Sanchez1

Jacci Sanchez

Professor Jonathan Mejia

CAS 115

19 September 2017

Coming to America

Migration, discrimination, risks.. What do you think about it? What’s your first thought?

Ana’s first thought is: “People have a right from other countries to want, have another life.”

Jenny’s first thought is: “I don’t have any bad thoughts about it, I think that it shouldn’t be

looked down upon but rather looked as a form of a gateway for those that don’t understand

immigration to comprehend that we all come from different places and cultures.” Everyone has

different thoughts. I myself have not migrated anywhere but I do know a couple people who

have. Considering the thought of migrating from home to a place where you have never been at

is devastating. If you haven’t caught up onto the topic, I am talking about immigrants.

Immigrants are people who come to live in a foreign country permanently. They come from all

over the world to America in seek of a better lifestyle.

Immigrants migrate not because they want to but because they don’t have any other

actual opportunity or choice. Some people migrate because of wars, others migrate because

there’s nothing left to offer at their homeland, and others migrate because they believe it is easier

to grow elsewhere. Migrating from one place to another isn’t easy. It’s hard for the simple fact

that immigrants are forced to get accustomed to a place where they’re not familiar or

comfortable to begin with. They’re leaving family behind who they won’t see at all anymore

because of not having the benefit of a citizenship. They have memories that soon will fade away;

they leave everything behind for something they believe is better but isn’t always assured.
 Sanchez2

Many immigrants at the beginning of their journey of crossing the border are in good

shape but they don’t always make it to here in that same condition. Some people get mentally,

emotionally, and physically hurt. The immigration police or as it is better known, ICE (U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement) hurt people most of the time both mentally and

emotionally. ICE mistreats people through an emotional effect by humiliating them and making

them feel embarrassed of their origin. They make them feel embarrassed of their origin by

making fun of them through name calling and bringing up not being deserved the opportunity to

be someone, although it’s not true, it does make them feel insecure about reaching their goals.

President Donald Trump easily harms immigrants mentally by scaring them and making them

feel unworthy for the simple fact of not having a social security or being able to take it away. Not

all immigrants get fazed by these things though just to make it clear, it either makes them or

break them. Take for example the Dreamers. Even with Donald Trump basically making it seem

like they don’t deserve a place in the U.S. they are still fighting because they know they’re

contributing to the U.S. in a major, positive way. Anyway, back to the point. Immigrants also get

physically hurt because of the desert trails they have to walk through. They thirst themselves

most of the time because of the heat and starve themselves because they’re not able to carry

many things when they have two days and one night of walking.

When deciding to leave everything behind to leave to somewhere “better” there are

always risks. All immigrants go through these risks. There are always risks of getting caught by

ICE before even making it to the other side or making it to the other side but getting deported.

Besides that, the biggest risk of all is not succeeding with a decent job and good pay when they

have people depending on them. It’s not like if immigrants are at their home land and would be

able to at least say they have something or somewhere they can go to without the fear of getting
 Sanchez3

kicked out, they’re at a place where they start from zero and will have to try to build a life out of

nothing with no home and no money.

Now that I brought up money, lets talk about the economic issues immigrants have to

deal with. Immigrants always get paid less than the average American. Immigrants could be

outside in the bare sun carrying heavy boxes or picking fruit in the heat and get paid the

minimum while Americans can be sitting in an office with an AC on answering phone calls and

yet get paid above the minimum. Because of this issue, immigrants have to live in poverty

because of the no good pay. Immigrants will always be in the lower or middle class unless

they’re some type of geniuses that come up with a new invention that is worth millions. With

minimum wage, they literally have just enough money to go by the week or month.

Something every immigrant deals with is discrimination. Their skin tones have lots to do

with being discriminated. If they have a dark skin tone they’re automatically less because they

aren’t white and if they have a light skin tone they automatically have an opportunity of being

American. There are also stereotypes such as Mexicans being automatically criminals just

because there are big time, major cartels from Mexico. Because of stereotypes such as this one

there are situations where immigrant parents don’t want to involve their kids in their cultures. A

connection with this statement is in Expressions of Maya Identity and Culture in Los Angeles:

Challenges and Success among Maya Youth by Giovanni Batz where it says: “.. Children of

Maya who are unaware or apathetic of their indigenous heritage since some parents may

themselves be ashamed or no longer identify as Maya or see any value in teaching their children

an indigenous culture.”

