ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

A DREAM WORTH THE RISK?

By Natalia Morales
When we were in Elementary School, we were taught that
immigration is a normal stage of the human cycle, since over
the last century, our ancestors moved from place to place to
find a stable location, food and most importantly, water. We
know that the largest civilizations were developed near a river:
Egypt, Persia, Greece etc. So why it is now considered illegal
or has become such a tedious process to move to a better place?
The US has being dealing with Latinos trying to cross the
border. They are denominated as illegal aliens just for the fact that they cross the border and live in the US
illegally, with the only intention of finding a better life. There are many people who share the same
economic problems and search desperately for jobs in their native homelands, but they live in extreme
poverty. There are days that they cannot afford food or basic needs, such as clothes, water, or housing.
People, who decide to take this journey, have to walk through the ruthless desert and deal with different
types of risks such as:
Dehydration
Hyperthermia (exposure of excessive temperature)
Hypothermia
Starvation
Snake poisoning
Rape
Sexual assault
Rob Guerette states that The rate of death by Gender from 1999 was 13 female and 18 male deaths
recorded in that year, while in 2003 there were 49 female and 40 Male recorded As most of border deaths
are attributable to exposure-heat conditions (Guerette, 2007).
People in the US criminalize these types of people and denominate
them as inferior to US citizens. The kinds of people that are most
affected and less benefited from this social status are the workers,
mainly poor and middle class. They are obligated to stay in their
homeland, because they have no other options. It is when people try
to look for other alternatives, that it seems as if crossing over to a
different country is the only option left if they were to have a
significant opportunity for a better life.

Americans have this erroneous idea that all Latinos are lazy, and
they do not want to work, but the thing is that Latinos are actually a
hard working class that fights every day and works every single day
of their lives to achieve a better life style. The Americans are nothing
without the Mexican people working on the field; we harvest their
food and take care of the land daily, they depend on us as much as we
depend on their money (Antell, 2005). The immigrants have made a
huge impact towards the American economy; because of these illegal
people, we can have all our veggies and fruits at low prices. They
come here to work hard, to make a difference, not to get your jobs.
Louis, a comedian, states that Of course foreigners steal your job, but
maybe, if someone without contacts, money, or speaking the language steals your job, you dont deserve
it(anonymous).
They have a great influence; the Latin culture is slowly integrating
to the American culture. Just think about it a minute, who does not
like tacos? Or burritos? Do you imagine your life without them?
These are attributes of the culture, which also includes music,
language and lifestyle. It gives a little more flavor to life; it adds a
little beet of salsa to our lives.
These people deserve respect and all the rights, advantages that
all of us, as US citizens, have and enjoy. These aliens have a story behind their journey to immigrate to
the US; most of them had to make tough decisions such as leaving their family, risking their lives to have
the significant chance to change their lives and help the ones they love.

References
Antell Rachell. (Director/Producer). (2005). Death on a friendly border [Documentary]. Mexico/USA: San
Pedro Chayuco, Oaxaca, Tijuana, Texas.
Guerette T Rob, (2007). Migrant Death border safety and Situational crime Prevention on the U.S..
ed. United States of America: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC New York
Pictures
http://www.tacorico.net/
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2013/07/18/house-republicans-in-deep-disagreement-overimmigration-reform/
http://patriotupdate.com/articles/immigration-then-and-now/

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