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Ruben Casillas
Zulema Diaz
English 205
March 12, 2014
Paper Proposal
During recent times there has been an increase on the number of Mexican immigrants that
come to the U.S. illegally to work in the fields in search for a better life; The American Dream
as many immigrants say before coming to this country because of what they have been told about
or have seen in Hollywood movies promoting middle class lifestyle but when they come here
they live a very different reality of what they expected. Exploitation, discrimination, no
guarantee of minimum wage, poor working and living conditions is what illegal immigrants that
come from Mexico face every day. But how are illegal immigrants exploited and treated
unequally? And who is responsible and what are the things that are hidden that are causing
immigrants to be treated this way and be in some sort of modern slavery system in a country
where supposedly that was something from the past and everyone has equal rights and
opportunities? The documentary produced in 2011, The Harvest (La Cosecha), one of the
primary sources I will be using in my essay provides evidence of how illegal immigrants coming
from Mexico face many problems working in the fields including children who are also impacted
negatively in several ways as well as their families. This primary will be a very important part of
my essay because it provides testimonies of three children and the struggles they and their
families face in the U.S. including exploitation, discrimination, very poor pay, discrimination,
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and terrible living conditions; also it provides statistics that provides evidence of how they are
maltreated and affects all aspects of their lives. In my essay I will explain why this is happening
and how. I will provide the reasons and examine all the factors that in my opinion have led to the
maltreatment and inequality that illegal immigrants working in the fields suffer every day. In my
opinion there are several factors that causes this negative attitude towards illegal Mexican
immigrants is that the companies that hire undocumented workers know that they cant
complaint about being exploited, treated discriminately and working in poor conditions because
if these people are found to be undocumented they are going to be deported back to Mexico and
companies take advantage of this situation to the maximum and exploit immigrants until they
cant any more.
While I was doing my research I also came up to question what are the push & pull factors
causes Mexican immigrants to come in to the U.S. to work in the fields? And I found out an
essay called Cheap Food: Workers pay the price on the book How Industrial Food Is making Us
Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer a secondary source I will be using in my essay in which it is found
that big food companies like Trader Joes contracts farm labor companies and these companies
hire undocumented workers looking for work and exploit them but of course almost anyone is
aware that this is happening and the reputation big food companies like Trader Joes is
untouchable. Using the information above I will explain and give examples of how immigrant
people working in the fields have suffered and some even died due to the horrible conditions in
which they are performing their job because companies like Trader Joes and others allow farm
labor companies to exploit immigrant workers and treat them like slaves, something that should
not be happening today but unfortunately it is occurring. The Neo Liberal policy of NAFTA, a
free trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico has also contributed to this
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issue because it has caused illegal immigrants from Mexico to come over to the U.S. coming to
work more than ever before since the agreement was signed in 1994. In my essay I will
thoroughly explain the process of how this neo liberal policy has caused and contributed to the
exploitation and treatment inequality against Mexican illegal immigrants and almost no one is
aware and/or pays attention to this problem.
In my essay I will be also using a book that is an autobiography of Frederick Douglas called
the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass as a primary source in order to analyze how
slavery is still reflected today with illegal Mexican Immigrants and the people that hire them to
work; I will compare and relate how back in the times how slaves were treated and how illegal
immigrant farm workers are treated now, which they have a lot in common; both are exploited,
discriminated, terrible working conditions, poor pay, both are seen as inferior people and also
how both groups of people had owners, slaves had a owner that bought them and illegal
immigrants have these big companies and farm contractors that are very similar in the way they
treat people that works for them; also the most important factor that ties slavery back in the day
and in todays world is the simple fact that discrimination against some groups has existed since
a long time ago.
In my essay I will be also using other secondary sources that will contribute and support the
primary sources used in the essay and vice versa making the essays argument stronger. One of
my secondary sources will be the article Hidden America: Undocumented Workerswhere facts
and statistics will be provided in order to show how Mexican illegal immigrants are being
exploited and also in order to support and relate this source to one of my primary sources The
Harvest (La Cosecha). Another secondary source I will be using is an article called
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Immigration Reform 2013: 7-eleven Exploiting Immigrants Like a Modern Day Plantation
System in which it provides information and evidence of how big corporations and franchises
like 7-elevens hire undocumented workers and exploit them in which even kids were exploited
by this famous franchise. Also this article provides solutions that could be done such as passing
laws to stop exploiting undocumented immigrant workers.
I plan in organizing my essay around my thesis which will be on the focus on the human
right violations that Mexican undocumented workers suffer when they come to work in the U.S.
After addressing my thesis I will provide sub claims and arguments; I will start it by explaining
how undocumented workers are being exploited and treated unfairly. My second sub claim will
be why this group of people is coming to this country to work if the conditions are not good at
all, in other words what are the push and pull factors that cause people to come here looking for
work. My third sub claim will be who are the responsible for violating human rights of
undocumented workers and why they are doing such actions.
The exploitation of undocumented workers here in the U.S. is something that almost no one
is aware of it; rather the some part of the media as well as the government has been in charge of
creating this negative environment against undocumented workers and forming a public a public
opinion that they are criminals, that they only bring negative things to this country when in
reality undocumented workers are victims by the way they are being exploited and treated when
their only purpose is to work to feed their families; My purpose for writing this essay will be to
inform my readers how human right violations are present in this country and people are being
treated unequally but almost no one sees that problem which in my opinion is a very serious
issue that needs to be taken care of and society needs to be aware of.
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