American Civilization
American Civilization
Immigration to the United States: What Are The Stakes of This Hot-Debated Topic in The Country of Milk and Honey?
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What is the American Dream?
According to George W. Bush Institute: "If you ask most people around the world what they mean by the “American dream” nearly all will respond with some version of upward social mobility, the American success story, or the self-made man (rarely the self-made woman). Perhaps they will invoke the symbolic house with a white picket fence that suggests economic self-sufficiency and security; many will associate the phrase with the land of opportunity for immigrants, [the idea of the cornucopia, a near-biblical depiction somehow]. No less an authority than the Oxford English Dictionary defines the American dream as “the ideal that every citizen of the United States should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative." (Source: A Brief History of the American Dream | George W. Bush Presidential Center)
To be crystal clear, the American Dream is a catch-all term first coined by James Truslow Adams in 1931. Originally, the phrase referred to democracy, liberty and freedom, but the term now encapsulates a dimension of material wealth and social ascent. The American Dream encompasses the rosy prospects people are driven by. It is a blend of ideals such as self-efficiency, self-accomplishment, social mobility and wealth. Nowadays, migrants leave their homelands drawn by the possibility to work their way up in American society, although there are other reasons for leaving (warfare, famine, insecurity). The United-States is still pretty much looked upon as a magnet migrants are appealed to, even if every migrant expects a tough and dangerous journey. The American Dream is widely depicted in novels such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, in which the main character-narrator of the story, Nick Carraway, gives the representation of a world of excessive wealth, with people who often struck it rich unlawfully or on the sly.
Document 1 | The New Colossus, By Emma Lazarus (1883).
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The New Colossus is a well-known poem written by Emma Lazarus. The poem is inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. When it comes to migration, Lazarus’ poem remains a relevant reference. In the poem, Lady Liberty is the focal point–she is a guide for everyone. She is the motherly character of love and tolerance. Her flame ushers in migrants who are rejected by their own country. It is worth pinpointing that when foreigners arrived in Ellis Island in the twentieth century, they’d gaze at Lady Liberty in a joint sense of welcoming.
Document 2 | We Came to America, Faith Ringgold (1997)
Document 3 | The Golden Door, Emanuele Crialese (2006)
The Golden Door is a 2006 motion picture directed by Emanuele Crialese which tells the story of an Italian family migrating to New York City in the beginning of the 20th century.
Plot Summary
At the turn of the 20th century, the poor Mancuso family, from Sicily, emigrates to the United States seeking a better life in the Land of Opportunity. At that time, many immigrants regarded the US as the El Dorados, a wealth-filled place where once could easily experience a rags-to-riches life.The Mancuso family travels from Europe to America in the steerage compartment of the boat, and goes through all kinds of physical and psychological examinations in Ellis Island, before being either allowed to enter the New World or being sent back to where they came from. In the motion picture, the younger brother, Pietro is about to be shipped back to Italy for being mute, and Fortunata is chalked with a cross, meaning that there is a suspicion of mental impairment).
Focus | What Was Ellis Island?
Ellis Island was the gateway to the New World. It is a historical site that opened in 1892 as an immigration station, a purpose it served for more than 60 years until it closed in 1954. More than 12 million immigrants were processed in Ellis Island. It was known for being an intricate maze in which immigrants– the ones who travelled in the steerage compartment– were sent to make sure that they were fit enough to assimilate in mainstream America. Indeed, first and second class passengers who arrived in New York Harbor were not required to undergo the inspection process at Ellis Island. Instead, these passengers underwent a cursory inspection aboard ship, the theory being that if a person could afford to purchase a first or second class ticket, they were less likely to become a public charge in America due to medical or legal reasons. Those who travelled in the steerage compartment however underwent a two-week-long journey in unsanitary conditions near the bottom of steamships with few amenities, often spending their time seasick in their bunks during rough Atlantic Ocean crossings. Upon their arrival, they had to go through examinations, received a cold reception, being chalked with a mysterious letter or form on their coat, and belittled by the place itself. It was all the more astounding for immigrants as they usually knew very little about America–at most, perhaps they had read about the New World or received letters from their relatives who had already started their life afresh in the US, praising the country’s opportunities and encouraging prospects.
