ABSTRACT:

This assignment is meant to reach a broader audience and persuade them into agreeing or taking action regarding an important issue by composing an Opinion Editorial. The issue being discussed is in regards to immigration in the United States. In this opinion editorial, the purpose of this paper is to understand the issue of illegal immigration in the United States. More importantly focusing on developing the rhetorical situation as a means to articulate my stance through the writing. It provides a unique viewpoint on this issue that pertains to an ongoing issue in America. It goes in depth about points that prove that the immigration system in the United States is broken and needs to be fixed. It demonstrates the idea that society can affect the negative perception of illegal immigration. The writing process involves the drafting process that lead towards the final essay. Drafting allowed to help in thinking through the rhetorical strategies and having a deeper understanding on my own thoughts on the matter. The inclusion of the reflection shows I composed my writing.

DRAFT

Marisol Vega

Writing for the Humanities

Kelly McIntosh

September 23, 2019

Draft: Americans Can’t Solve the Immigration Crisis

The United States has always been a country of immigrants. However, unauthorized immigration mainly presents itself in current political and public debate with ongoing conversation about building a wall, family separation, mass deportations and so much more. Some Americans believe in the side in which portrays immigrants as bad people but often people forget that there is always two sides of a story. With the waves of migrants, the United States has had difficulties solving the issue.The United States legal immigration system required changes because it has led to unfair and unethical consequences. Within communities across the nation, there’s been a rise in hate and disccrimination especially towards the hispanic communities causing division between people.

Accoridng to A Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) analysis of newly released data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) shows that 1.5 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) are settling in the country each year. In total more than 44.5 million immigrants resided in the United States in 2017, according to migration policy institute. One must look into the reasoning behind these numbers and why people come into the United States. From the birth of this country until now, many have migrated and left their homes in search for a better life, trying to live the American Dreams. Experts generally agree that the recent increase in UACs and families migrating from the Northern Triangle is attributable toimmediate threats of violence, corruption and environmental degradation. Countries like El salvador, Honduras and Guatemala are ranked among the most violent countries in the world. In 2015, El Salvador became the most violent not-at-war country in the world,as its gang-related violence pushed the country’s murder rate to 103 per 100,000 people.While the rate has since fallen considerably, it still remains nearly 10 times higher than that of the United States. In 2018, there were 3,340 murders in El Salvador and the country’s homicide rate stood at 51 per 100,000, down from 81.2 per 100,000 recorded in 2016. Honduras saw 3,310 homicides in 2018 and a murder rate of 40 per 100,000 people. Guatemala’s murder rate fell to 22.4 per 100,000 with 3,881 homicides in 2018. Also large numbers of people in the Northern Triangle countries live in poverty (defined by the World Bank as living at $1.90 or less per person per day. These push factors drive people to leave their country to escape poverty and to ensure safety because staying in their country could put their lives at risk.

Many American critize illegal immigration, arguing that immigrants who came here illegally are a harm to American society for selling drugs, being thieves, who steal American jobs and who bring crime. On the contrary, immigration has brought many benefits to the United States. According to a study of the bipartisan immigration bill passed in the Senate in 2014, provisions in the bill could potentially bring between 336,000 and 470,000 undocumented immigrant entrepreneurs into the formal economy. Given that the average immigrant-owned business hires 11 employees, these businesses would account for between 3.7 million and 5.2 million jobs in the formal economy. Also some people believe undocumented immigrants dont pay taxes but Undocumented immigrants pay an average of $11.64 billion in state and local taxes a year. On average, an undocumented individual has about 8% of their income go to taxes.Moreover, all immigrants—regardless of status—will contribute approximately $80,000 more in taxes than government services used over their lifetime. In many ways, the United States is a stronger, richer, and more dynamic country because of migration.Understanding the motives that lead migrants to come to the U.S. is important in finding possible immigration and foreign policy solutions. It is wrong to believe that immigrants are a threat to the United States. Allowing people to come into the United States for freedom and opportunity of all sorts is something one should not even think twice about. This fear that some American have towards immigrants has lead to harmful policies. For starters, the immigration system, which allows or disallows immigrants to come into the United States has proven itself to be ineffective. The reason there are so many undocument people in the United States is because of the issues surrounding the system of immigartion. Since 1820, the United States admitted on average 30 percent more legal immigrants per capita (0.45 percent of the population per year) than it did in 2017 (0.35 percent of the population ), so the current rate is low historically according to CATO Institute. A majority of them come here illegally because the pathway to citizenship is very complex and such a long process. Congress should be willing to make it easier to immigrate easier. Also gaining green cards is a terribly long wait because of the low quotas and differential treatment for ones nationality is that nationals from certain countries must wait a long time to immigrate. Siblings and adult children of U.S. citizens from Mexico and the Philippines who are receiving their green cards right now waited two decades. Those who are applying for their green cards now will die before they reach the front of the line because so many applicants have piled up in the backlog since 1998. Immigrant workers from India have had decade-long waits, but those applying right now will wait more than a century . These long waits are unnecessary. Congress needs to update their immigration system by raising quotas but also make the wait shorter.

