Pro and Anti Immigration

Pro and Anti Immigration 

Pro- Latinosunited 

Latinos United for Immigration Reform is a campaign led by Latino leaders and organisations from across the political spectrum, representing different types of backgrounds that are coming together to urge the passage of comprehensive immigration reform. Its mission of Latinos United is to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform that includes a road map to citizenship.  

The website has a page dedicated to facts about immigration's stating how it is broken. For example nearly 45,000 undocumented parents of US citizen children were deported in the first six months of 2012, and at least 5,100 of their children now live in foster care in 22 different states. Another section of this particular page is dedicated to why immigration reform is good for the US economy. An interesting example is that between 50 and 70% of the nation's 1.2 million agricultural workers are undocumented, and US citizens will not take such jobs even in difficult economic times. According to time magazine anti immigration measure brought up in certain states, threaten huge economic losses. The American Farm Bureau Federation predicts that nationwide labour shortages will result in losses up to £9 billion. 

Anti- VDARE 

When you first click on the website a page is shown stating that its beliefs have been generally brought into fruition by Donald Trump and that you 'should' enter your email address to receive the FREE three part e-book "ON TRUMP". VDARE is a non profit journalistic enterprise and its principles are simple. America is real, demography is destiny and the cultural identity of America is legitimate and defensible. 

They are different from some other organisations and receive no grant money and rely on donations to strengthen them which makes up over 80% of their operating budget. The money you donate will promote patriotic immigration reform policies and will help to continue to push back the plans of pro-amnesty/immigration surge politicians. They spread their word through the use of their website, books conferences, debates and media appearances. The editor, Peter Brimelow introduced Vdare.com in 1999 as a result of his bestselling book, Alien Nation: Common Sense About America's Immigration Disaster. It has the latest news from politics tied in with immigration so clearly will be promoting Trump as much as possible. As shown by the second news headline from the top where it states that, "In Donald Trump's Worldview, America Comes First, and Everybody Else Pays". Some people are even unable to access the website as it is seen as inappropriate content, which is called Censorware. Utah State Government has blocked Vdare.com. 

Pro and con Immigrant

https://www.aclu.org/feature/arizonas-sb-1070
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf


ARIZONA'S SB 1070
Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, S.B. 1070, allows police to determine the immigration status of someone arrested or detained when there is “reasonable suspicion” they are not in the U.S. legally.  The law invite rampant racial profiling against Latinos, Asian-Americans and others presumed to be "foreign" based on how they look or sound.  Also authorize police to demand papers proving citizenship or immigration status from anyone they stop and suspect of being in the country unlawfully. It's basically "stop and show me your papers". 

Obama’s Immigration Executive Order

In 2014, Obama outlined how he was going to give many Immigrants a pathway into becoming a Citizen like for childhood arrivals unlawful immigrants who come to the US when they were under the age of 16, since June 2007, were under 31 years of age as of June 2012, that hadn't not convicted criminals, and who were either high school graduates were eligible for a two-year work permit under the Code of Federal Regulations. 1.7 million immigrants were could use this pathway although only 675,000 have been given it (40%) 

http://www.cato.org/blog/obamas-immigration-executive-order-policy-implications

Pro and Anti immigration

Pro and Anti Immigration

http://www.fairus.org

The Organisation FAIR, standing for Federation for American Immigration Reform, is a non-profit and a non-partisan organisation which believes that the immigration laws are in need of reform so that the amount of immigrants which enter the country decreases. They believe America has reached a point where their perpetual growth cannot continue as they have ‘limited space’ from the influx of immigrants.

Although their name is FAIR, even from the front page of their website it shows hatred towards immigrants with one headline stating ‘Americans are losing their jobs to imported worker’, showing they want FAIR jobs but for Americans. They don't only discriminate against illegal immigrants but also legal immigrants stating that ‘the American people don't understand just how large our immigration intake truly is’ and that should also be dramatically reduced. 

http://www.aijustice.org

AIJ, Americans for Immigrant Justice, aim to protect the basic human rights of immigrants so that they not the subject of abuse or injustice in American society. They are an award winning non-profit law firm based in Florida and Washington and are considered to be one of the most effective national groups fighting for immigrant justice.

Their website provides a lot of information on their information about how the help immigrants and programs they have started, for example the Children’s Legal Program. This provides legal services for immigrant children to help them stay in the US, as ‘nearly half of the children have a valid legal claim to be in the US but without an attorney they have only a 1% chance of succeeding’. They stress how the immigrants need help to represent themselves and should be given a chance to try and stay in the US as many have ‘compelling claims to justice’. 

PRO of ANTI immigration?

http://baesic.net/minutemanproject/

The Minute Men Project is an exemplar of extremist right wing thought process regarding immigration. A ‘Minute Man’ is typically an older, white man whom takes on the vigilantly role of border watchman. They see immigration – and its illegal counterpart – as the biggest threat to the preservation of American culture. Their views somewhat smudge the definitions of nationalism and xenophobia.

I find some of the imagery on their website particularly interesting. They have a ‘JOIN US’ section which is reminiscent of the Uncle Sam propaganda used in world war II. It poses as an America flag with two rifles in a cross laid over the top. ‘Interested in being a Minuteman? Start here!’ it suggests. The militant undertone of this section of the website is troubling as it points to enrolment in a force that is dedicated to fighting immigration. Which would surely manifest itself in a fight with the immigrant population? A hypothetical which would be disastrous once you've taken into account the shear number of Latino immigrants and their concentration in certain locations, such as Southern California.