Adapted from saveellisisland.org
Embark Upon an Interactive Tour of Ellis Island
Click on the Image Below
A. The US-Mexico Border
Part One | Trump-Biden Immigration Approaches
The US-Mexico border is a mile-stretching line which draws the separation between the United-States and Mexico. The main problem about the border is that it is too lengthy–nearly 2,000 miles, that is to say more than 3,000 kilometres. Thus, it is very difficult for the law enforcement personnel to stake out the entire area, making it easier for undocumented aliens to sneak into the US without the police knowing it. To prevent more migrants from making it to the country, former President Donald Trump raised funds to build walls. But, when Joe BIden became Commander-in-Chief, he said that he would not continue building walls–even though his point changed throughout his presidency.
"Migration into the US from Mexico continues to surge, breaking last year's record levels, and with deadly consequences. Over 50 migrants died in an abandoned lorry on a highway in Texas – the worst case of migrant deaths due to smuggling in the US. These trends have been ongoing for several years, and show no sign of slowing down. Here's a look at what's happening at the southern US border" (From the BBC – The US border crisis - in four graphs)
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A neat split can be made between the Trump administration and the Biden administration as to how both presidents handled immigrationUnder Trump’s presidency, waves of expulsion were observed since he tightened visa access, and was in favour of evicting every undocumented alien. However, under Biden’s administration, the number of migrants who illegally made it to the US spiked with a surge in unaccompanied children in parallel. How illegal entries peaked is very often fumed at by anti-Biden people, including Donald Trump himself–the latter very often calls Biden “Crooked Joe”. Indeed, Trump likened migrants to rapists and drug dealers, even if the assumption is not true all the time. Trump once cracked down on immigration as “poisoning the blood of the US”. Actually, a bunch of people still believe immigrants are pure felons, mere loafers, while others are in favour of reaching out to them. Consequently, it can be said that there is some kind of widening gap between the GOP and the Democrats. Actually, immigration as a whole has become the elephant in the room. Furthermore, would-be Americans come from insecurity-filled countries in Latin America. Warfare, famine, crime-plagued neighbourhoods, the lack of opportunities have caused many aliens to elope from their homelands with the view to working their way up, and finding a better life in mainstream America. They want to live a better life without the systemic fear of going shopping with gangsters nearby prowling the streets with guns and balaclavas. All in all, the spike in unlawful arrivals has wreaked upheaval with far-reaching ramifications. It has turned into a real humanitarian crisis
*The elephant in the room (idiomatic expression) = According to the Cambridge Dictionary, if you say there is an elephant in the room, you mean that there is an obvious problem or difficult situation that people do not want to talk about
Part Two | The Detention System of Donald Trump
Document from The Guardian | DETAINED–How the US Built the World's Largest Immigrant Detention System
Children sleeping on floors, changing other children’s diapers. Families torn apart at the border. Migrants crammed into foetid detention centres. These have become familiar sights as people fleeing gang violence, domestic abuse and poverty arrive on the southern border of the United States. Many will join more than 52,000 immigrants confined in jails, prisons, tents and other forms of detention – most of them for profit.
The United States’ reliance on immigrant detention is not a new phenomenon, nor did it emerge with Donald Trump (though its growth under his administration is staggering). Over the last four decades, a series of emergency stopgaps and bipartisan deals has created a new multibillion-dollar industry built on the incarceration of immigrants.
The people held in prison-like facilities across the country are not serving time for a crime. They’re waiting for a hearing to determine whether they can legally remain in the country while being kept in what is considered “civil detention”, intended to ensure that people show up for those hearings. Detention, once reserved only for those who threatened public safety or posed a flight risk, is now ubiquitous.