There are always three likely scenarios that can happen to an immigrant. Two are positive

but they are either easy or difficult. My dad went through the easy one three times where he
 Sanchez4

crossed the border in a car with a fake identification without struggling. He felt good about it

because there were no struggles and had a place where he could go to because he already had

family in America. That sounds pretty cool doesn’t it? Anyway, then there’s the difficult one.

My mom had to go through it, my dad accompanied her. She had to walk many miles in the

desert to then get to some very tall mountains and having to hop from canyon to canyon the

quickest possible. Besides the trail/road being extremely difficult, they also had to hide from ICE

in trees so that they won’t get caught with the helicopters flying round. They had to deal with

lots of walking, three sleepless nights with hunger and thirst to then finally making it to the

destination where they had to wait for a van. Once the van appeared everyone had to run as fast

as they could to get on. Unfortunately my parents were one of the firsts to get to the van. You

might think they were lucky but in reality they weren’t because they were stuck all the way at the

bottom with everyone squished on top of them. Keep in mind that my mom was pregnant at the

time with me in her belly; anyway, she had to deal with a lot of weight on top of her. They then

got dropped off at Tucson, Texas where they had to make an effort to clean themselves up the

most they could in a public restroom so then they could take a bus to Las Vegas, Nevada and

then take another bus to San Bernardino, CA and lastly a metro to La Placita Olvera in LA. From

there my parents got picked up from a family member. My mom had many stomachaches

because of not having enough food to eat, water to drink, and enough rest but luckily I was a

fighter and as my mom said “I’m a miracle.” These both scenarios are the “positive” ones I

guess, but there are actually cruel, negative ones as well.

Take for example the film “Frontera”; it is based off of a man called Miguel trying to

cross the border because his wife, Paulina, was pregnant. He was determined to cross the border

to try giving his wife, daughter, and baby a better life but instead he got caught up in a murder.
 Sanchez5

He was being charged with murdering Livy because Roy saw him at the crime scene holding the

reigns of the horse Livy was riding. To get you caught up onto who Livy is, she is the owner of

the land where immigrants had to walk through in order to cross the border and Roy was her

husband. Back to the story, in reality, Miguel was trying to help Livy when she fell from the

horse because a missed bullet scared it when he and his companion were being shot at. Roy

believed Miguel was the murderer because he ran off but the real reason Miguel ran off is

because Roy was going to shoot him. Miguel then got caught by the police and was charged with

first-degree murder, he called home to let his family know and that’s when his wife tried

crossing the border. She paid a coyote (person who crosses immigrants across the border) and

was already about to get crossed. She and a big group were together and waited for a van to

arrive so that they could leave but only she got separated from the group to another van, she got

separated so that the three coyotes could rape her…Things like this actually do happen in the real

world. Some people get raped while others never get seen again. It’s disappointing and upsetting.

Anyway, she got raped and at the end of the film Miguel was no longer charged with first-degree

murder because Roy found out all the truth. Crossing the border will always have its pros and

cons. People always say “I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy- I’m telling you it’s going to

be worth it” but is the American Dream really worth it in every situation?

Immigrants go through a variety of difficulties in order to migrate to America. They have

to deal with sacrifices that sometimes aren’t always worth it. They deal with risks and economic

issues from the moment they come here. Overall, the main thing they deal with discrimination.

Discrimination is something every single immigrant deals with regardless. There is no way to

escape it, it’s never easy but it is not impossible.

 Sanchez6

Works Cited

• Statements from both my parents Asusena Flores and Victor Sanchez.

• Movie: Frontera

Release date: September 5, 2014

Genre: Drama/Western

Director: Michael Berry

• “I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy- I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” By

Art Williams.

• First thoughts

- Ana

- Jenny

• Expressions of Maya Identity and Culture in Los Angeles: Challenges and Success

among Maya Youth by Giovanni Batz