MIGRATION OF LATINO MALES TO U.S.   Term Paper ID:28882 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Economic reasons for legal & illegal migration. Impact on U.S. economy & American workers.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Economic reasons for legal & illegal migration. Impact on U.S. economy & American workers. Paper Introduction: MIGRATION OF LATINO MEN TO THE U.S.: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES Except for a few refugees from Haiti and Castro’s Cuba, the vast majority of Latino men entering the U.S.-- legally or illegally -- come for economic reasons. They come, perhaps somewhat naively, expecting the streets to be paved with gold, or, at the very least, opportunities galore for making money and either sending it back “home” or enough to bring their families Northward. Latino men flee their countries because of warfare, or rebellion which causes numerous casualties. They also come because of natural disasters- floods, earthquakes, drought, hurricanes, volcano eruptions, etc. They come with one goal: to safeguard themselves and their families and to take advantage of all they have heard about opportunities for them in America. Yet, they have literally left the frying pan to migrate in Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. There are opportunities away from theheavy concentrations of Latinos in the border states. Because these Latinos were vital tothe industry, the INS has taken a relatively hands-off approach. that they began to face thepolarizing aspects of race. Except in Southern California, and in the Haitian,Dominican,. $12 for physical barriers, including triple fencing extending 14miles Eastward from the Pacific ocean" (McCuen 1997 165). MIGRATION OF LATINO MEN TO THE U.S.: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES Except for a few refugees from Haiti and Castro's Cuba, the vastmajority of Latino men entering the U.S.-- legally or illegally -- come foreconomic reasons. As mentioned above, there is a fear ofwage and employment competition. Basically, that is the goal of every Latino manand his family: They are willing to work hard to make freedom ofopportunity a reality. Latino men flee their countries because of warfare, orrebellion which causes numerous casualties. If, as mentioned, Latino newcomers vie with established Latinos forwork, there is even more hatred among Latinos who are competing withAfrican-Americans. Thisproposition fomented suspicion and hatred between citizens and Latinos,even those who had immigrated legally. To them, any amount paid for their labor seems worthwhile. "Aplanned increase (in the minimum wage)...would make hiring more illegalswilling to work for $2 or $3 an hour almost irresistible, no matter howharshly the government enforces the law" (Weyr 1988 221). borders, there will continue to be an influx of Guatemalans,Nicaraguans and now, after the massive earthquake, even more Salvadorians. It is a burden even honestimmigrants have to bear- being tarred by the same brush. government, officially, and unofficially, has always welcomed asupply of cheap labor from the South. For the first time, many of them were made tofeel inferior -- and there seemed to be a "pecking order"- the lighterskinned Latinos seemed to be more "acceptable" than those of darker skin.Too many Latinos are lumped in with the black minorities. American money and goods weredestructive, in the long run, not constructive. Works CitedFortune, Mary R. The future is not about Latincultural pride or about ethnicity or skin color, or language barriers. From the time of the Watts riotsthrough the Rodney King demonstrations, there was a physical confrontationwhich continues to this day, even in the city's school districts. Their needs,their contributions, and their dreams cannot be overlooked nor ignored. It is a sad commentary on the public's perception that all Latino mencoming to America for a better future and a means of providing for theirfamilies are considered "illegal aliens". They come with one goal: to safeguard themselves and theirfamilies and to take advantage of all they have heard about opportunitiesfor them in America. We compete with each other for low-paying jobs. One problem, in assessing the migration of Latino men is that, perhapsfor the first time in their lives, they are facing racial prejudice in theland where they expected opportunity to open up for them. Even the stricterimmigration law of 1986 "has failed to discourage employers from hiringillegal immigrants, largely because it failed to limit the availability ofcounterfeit documents" (McCuen 1997 25). Insteadof white vs. There is an issue of wage depression" (Roleff 1998 66). And, at the same time,these Latino men who are newcomers "want to assimilate and to remainseparate, to be part of the mainstream and to retain their own identity.