Immigrants, including asylum seekers and legal migrants, wait an average of more than four weeks to be released, though some have been held inside for years or even decades. Up to 2,500 are children and parents fleeing war and violence in their home countries. Thousands have alleged sexual and physical abuse inside the facilities. Forty years ago, this system did not exist.
A modest system holding fewer than 3,000 migrants a day at the end of the 1970s, detention has now morphed into a sprawling machinery ensnaring immigrants across the country. And facilities operated under both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and the border patrol continue to come under fire for holding people in squalid conditions with minimal access to hygiene and medical care.
With illegal immigration at the heart of the debate over US immigration policy, the number of undocumented immigrants has grown from less than 1 million in the 1970s to just under 11 million today, about 3% of the US population.
Although the number of undocumented immigrants has actually declined since 2007, the government is locked in a stalemate over how to deal with those still here and those who continue to arrive.
As the race for the 2020 presidential election heats up, Democratic candidates have clamored to decry Trump’s immigration policies.
Nearly all candidates support an end to detention for asylum-seeking families. In Senator Elizabeth Warren’s immigration plan, she promises to reserve detention for extreme cases of safety or flight risks. Senator Bernie Sanders told the Washington Post: “We must promote and implement these cheaper, more effective and more humane alternatives to keeping children and families detained in overcrowded, understaffed and ad-hoc facilities.” The former vice-president Joe Biden also pledged to end the detention of children in a private meeting with Boldpac, a political action committee.
In the meantime Trump continues to redirect funding from the US Coast Guard and other agencies to a detention system whose daily population has grown by more than 40% since he took office. And it’s only getting bigger.
Adapted from The Guardian, Emily Kassie, 2019
In the satirical cartoon above, Donald Trump is seen as a tyrant maltreating migrant children
When it comes to unaccompanied children, concerns are raised as to how they could possibly live on their own in an unknown, even scary country. They are detained in filthy detention centres in Texas where they are maltreated. Aiming at staunching the flow of migrants, the detention system intensified under Trump’s administration incarcerates, if not ensnares, thousands of immigrants. Nonetheless, they are prison-like facilities, and the conditions of incarceration scandalise citizens. It is rather reminiscent of Ellis Island in the 20th century.
Part Three | Breaking The Promise...
In October 2023, US President Joe Biden relinquished a promise he’d made when he was candidate in 2020, as in not to erect any inch of wall at the US-Mexico boundary unlike his predecessor Donald Trump. Then, when Joe Biden was candidate, he vowed that he’d halt wall constructions in Southern Texas, alongside the Rio Grande River. It was the top feature of his candidacy, totally dissimilar to Trump’s hardline approach to immigration. When Trump was the commander in chief, he managed to deport as many undocumented aliens as he possibly could. Biden was the image of hope for immigration advocates back then, but he made an abrupt reversal in October 2023, and he might even have disappointed his electorate by breaking his pledge. Biden staunchly claimed that he was not responsible for this radical shift–he had to use the funds allocated by Congress–even though it remained a betrayal for voters.
It occurred at a time of concerning immigration crisis as more and more migrants unlawfully cross the border to step foot upon US soil. The Deep Immigration issue has severely impacted big cities such as NY and Chicago with sprawling refugee camps. If migrants manage to cross the border, they will be street-dwellers as shelters are overcrowded. They live in filthy, unkempt tents on the walkway in the North. It is hard for mayors to cater for their needs. When winter comes, what will become of them? Will there be enough shelters?
Many experts claimed that there was an acute and immediate need for barriers to avert unlawful entries in the US. In September 2023, more than 200,000 illegal border crossings were registered. Foreigners go to the US with the view of having a better life and climbing the social ladder, usually lured by the American Dream. It is a thorny issue, hence sparking a groundswell of controversy in the US.