As a daughter of parents who migrated to the United States from Mexico, my parents represent and share the same story with many immigrantsMy parents are among the many who made their way into the United States in1994 to escape poverty. With very little food and little water, they risk their lives and made the decision to cross the border. They said that the walk was tiring but what kept them going was the thought of starting a new life. A life where they can give their families in Mexico resources to make it through each day but for their future. They wanted to give their children the best and something that they never grew up with. There reason, the same for many others was to obtain a better life. A majority of my parents time was spent trying to give me and my siblings what they never got. This American dream is the reason behind them trying to assimilate into American culture. Many people who migrated share the same story as my parents but has been ignored by those who believe that undocumented people do not deserve to be here.

As a country that abides by being the land of opportunities and freedom , this country is falling short on its promises of equality in opportunities and equal respect. Everyone deserves to make a better life for themselves, including undocumented immigrants. They shouldn’t be outcasted but should be given an opportunity to gain citizenship. There should be a better path towards legal status instead of mistreating them by enforcing careless orders such as mass deportations. The term “illegal” has lead to hostile behavior to those who don’t fall under the legal category. Undocumemted immigrants should be able to receive a much reasonable pathway to citizenship and in order to do so the Immigration system and policy should be fixed. If the levels of immigration continues to rise , it will only make it harder to make correct decisions. It will be much easier for the United states to reduce immigration and select immigrants more carefully and in an ethical manner, to be able to keep up with the people who come here. There should equal ethical treatment to both the newly arrived and longed-setted .

Reflection

For my Op-Ed I am pitching to Atlantic Publication. I am pitching to Atlantic because it is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. Therefore, it is most likely that Americans will come across articles that pertains to issues in America. Its website, provides daily coverage and analysis on breaking news, topics in politics, international affairs, education, culture etc and my op-ed has a connected to political.

The rhetorical situation I am addressing is that the government immigartion system must be reformed in order to solve the immigartion crisis. With meaningful reforms within the system, it will solve a problem that American have wanted to be fixed because it will promote national security. The purpose of this op ed is to pursuade the reader that most undocumented immigrants do not bring harm to the United States. They are forced to leave their country because of push factors that may include violence, poverty, job opportunities etc. Coming into the United States illegally is there only option. The United States Immigartion and Citizenship system is in desperate need of repair to ensure that people can have a fair shot in coming into the United States legally.

My targeted audience is indeed politicians and as well as American who continue to neglect immigration. They need to understand that it’s taken a long time for our leaders and make people realize that their needs to be a crucial and practical decision made to address this issue and that they need to act on it now to pass meaningful, acceptable legislative reforms.

My rhetorical strategies that I’ve decided to use to deploy the genre and rhetorical situation includes the tone that I wanted to radiate off my op-ed. From the reader’s perspective, I wanted to emit a tone of passion and sympathy of this situation. I know people in my family who has been affected by it and because of it I am very passionate when it comes to the topic of immigration. . Many authorized immigrants have lived in the United States for many year living at ease with their families. However, people want them out and it has resulted in controversial policy decisions and I want people to realize that as a result of the lack of significant reforms in the immigration system it will be an ongoing issue.

