Minorities are Targeted
In Amnesty or Abolition by Kelly Lytle Hernández, she explains the societal factors on why immigrants are not accepted, especially undocumented immigrants. Right now, we are still facing issues dealing with undocumented immigrants. Hernández states prisoners, felons, illegals, parolees, and undocumented immigrants are the targets in society. Some key points that strike me as crucial to understanding the issues we are still facing includes a large portion of undocumented immigrants.
Undocumented immigrants are a target to getting put into jail or sent back to their home country. Hernández claims, “Minor criminal violations and everyday legal infractions, ranging from shoplifting to traffic violations, now routinely trigger one of the state’s most consequential sanctions — deportation (55). If an undocumented immigrant was caught doing a minor criminal violation, then they will be deported. This is unjust because if citizens were to do these minor criminal violations, they would not get deported and will still be with their family. That is why immigrants, even if they are citizens, try to follow the laws and not be seen. If the person were to fall under the stereotype of an undocumented immigrant because of their race or how they dress, then they will have a higher chance of going to jail. “The result is that everyday criminal law enforcement activities are now harnessed to identify undocumented immigrants and enforce US immigration law” (Hernández, 55). Being targeted and seen as an undocumented immigrant under the law enforcement makes it difficult to live one’s life. When they have a family, there are measures they must take to keep their children or parents safe. I know one of my friends, even though she is a citizen of the United States, often, she has to be careful by how she acts because she is a Muslim and people see her differently. This is similar to being an undocumented immigrant because when people stereotype and see a Latino, Chinese, or African American, depending on the circumstances, then they may have been analyzed by others more carefully.
Everyday immigrants are coming into the country for multiple reasons. It may be to get a better life or to earn more money to support their family. “Despite numerical and categorical limitations, immigrant workers still arrived by the hundreds of thousands.” (Hernández, 57). From these situations, some people are trying to arrive illegally. There is no stop to this because companies also need cheap labor. This is a problem that we still face today because there is no simple way for undocumented immigrants to come to the U.S. and work. Immigrants also have to wait and go through the process of becoming a citizen which can range from a few months to years. Throughout this period, people are not able to work or would have to apply for a visa which still takes some time.
Being undocumented, “Their homes could be searched without warrants, they could be detained without being arrested, and punished by Americans in ways Americans could not be” (Hernández, 58). This still correlates to the problems today because Trump does not want any undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and will have them deported. Undocumented workers get fired and lose their jobs, making it difficult to support their families. Although the process may be illegal, they are helping the economy and are not doing other minor criminal violations. If this were the case, I feel the undocumented immigrants should work for a certain period and if they do not get a violation, then they can become documented.
Hernández mentions in the reading, “ In May 1954, the Border Patrol announced that a crisis of unsanctioned Mexican immigration had developed along the US-Mexico border and that it would soon launch a major campaign to end that crisis” (Hernández, 62). Their plan did not sound as good as what happened. They ended up deporting over one million Mexicans throughout the United States. This makes it hard for the people who were deported because it is unexpected and their lives were suddenly flipped upside down. This correlates to the video shown in class because the mother was separated from her child and both of them were impacted psychologically. Every time a person gets deported, the higher the chance the person will be affected psychologically. “ With a new focus on arresting and deporting “criminal aliens,” these centers adopted new policies and procedures to handle criminals rather than migrants. In particular, the INS began strip-searching all detainees upon entrance to the immigrant detention facilities and detained migrants for longer periods to run criminal background checks on all deportees” (Hernández, 63). There are more people in jail than necessary and families get separated. The way immigrants are treated is cruel because they are not given a chance before they get arrested and deported.
“In the 1893 Fong Yue Ting decision, the court held that the federal government’s right to expel foreigners was “absolute” and “unqualified“; therefore, immigrants, even lawful permanent residents, could be deported from the country at any time for any reason” (Hernández, 57). This relates closely to NGS because the students are immigrants or their parents are. Although the Fond Yue Ting decision was made a long time ago, these problems still arise today. Some are in fear of what may happen to them. Through NGS, they include programs to help with their status and deal with the situations that they may face.
Minorities make up a large portion of the state prison population. “African Americans and Latinos, together, constitute 67 percent of the total state prison population, but the rate of incarceration is significantly higher for the former” (Hernández, 64). NGS can tutor the students and educate them about the problems in the community for them to make a difference. Through education, they are aware of the reality and can learn how to raise awareness to other people. The community uplift project that the students do, helps parents who speak Spanish learn English. This is an important class because they will be able to understand those who talk to them and understand the situations that they may face. “Today, Latinos, principally Mexicans, make up the largest group of inmates in federal prison; and undocumented immigrants, alongside Black women, represent one of the fastest-growing incarcerated populations in California” (Hernández, 65). NGS provides legal assistance for immigration for them to get citizenship status. With this help, they are less likely to end up in federal prisons because they are protected by citizenship, but they still need to be aware since the government stereotypes and may see them as undocumented immigrants. From this situation, NGS will do their best to support them and help them face the discrimination through education.
The Hill, a news website talks about Trump saying undocumented immigrants can get tested for coronavirus. This is extremely important because many undocumented immigrants are unable to afford healthcare access. By doing this, not only will they know if they are safe or not, but it will help the community as a whole. Trump says that they can get tested without needing to worry about being arrested or deported. This helps those who are worrying about the consequences to just focus on their health and take care of themselves. Having Trump do this, allows people from NGS to not worry about getting tested if they have the symptoms of coronavirus.