(Since the 196 s) Hispanic immigration expanded beyond the traditionalPuerto Ricans, Mexicans and Cubans to include other people of theCaribbean, Central and even South America" (Weyr 1988 2).The idea of assimilation does not come easy, and it does not present thepriority for Latino men who escape the poverty of their native lands toarrive in the U.S. "Man! Yet, one cannotoverlook the fact that there are many Latino men who arrive (some for ashort span others for permanent residence) who cross the borders withoutproper papers. While one supposes that Latino men come with high hopes and dreams fora life better than what they left, once they have their families join them,the dreams quickly fade. It wouldbe a bureaucratic nightmare to take action, it seems. But, this caused even moreoutbreaks of warfare in Central America. One needs to explore the impact of these newly arrived Latino men onthe established Latino communities. population. Still,there is no ultimate happiness, merely bare survival. Nowthat there are signs of a fading economy, immigration will surely betightened, and border-crossings by illegals more fiercely defended. black antagonism, now there is a good deal of Black vs. & Sohn, Pam: "Latinos fill jobs, but bring employers dilemmas" Chattanooga Times & Free Press, April 1 , 2 , www.timesfreepress.com/2 /apr/1 apr2 /piceconomy.htmlHacker, Thomas: Two Nations (1992) New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.Martinez, Demetria: "Hatred rumbles along new fault line called Proposition 187" Feb 1 , 1995, National Catholic Reporter.McCuen, Gary: The Issues of Immigration (1997) Hudson WI: GEM Publications.Rodriguez, Richard: "America is Browning" Feb 18, 1998 www.pbs.org/newshour/essays/february1998/rodriguez2-18...Roleff, Tamara (ed.) Immigration: Opposing Viewpoints (1998) San Diego CA: Greenhaven Press.Sowell, Thomas: Migrations and Cultures (1996) New York: BasicBooks.Suro, Robert: Strangers Among Us (1998) New York: Alfred A. Still, manybristle at being wedged in the middle and considered "brown". Brown."Racism, we are often told, rests largely on ignorance" (Hacker 1992 13).However, as more and more Latino men sidle furtively into the U.S., racismbetween black and brown rests largely on economics. There is no getting around the fact that U.S. Having to learn a strangelanguage, and at the same time, trying to communicate with fellow workersor employers results in stress. More than 58, Latinosliving in the United States...had injection-related AIDS or had alreadydied from it by the end of 1998" (Dogwood Center 2 1 1). Knopf.Thomas, Piri Down These Mean Streets (1997) New York: Vintage Books.Weyr, Thomas: Hispanic USA (1988) New York: Harper & Row Publ.No author listed: "Migration and AIDS" www.dogwoodcenter.org/latinos/6 migrate.html To Latinoswho are used to terms like "Negro" and "blanco" to denote skin tone, "inthe same way they use 'moreno' for a person with brown skin color and'trigueno' for a person with tawny skin." (Rodriguez 2 1 2) With Latinosthese designations were not considered "racial". "In Ventura County, some restaurantcustomers demanded to see the green card of a cook who is here legally,explaining that it is now their duty to find and turn in illegal aliens"(Martinez 1995 19). The threat isreal to the earlier arrivals, in economic and income terms. What makes thisstatistic even more frightening is not merely that Latinos are at least oneand a half times as likely as whites to get AIDS, but when these migratingmen return to their families, they carry and spread the virus back home. The fact that Latinos,especially Latino men, are no longer congregating in border towns is causefor alarm among various groups. and Cuban enclaves in Miami, newcomers, illegal or otherwise,are not as readily accepted by the community because of two basic reasons:the general assumption by the community- even Latinos who have emigratedearlier, is that, because most of these male newcomers are illegals, theycall attention to the many other illegals who have lived in the U.S. One example can beseen in the small town of Dalton, Georgia, headquarters for a number ofcarpet manufacturing plants. How many times Ihave stood on the rooftop of my btoken- down building at night...Thereain't no bright sunlight to reveal the stark naked truth of garbage-leperedstreets" (Thomas 1997 ix). "Migrations tend to beselective, rather than random, in terms of skills and ambition." (Sowell1996 4) For Latino men, without skills, it is merely the ambition to earnsomething -- even a pittance -- more than they could earn in their nativelands. And still theillegal Latino men come, whether they pay for "guides" or come single or inpairs. While the economy was building over the past eight years, many lookedthe other way at illegals crossing the borders. California, of course, passed theinfamous Proposition 187 (later found unconstitutional) which prohibitednon-citizens from receiving schooling or medical assistance. We will have to see if the new Fox administration in Mexico, and thegrowth of NAFTA will have the effect of lessening the border crossings ofLatino men. This sort of racial