As for the rhetorical appeals, I’ve incorporated pathos and logos. I wanted to appeal to my audience’s sense of emotion by incorporating my parents story and experience of coming into the United States as well as mentioning why people are desperate to come to the United States without documentation to evoke sympathy from the audience. I also include logical reason to persuade the audience using statistical information gathered on imigration such as numbers that show the rates of violence in countries where people fled to come to the United States. As well as showing statistical numbers in which shows that immigrants contribute to society economically and are indeed beneficial to the United States. This matter requires immediate attention if people want it to solve.

FINAL

Marisol Vega

Writing for the Humanities

Kelly McIntosh

October 22, 2019

Americans Can’t Solve the Immigration Crisis

(Photo:Jack Herra)

Most immigrants come here for a better life and deserve access to citizenship that is less restrictive. With ongoing conversation about building a wall, family separation and mass deportation there’s been a rise in hate and discrimination causing division among people. Some Americans believe in the side in which portrays immigrants as bad people but people tend to forget that there are always two sides of a story. With the waves of migrants coming in, the United States has had difficulties solving this issue and the issue here is that the United States legal immigration system is broken.

From the birth of this country until now, many have migrated and left their homes in search for a better life. According to A Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), analysis of newly released data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) shows that 1.5 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) are settling in the country each year. In total more than 44.5 million immigrants resided in the United States in 2017. Some Americans don’t stop and think about why these large numbers of immigrants are coming to the United States. Instead they choose to ignore their reasonings for coming in illegally.

Experts generally agree that the recent increase in UACs and families migrating from the Northern Triangle is attributable to immediate threats of violence, corruption and environmental degradation. Countries like El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala are ranked among the most violent countries in the world. In 2018, there were 3,340 murders in El Salvador and the country’s homicide rate stood at 51 per 100,000, down from 81.2 per 100,000 recorded in 2016. Honduras saw 3,310 homicides in 2018 and a murder rate of 40 per 100,000 people. Also large numbers of people in the Northern Triangle countries live in poverty where they live off of $1.90 or less per person per day defined by the World Bank. These push factors drive people to leave their country to escape poverty and ensure safety because if they stay in their country, then they put their lives at risk.

Unauthorized immigrants constantly get criticized by the public and are labeled as drug dealers, being thieves, criminals and job stealers because they are “threat” to society. On the contrary, immigration has brought many benefits to the United States. According to a study of the bipartisan immigration bill passed in the Senate in 2014, provisions in the bill could potentially bring between 336,000 and 470,000 undocumented immigrant entrepreneurs into the formal economy. Given that the average immigrant-owned business hires 11 employees, these businesses would account for between 3.7 million and 5.2 million jobs in the formal economy. In many ways, the United States is a stronger, richer, and more dynamic country because of migration. It is wrong to believe that unauthorized immigrants are a threat to the United States as they support the country economically.

Allowing people to come into the United States for freedom and opportunities is something one should not even think twice about. A solution to this entire crisis should start with looking to improve the immigration system. For starters, the immigration system, which allows or disallows immigrants to come into the United States has proven itself to be ineffective. Since 1820, the United States admitted on average 30 percent more legal immigrants per capita (0.45 percent of the population per year) than it did in 2017 (0.35 percent of the population ), so the current rate is low historically according to CATO Institute. As for obtaining green cards, it’s a terribly long wait because of the low quotas. Siblings and adult children of U.S. citizens from Mexico and the Philippines who are receiving their green cards right now waited two decades. Those who are applying for their green cards now will die before they reach the front of the line because so many applicants have piled up in the backlog since 1998. Congress needs to update their immigration system by raising quotas and making the wait time shorter. The pathway to citizenship is very complex and the long waits are unnecessary. People are here illegally because they know that they might not even get a chance in getting citizenship if they waited.