Part Four | A Mexican Family Unlawfully Crossing the Border
A Mexican couple with their little girl are running down a stony (stone-like), dried-up slope (hillside). Actually, they are on an unsteady, sandy ground, hence the dusty and arid atmosphere. Anxiety is etched upon their countenance and their unkempt attires imply harsh conditions. They must be endeavouring to cross the US-Mexico border as undocumented immigrants, fleeing from the monitoring border patrol who are preying upon them to deport them back to Mexico. They seem oblivious to the danger of unlawfully crossing the border. We may ask ourselves if they are really welcome by Lady Liberty: we may impugn it as thousands and thousands of undocumented persons have been swarming (scrambling, flocking, thronging) the place for decades.
B. Tackling the Issue!
Part ONE | Refugees, Brian Bilston, 2016
They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way
(now read from bottom to top)
Brian Bilston, whose real name is Paul Millicheap, is a British poet born in 1970. He started writing poetry on Twitter under the pseudonym Brian Bilston. He gained up to 400,000 over time, which earned him the name “The Poet Laureate of Twitter” by the Irish Times. Actually, Journalist Sarah Gilmartin wrote: “He is to poetry what Banksy is to art”–Brian Bilston is bringing poetry to the masses, taking social media by storm with his topical, witty, thoughtful and accessible poems. In the poem under scrutiny, entitled Refugees, Bilston manages to intertwine two visions about immigration–one whose supporters are eager to help out migrants (from bottom to top), while the other vision (from top to bottom) regards migrants as criminals and subhumans. Bilston actually conveys a Manichean vision, with a “good-bad” contrast. In the beginning of the poem, the poet resorts to the lexical field of felony (“cut-throats, scroungers”) to imply that would-be Americans–namely, immigrants–are vicious, and rather shrewd would-be terrorists sowing terror throughout the country. Immigrants are parasites for American society as they are pure loafers (idlers). All in all, they are dissimilar to Americans for they are perceived as foreboding people who are about to disrupt the country. But strikingly enough, when one reads the poem from bottom to top, the perception of immigrants is completely different. Bilston conveys an altruistic vision with a strong impression of philanthropy, a pillar of American history. Neither bigotry nor rejection are felt in the poem here. It is quite difficult for the reader to know whether Bilston is an anti-immigration or pro-immigration activist. He may have written this poem to demonstrate how severely torn apart American society is when it comes to immigration.
Part TWO | “Most of Us Used to be Them”, Obama.
[...] Immigration has always been an issue that inflames passion. That’s not surprising. There are few things that are more important to us as a society than who gets to come here. And call our country home. Who gets the privilege of becoming a citizen of the United States of America?. That’s a big deal. When we talk about that in the abstract, it’s easy sometimes for the discussion to take a feeling of us versus them. And when that happens, a lot of folks forget that most of us used to be them. We forget that. And it’s really important for us to remember history. Unless you ‘re one of the first Americans, a Native American, you came from someplace else. Somebody brought you. The Irish, who left behind a land of famine. The Germans, who fled persecutions, the Scandinavians who arrived eager to pioneer out west; the Polish, the Russians, the Italians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the west Indians, the huddled masses who came through Ellis Island on one coast and Angel Island on the other. All those folks, before they were us, they were them. And when each new wave of immigrants arrived, they faced resistance from those who were already here. They faced hardship. They faced racism. They faced ridicule. But over time, as they went over their daily lives, as they earned a living, as they raised a family, as they built a community, as their kids went to school here, they did their part to build the nation. They were the Einsteins and the Carnegies but they were also the millions of women and men whose names history may not remember but whose actions helped make us who we are, who built the country, hand by hand, brick by brick They all came here knowing that what makes somebody an American is not just blood or birth but allegiance to our founding principles and the faith and the idea that anyone from anywhere can write the next chapter of our story. And that’s still true today. [...]
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