermore, they represent 25% of all doctorates and
35% of doctorates in science, math, computer science and engineering (Furchtgott-Roth).
Another positive immigration brings to our economy is it enables entrepreneurs to come to
America. For example, immigrant companies that are big employs millions of Americans.
Another positive outcome of immigration is it brings increased national security. Workers will
be able to have bank accounts, social security numbers, and work in the legal market rather than
the black market. This enables greater tracking by governmental authorities (Furchtgott-Roth).
Immigration reform can also reduce the deficit in America. The Congressional Budget Office, in

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a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, has estimated that immigration
reform would reduce the deficit by $135 billion over the next 10 years (Furchtgott-Roth). You
see immigrants do not bring the worst to America while hiding in the shadows, they make our
country stronger rather than weaker.
Many see immigrants as a blockage in America instead of key to helping America. The
immigrants today are what shapes America today. President Obama once said, We didnt raise
the Statue of Liberty with her back to the world, we did it with her light shining as a beacon to
the world. And whether we were Irish or Italians or Germans crossing the Atlantic, or Japanese
or Chinese crossing the Pacific; whether we crossed the Rio Grande or flew here from all over
the world generations of immigrants have made this country into what it is. Its what makes us
special"(Obama). President Obama is one of the main people who has been trying to stop
immigration war. Many believe he is crazy for trying to keep immigrants in America but he is
not, he is doing something that should have been done a long time ago. There is a difference
between deporting a criminal and deporting an innocent family. We need to deport felonies
instead of families. Obama is the first president to actually try to fix the broken immigration
system and bring us together with equality and justice.
Right now our country is stuck between making a change that could benefit us in several
ways, or they can strip 11 million people of their freedom and dreams and send them home. A
big debate right now in the White House and courts is that Obama administration has begun a
profound shift in its enforcement of immigration laws, aiming to hasten the integration of longterm illegal immigrants into society rather than targeting them for deportation (Markon). This
program is called DAPA, which was put on hold in court February after 26 states had sued,
because they did not feel safe knowing millions of immigrants may have the chance to freedom

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in their country. Deportations are dropping. The Obama administration is on pace to remove
229,000 people this year, 27 percent less than last year and nearly 50 percent less than the alltime high in 2012. Fewer people are also in the pipeline for deportation. The number of occupied
beds at detention facilities for people arrested on immigration violations has dropped nearly 20
percent this year (Markon). Actions are being taken now on these immigrants, but not enough
results are coming out of it. Still even when judges who make our countries laws are trying, we
still have for example Trump, and other republicans persuading people that it is wrong. Our
President is fighting for a change and so is the law, but now the people need to fight.
When Americans hear about immigrants on the news and deportation the first race they
think of is Mexicans. They dont think about Asians, Europeans, or Africans. The first race to
come to their mind is Mexicans. I read an interview on Gale Academic One File between a
student and a man named Jose Antonio Vargas. His interview was mainly on how stereotypical
Americans are and how many assume you are an undocumented immigrant if you have a
Mexican name, but then some would be surprised to know you are an undocumented worker if
you are famous or even a writer. Jose Vargas mentioned in his interview: To me, it is really just
fascinating how instrumental the mainstream media has been in the narrowing of the
immigration narrative. I do not think people understand that more than a million of the
[estimated] 11.5 million undocumented Americans in this country are actually from Asia.
But you do not hear about that; you do not hear about undocumented Germans or any
Europeans or British people. I have met so many undocumented Europeans who feel
guilty that, whenever this gets brought up, nobody thinks about them. They get a pass.
They are not the ones getting pulled over. They are not the ones being asked for their
papers. It raises the question, how does race play into that? (Vargas). Mexicans are not

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the only immigrants in America, Mexicans are just the only immigrants who get treated the worst
and are the ones who have no choice but to hide in the shadows. This immigration war is not on
all races, it is mainly based on Mexicans. This is why it needs to end, all that is happening is hate
crime, stereotypes, prejudice assumptions and it is just a hate war that we do not need.
Right now we are in the middle of picking our next leader, the person who is supposed to
better our country and shows us equality and liberty. There are people running for president who
do not realize that their future plans for our country are going to do nothing, but hurt us. If I
needed to give an example of a person who is against my fight, it would be Donald Trump.
While Donald Trump was launching his presidential bid for 2016, all he did was make
outrageous racial remarks towards Mexicans. Political Commentator Sally Kohn from CNN
wrote word for word what Trump said "When Mexico sends its people," Trump said during his
presidential announcement, "Theyre not sending the best. They're not sending you, they're
sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems. They're bringing
drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to
border guards and they're telling us what we're getting (Trump). Trump did not mention how
horrible Asian, European, African immigrants are, all he did was bash Mexicans. He labels us as
evil, not all Mexicans are illegal, some of them earned their place here and most of those
Mexicans are the reason the deficit in America is better. If Trump were to become president, all
he would do is deport innocent families and kids who deserve nothing, but a better life here in
America. Immigration war needs to be stopped now, especially now because we dont know
what type of leader is going to take over the white house next year. Not all immigrants are bad,
there is difference between an immigrant and a felon.

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I have been wanting to write about this topic for so long, and show people what
immigrants go through to get where they are. I decided to interview Jorge Duarte, who migrated
from Mexico City, to Chicago Illinois in 1979. Mr. Duarte told me the reason he came illegally
was because that was the only way he could get freedom. If I would have never took the chance
I did to come to America, I would have never chased my dream. (Duarte) Jorge told me that he
didnt come to America to be a criminal or felon, he came to better his life and to open up his
options for a better future. Mr. Duarte has worked for a company for 36 years and now runs it.
He pays taxes, follows every law, and does everything an American does. The only thing
different is that he fights to be here, we dont. Nothing is handed to you when you are hiding in
the shadows, you have to work for everything twice as hard legally. I understand that not every
immigrant here is innocent or doing good to our economy, but not every immigrant here is a
felon. There are immigrants here that are only here to work, and to better their childrens lives
and futures. These immigrants shape our country, their story is our story. It is time for America to
stop the immigration war, and injustice. We are all human, we all want freedom, justice, money,
and liberty. But if we dont stop this war, and if we kick out innocent families, we wont be seen
as the land of the free. It is time for America to live up to their promises, let that first step be by
stopping immigration war.

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Working Bibliography

Cruz, Guadalupe. Personal Interview. 24 Nov.2015

Duarte, Jorge. Personal Interview. 24 Nov. 2015
Furchtgott-Roth, Diana. "4 Benefits of Immigration Reform." Market Watch. N.p., Aug.-Sept.
2013. Web.

28 Oct. 2015.

Markon, Jerry. "Obama Seeks to Let Most Illegal Immigrants Stay in U.S." Info wars. N.p., JulyAug. 2015.

Web. 28 Oct. 2015.

Obama, Barack. White house immigration speech. White House.N.p.,

Aug. 2015

Web. Oct 28. 2015.

Sanders, Bernie. "A Humane Immigration Policy for a Nation of Immigrants." Bernie Sanders
RSS. N.p.

n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

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Kohn, Sally. "Kohn: Trump's Outrageous Mexico Remarks - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News
Network, 18 June 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
"Define American: an interview with Jose Antonio Vargas." Journal of International Affairs 68.2
(2015): 267+. Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.