As a daughter of parents who migrated to the United States from Mexico, they are among many who came to the United States in 1994 to escape poverty. The American dream is the reason behind them trying to assimilate into American culture but their struggles and story are brushed aside. My father Roberto Vega stated, “ I have lived here for 25 years. I work in a factory, 6 times a week for more than 15 hours. It isn’t a job people want to work in because working conditions are unsafe but it pays. People who come here without papers take on these low paying jobs simply for our family. In Mexico, I would work in a field and make very little but in America I can support my family with just enough.”

References

Bier, David. Why the Legal Immigration System Is Broken: A short List of Problems. Cato

Institute, 10 July 2018. http://www.cato.org/blog/why-illegal-immigration-system-broken

-short-list-problems.

Camarota, Steven. Immigration Surging; 1.5 Million Arriving Annually. Center for Immigration

Studies. 31 October, 2016. https://cis.org/Report/Immigration-Surging-15-Million-

Arriving-Annually.

Herrera, Jack. The Government’s Number shows Increasing Border Arrest. Does this Mean the

U.S is Facing an Illegal Immigration Crisis. 9 May, 2019. Pacific Standard

https://psmag.com/news/increasing-border-arrests-is-the-us-facing-an-illegal-immigration

-crisis

Push or Pull Factors: What Drives Central American Migrants to the U.S.?. National

Immigration Forum. 23 July, 2019. https://immigrationforum.org/article/push-or-pull

-factors-what-drives-central-american-migrants-to-the-u-s/

Zong, Jie and Jeanne Batalova. Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and immigration

in the United States. Migration Policy Institute. 14 March 2019,

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-i

mmigration-united-states.

Reflection

For my Op-Ed I am pitching to The Atlantic Publication. I am pitching to The Atlantic because it is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. Therefore, it’s most likely that Americans will come across articles that pertains to issues occurring in their country that needs immediate attention. Its website provides daily coverage and analysis on breaking news, topics in politics, international affairs, education, culture etc and my op-ed connects to politics.

The rhetorical situation I am addressing is that the government immigration system must be reformed in order to solve the immigration crisis. With meaningful reforms within the system, it will solve a problem that American have wanted to be fixed because it will promote national security. The purpose of this Op-Ed is to persuade the reader that most undocumented immigrants do not bring harm to the United States and have them understand that they are forced to leave their country because of push factors that may include violence, poverty, job opportunities etc. I want the audience to know that the United States Immigration and Citizenship system is in desperate need of repair to ensure that people can have a fair shot in coming into the United States legally.

My rhetorical strategies that I’ve decided to use to deploy the genre and rhetorical situation includes the tone that I wanted to radiate off in my op-ed. From the reader’s perspective, I emit a tone of passion and sympathy on this situation. I am very passionate when it comes to the topic of immigration because I know people in my family who has been affected by it. I want people to know that as a result of the lack of significant reforms in the immigration system it will continue to be an ongoing issue.

I mimic the language style that appears throughout most Atlantic Op-Ed’s. I use more of an active voice with casual diction to make it easier for the reader to read and understand the meaning of my text. For my writing style I wrote in a way where the level of formality is in the middle, it’s not too formal but not very informal. I kept the sentences straightforward and the paragraphs shorts as I want to get straight to the point but incorporate information that’s specific and necessary to support my point.

As for the rhetorical appeals, I’ve incorporated pathos and logos. I appeal to my audience’s sense of emotion by incorporating my parents story and experience of coming into the United States as well as mentioning why people are desperate to come to the United States without documentation to evoke sympathy from the audience. I also include logos to appeal to the audience’s sense of logic by incorporating statistical information gathered on immigration.

My targeted audience is indeed politicians and as well as American who continue to neglect immigration. They need to understand that it’s taken a long time for our leaders to do so. Their needs to be a crucial and practical decision made to address this issue and that they need to act on it now to pass meaningful, acceptable legislative reforms. This matter requires immediate attention if people want it to solve.

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