America is country proud to call itself a melting pot of different people, cultures, and languages. With the exception of Native Americans, who lived off the land for thousands of years before the discovery of “the new world,” every one in the U.S. is an immigrant or came from descendants that migrated to this country. Initially, “America was [founded] by 17th and 18th century settlers who were overwhelmingly white, British, and Protestant” (Huntington, The Hispanic Challenge 31). With time, as the country established itself and expanded, immigrants become more diverse and integral to the success of the United States.By the…19th century, the ethnic component…broadened to include Germans, Irish, and Scandinavians, and the United States' religious identity was being redefined more broadly from Protestant to Christian. With World War II and the assimilation of large numbers of southern and eastern European immigrants and their offspring, ethnicity virtually disappeared as a defining component of national identity. So did race… (Huntington, The Hispanic Challenge 31).
[...] has become of particular importance to the southwestern states that share an expansive and difficult-to-protect border with Mexico. Since strict enforcement, such as the incarceration of migrants, is expensive and controversial, and “more than 50 percent of illegal” now enter the U.S. with false papers or tourist visas, efficient enforcement is difficult and there is little to deter the immigrants from trying to cross the border again (Bhagwati). Samuel P. Huntington is also known as Albert J. Weatherhead III. He is a Harvard University Professor. [...]
[...] When we got here months later, he just took off and left me in charge of the five other children, and I was afraid of what we were going to do now. We were illegal, we don't speak English, and we don't know nobody” (Leyal). Ester tells her story holding back tears. The look on her face shows concern and despair. “Mexico's important to me. It's my country. My mom used to say that if you don't have a past you don't have a future. [...]
[...] In a letter to the editor, Raul Yzaguirre, President of the National Council of La Raza, questions Huntington's “shoddy research, questionable research analysis, and breathtaking leaps of logic in his piece. Yzaguirre goes on to state that principal goals that Latinos articulate are the essence of the American dream” (Huntington, The Hispanic Challenge). Like Yzaguirre, Roberto Suro, Director of the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C., points out that Huntington “ignores bountiful and readily available evidence that Hispanics are undergoing as powerful a process of change as any of the groups that have come to the shores of the United States” (Huntington, The Hispanic Challenge). [...]
[...] Illegal immigrants don't know the laws, they don't know their civil rights” (The Other Side of the Border). Yet, there is some pity among the laborers whose jobs are “being stolen.” feel sorry for them a lot of ways too ‘cause they're getting the wrong end of the deal a lot of times. I mean I know instances where and employer will hire a crew of Mexicans and come pay day he'll be gone and they'll never see their money or anything” (The Other Side of the Border). [...]
[...] The other two will remain in Dallas with their father. The trip home costs three hundred dollars, more than three weeks pay for the couple (Leyal). Tiquicheo, there is nothing to do but work with an ax and a machete. You have to clear land, plant, and harvest. They sell everything they harvest, but the following month there is nothing left. It's all been spent” (Leyal). “When I write a letter, I write it to Papa Chavita. He is my grandfather and we call him Papa Chavita. [...]
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