we are not invaders and criminals

by JC

How would you feel if you were taken away from your family and your treated like a criminal at the same or fearing everyday of being taken away from everything you have accomplished, this is how an undocumented worker feels once they move to America or when they are deported. Not only is the government taking away immigrants from homes but they are also separating children from their parents which would make a child's life a lot harder if the child has doesn't have the support of his or her parents. Immigrants are treated with disrespect. For example they are called "illegal aliens." This is a horrible thing to say to a human being. A person shouldn't be judge on their facial appearance or their nation of origin. We are all equal God made us to love each other like brother and sisters for we are all God's children.

Without immigrants the United States would not have all these great traditions like food, holidays, music and ways of living. America is a country of immigrants which is why this country is so great my question is why a person would want all this traditions taken away from this nation. We need to look back at our own history of how we treated immigrants in the past.

In the Past

Now immigrants usually enter America by the border of America but back then people used to come to America by boat and would enter this country through Ellis Island. Ellis Island would be the "Island Of Hope" for some immigrants but for others it would be the "Island Of Tears." It would also be hard for a person to pass to America if an immigrant had a disability or an contagious illness weren't allowed in the United States and were sent back. If the name of an immigrant was too difficult for a person who was apart of the process of passing to America the name of the immigrant would be changed to something more simple. It was harder to travel by ship because immigrants were cramped all together and there were hundreds of people all in one ship.When immigrants arrived to Ellis Island if they were detained from either medical examination or interview with immigration officers they were forced to wait for days or even weeks.

Immigration officers were also very strict about the regulations if any immigrant had no money, no relatives in the United States, and nowhere to live they would also be detained because the government feared that this people would be "public charges" for the United States. As you can see immigrants back then were also treated with unfairness and had to go through lots of bad experiences just to be in the land of their where they would receive liberty and freedom

Yet, what happened to all those immigrants? Did the poor, helpless people bankrupt our nation by using all the public services? No. Instead, after going through a horrible ordeal and facing prejudice, they built America into a superpower.

Nothing Has Changed

Immigrants come to America for many different reasons. Some of them could be to make a America a better country and some to make it all depends on the person. Back then it was common for an immigrant to come to America for the right to practice their religion. Where in other countries people were forced to follow the religion given to them. Some groups of people would even hide from the government to study the religion they believed in and if they were found these people would be killed which was a huge concern with people who had families. So may chose to come to America where everyone had the right to think the way they choose to. We still have refugees begging to live here and experience the freedom we take for granted.

Another possibility for someone to come to this country would be for a better education. Some countries are too poor to provide schools so many students decided to come to America for a better education. In many cases an immigrant isn't given education which is a huge disappointment for an immigrant who came to America and their dreams of education got crushed. Yet, just like the immigrants of the past, we have new immigrants coming in here desperate to learn more, to work hard in school and to go to college. Isn't that the American Dream?

The majority of people come to America to get a better life. They come here to get a job and help their family with their economic needs. Many countries don't pay as much as they do in America which is the reason why people with money problems come to America. Once they do get a job in the United States immigrants don't get paid as much as everyone else and even if they do work harder they don't get appreciated for it.

Dissapointment

Immigrants come to the United States to make their lives better but when they're in their native country everyone thinks it's an easier living since the United States is known as one of the most wealthiest country, but once they do arrive to the United States their perspective of this country changes.

When an immigrant enters America the first thing a person has to do is search for a shelter not sleep in which is very difficult to find if the immigrant doesn't have enough money or any relatives in America. Some immigrants even have to go through sleeping in any kinds of lonely places like parks where they have to go experience the cold if they pass the border in the winter season. When an immigrant wakes up everyday he/she has to experience the racism shown everywhere around the United States making them feel ashamed and unwanted towards themselves. An undocumented worker has to fears everyday that their American dream will end. Every time an undocumented worker goes to work they have to deal with unfairness even if he/she is great at what he/she does. In America it doesn't make a difference if you are the best at what you do if your an undocumented worker you get paid less salary which is frustrating for an immigrant because some immigrants do have families they have to take care of but it makes immigrants feel like no one cares. Now they are making it even harder to get an education. A kid who is "illegal" and works hard in school can't even get a scholarship and a chance at a better life.

Although the all immgrants have tried to make a difference and stop this horrible laws, it seems that things are not changing. If we can remember that we are all immigrants and we can remember our own history, maybe then we can avoid the mistakes we made in the past.

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