Immigration

As an artist, I show my feelings towards social and political issues through my art. Immigration has been a subject I have focused on and even been disqualified for.

This year my artwork titled Anti-Boarder Patrol won first place for the Caucus Art Contest,but was then disqualified hours before the award ceremony for involving political issues. This was upsetting, and then yet intrigued me more towards this issue.

Coming from the Hispanic/Latino community, I support my people. Immigration has been a big issue in the United States for decades. It is getting more and more focused on now that the economy is in bad conditions and more and more people are needing jobs. The illegal immigrants get the blame for stealing job opportunities and taking advantage of things that may belong to "Americans". But aren't we all Americans because we are from North, South, and Central America? I am an open minded individual,and can see both sides of this story, and I find it hard to take a side on this issue.

Illegal aliens are not job thieves, but hard workers. Can you imagine how hard it is to live a normal life if you are hiding from the government most of the time? Is this really necessary? Many illegal immigrants come to the United States seeking a better way of life. It bothers me how these people have to suffer so much just for this. The governments of their own nations are not satisfying their needs for a decent way of life. They seek the opportunity of being able to support their families by crossing one or even more boarders as well as oceans. It is saddening when one hears about someone who has died trying to reach the American Dream. What dream? The dream of being free. So I ask myself, what freedom is this if they have to pretend they are someone else to be able to get hired? I understand a few of these illegal immigrants don't make the right decisions and create more problems for this nation, but one cannot judge everyone based on the behavior of a few. Decent hard workers exist in every race and color, and many people in the Latino community know the importance of working hard. They do not take jobs from legal people, because anyone can apply for these. They have just shown to be hard workers and get hired as well. If illegal immigrants could come legally to the United States, it would be their dream come true.

I understand and I am open-minded to different points of view on this situation. I have been part of this community and have relatives that have an illegal alien status. It is hard for them to seek jobs, buy a home or drive a car. They live afraid. I see this every day in my community and would love to help everyone if I could. I also understand why it is not possible to just simply make everyone legal. There is a large number of immigrants, not just from Latin America, and I don't see how it would be possible to help everyone. Then,once again, they are here and the country has been working properly with them here.

If the United States is ever able to support illegal aliens, I have some ideas on how. In my opinion, this country would run as well as it has before. Some people say there would be trouble with the economy and jobs. I do not see how this issue would come to play. If undocumented people could obtain a job with their own identity, they would be able to pay taxes and contribute to this economy as well as they do now. They shop and pay for things just like everyone else with a legal status. The issue on giving every person proper documentation would be the amount of people who need them. I see a problem with more and more people migrating into the United States once this happens, and taking advantage of the situation. This would not be fair to illegal aliens who have lived here for a significant amount of years.

I have also heard of the anchor baby issue. Everyone is free to their own opinion on this subject and I respect it, because we each have different ethics. I understand why people are discussing things about the anchor babies, but if one thinks about it, these cultures are cultures that typically have large families. People think that some people are having babies in the United States to obtain documentation in the future. Latin American families usually consist of having many children to help out with the family. This is typical in countries like Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and many others. I also understand why some people are worrying about this, and there might be some women who do have babies for this reason, but one cannot blame all for the actions of one. Plus, if a parent is ever deported from the United States, there is not much concern given by officers if the illegal aliens' children won't ever know what happened to their parents. It is always saddening to me to hear of children left at school and never having their parents come pick them up. The poor kid waiting until the teacher calls him/her in because his/her parent was taken away. This happens more than what people notice.

The immigration issues of the world will never end. People will always be seeking for a better life, even if it's just moving from state to state for a better job. This happens within the same country. It is an issue that illegal aliens wish was just a nightmare they could awaken from. People have different views on this and mine are strong on helping everyone. It would be great for everyone to be happy and people to not have to hide or use false identities. Jobs could be created and the United States could be prosperous, but this is something that is very hard to achieve. One has to understand the different sides on the issue. It is not an easy one to resolve. I could discuss many points on this topic, but it is a large one. I as an individual have my own beliefs, and hope to see this all work out in every ones' favor some day.