and economicprejudice hurts all Latino men, no matter how- or for what reasons- theyarrived in America. "Brown is moving West to East, South toNorth. However, chances are that even if fewer Mexicans come acrossthe U.S. Brown terrifies the skinhead in Colorado, bewilders the African-American historian" (Rodriguez 1998 1). There must be hope that Latino men will play an important role inchanging the way America defines race. In the last several years, moreaction has been signed into law: the hiring of 5, new border patrolagents. There is a fear of these new arrivals,either unmarried or with families remaining behind, of becoming promiscuousand developing drug habits. Yet, many of these Latinos do not consider themselves "immigrants",believing they have been here for some 4 years and have as much "right"to live in any part of the New World as anyone. Is there somethingthe government should do about illegal Latino men arriving in the U.S.?"The U.S. In some instances, statistics already provideproof: "Migration between the United States and Central and South Americais probably affecting the spread of HIV/AIDS. They also come because ofnatural disasters- floods, earthquakes, drought, hurricanes, volcanoeruptions, etc. There are many Anglo employers who haverules about NOT speaking a foreign language (be it Spanish or Vietnamese orChinese). They have learned onlyto want jobs and money they can't have" (Suro 1998 13). Bush's first meetingwith Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, the week of January 22. Latino men saythat it was not until they arrived in the U.S. While the previous pages have painted a rather dreary picture of therecent migration of Latino men to the U.S., there is no reason not to holdout some sort of hope. However, all is not totally dim. "Money talks, and in Dalton it speaksSpanish...Dalton is riding a heady boom...an influx of thousands of willingLatino workers has steadily fueled the economic fire....(But)Officialsconcede that among the thousands of Latinos are many who entered thecountry illegally" (Fortune 1998 1). They were needed (and theirlow wages appreciated) by farmers in California as well as in Michigan. The American dream dies quickly for these immigrants and remains dead,no matter how long (or even how legal) their stay. They face not merely prejudice from the white population, anger fromAfrican-Americans who see these new arrivals as undercutting their low-paying jobs, but also from American-born Latinos. But in economic hard times, Mexicansare told to go home" (Martinez 1995 21). So, it has becomedifficult to be considered a "minority" with all the baggage thatminorities have, as seen by a white majority. There is another reason many Latino men are at the low end of the wagescale: they seldom come speaking English. We must remind all Americans of some of the words engraved on ourStatue of Liberty- which asks the world to send its "huddled massesyearning to breathe free". So, the distance among new arrivals and veterans increases. "Migration,legal and undocumented, does have an impact on our economy...Most of thecompetition is to the Latino community. It comes with assimilation- that does not meanabandoning their Latino culture, but becoming bi-lingual, bi-cultural, ifneed be. Somehow, America must embrace the Latino men- the vast majority ofthem being honest, not ill with AIDS or other diseases, most God-fearing,religious men whose priorities will always be "la familia"- their family. policy is responsiblefor some of the migration: President Reagan and his advisers gladly gavemoney to the Sandinistas for arms and weapons. In Los Angeles, for example, there is constant tensionbetween Latinos and African-Americans. One reason there is such a lack of immediatesuccess for these Latino men is that they are basically unskilled andpoorly educated (some are basically illiterate). Illegal arrivals of Latinos (men as well as entire families) iscosting the states, such as Arizona, Texas, and California, literallybillions of dollars in welfare aid. Itis about the fact that, by the year 2 5 , the Census Bureau predicts thatHispanics will account for one-quarter of the U.S. As Roberto Suro quotes a minister: "I can tell bylooking at their eyes how long they have been here....They come sparklingwith hope...Their children's eyes no longer sparkle. It maycertainly have been a topic for President George W. Yet, they have literally left the frying pan to migrate into thefire. They come, perhaps somewhat naively, expecting thestreets to be paved with gold, or, at the very least, opportunities galorefor making money and either sending it back "home" or enough to bring theirfamilies Northward. formany years.; and second, they are new competitors for low paying jobs, and,again because some are, and many others are assumed to be illegals, thesemen are willing to accept far less than the official minimum wage. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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