As an immigrant viewing this website I think you would certainly feel misunderstood and threatened by the Minute Men Project’s intentions and their willingness to lead with their second amendment rights.

http://latinospro.org/our-story/

Latinos Progesando (LP) is an organization that leads Chicago in support for Latino Immigrants. Their founder set up the organization as a loan volunteer with “the goal of instigating neighbourhood transformation: building a culture of high expectations, developing and sustaining innovative service-delivery models and engendering an unmatched spirit of collaboration.” Its worth investigation why the growth of LP has been so strong from its establishment to becoming the “largest Latino-led family based immigration legal services program in the State of Illinois.”

For this type of organization to find its services in high demand suggests that life for immigrants in the US is hard. However, for a Pro-Latino immigration organization to become so popular similarly means that it must be helping a large number of Latinos to become more prosperous and generally successful in life. Their website stresses that its aim is to help Latino’s thrive and its whole vibe is one of optimism and positivity.

The optimism on the PRO side of the debate indicates that Latinos feel as if they have a secure place in the US. It does make historical sense: Having lost a large chunk of territory (to America) in the Texan and Mexico wars in the 1840’s. Therefore, with groups like LP and a shared ancestry in parts of America, coupled with the densely populated clusters in which they often live, immigrants are justly optimistic in regard to the longevity of their residence in America.

I should note that the election of Trump as president would of course jeopardise the security of that standpoint. 

Women in America

Women in America

Womens Suffrage

The fist time women suffrage was proposed was in 1848 at the first American women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York. It took 72 years of struggle until the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920 guaranteed women the right to vote. At the turn of the century women could only vote in 4 states - Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Colorado. This was a slow progress made in the 52 years of the movement, but as they went into the 20th century, ‘The Progressive Era’, the question of woman suffrage had become mainstream politics. This was due to women roles in society expanding outside of the domestic bubble and millions more women from all ethnic, class and racial backgrounds entered public life to address severe social problems. With women’s suffrage becoming more and more prominent in public life and woman seen more in politics, the vote was granted in 1920 with all women given the right to vote. This was a huge turning point for women lives in America which gave them a sense of freedom outside the home and more of an equality with men. It has to be seen however that although it did give women the vote, women were still seen not on a equal intellectual level as men and were generally excluded from influential roles in major political parties, formal political processes and from holding political office until recently which is shown in the current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. 

Education

Historically women’s formal educational opportunities limited access to the hard sciences and technology fields. The women who were able to gain a formal education were then denied employment or full employment in these areas. Cultural norms excluded women form these areas. Change started to happen when Maria Mitchell became America’s first professional female astronomer. In 1847 she discovered a comet, being not only the first female to do so but also the first American. For this achievement Mitchell became the first women elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1848 and to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1850. This sparked an interest in education from women, embracing opportunities to learn and see training in professional careers. Dozens of women colleges were established during this time, however co-educational institutions frequently barred women form science and technical majors. As the 20th century progressed women were able to go into the STEM fields, with Admiral Grace Murray Hopper who invented the first computer complier and during the war women were used for computer programming which became known as a woman’s profession. It wasn't until 1972 when Title IX of the Education Amendment made it illegal to bar women form federally funded schools or programs of study. Dr Sally Ride benefitted from this and in 1983 became the first American woman in space. Rides achievements inspired other women to pursue careers in STEM. With 21 million students who attended American colleges and universities in fall 2014, women made up the majority with around 12 million females and 9 million males. It shows how far women have come in education and how they're taking opportunities which they once would never have had.

Status of American Women

Status of American Women 

The National Organization for Women (NOW) that was established in 1966 is an organisation that is devoted to achieving full equality for women through education and litigation. Although not the only group fighting for women's rights, it quickly became known as one of the best and most supported. Today NOW has over half a million members and more than 500 local and campus affiliates in all 50 states. NOW was founded at the time when women were entering the paid labour force in increasing numbers.  

Throughout the 1960s to the 1980s were subject to major changes in the status of working women. Legal barriers to gender based employment and pay discrimination were eliminated. The gender wage gap narrowed significantly, with women earning 59 cents an hour to every dollar earned by a man in 1964, but this has now risen to 77 cents per hour in 2004. The percentage of women in the labour force with a college degree went up from 11.2% in 1970 to 32.6% in 2004, rising at basically twice the rate for men. So although the organisation cannot be directly linked with these social improvements they certainly contributed to the improvement.  

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (born 1933) is the second woman ever to sit on the United States Supreme Court and is known as the legal architect of the modern women's movement. As a law student she was one of only 8 women in a class of more than 500 and Ginsburg and her female classmates were asked by the dean why they were occupying seats that would be otherwise filled by men. She became the first female member of the prestigious Harvard Law Review. Whilst becoming the first female professor at Columbia she also served as the director of the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union where she was involved in six cases on gender equality. She also believed that the law was gender blind and all groups were entitled to equal rights. She was appointed to the US Supreme Court by Bill Clinton in 1993 and six years later she received the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award for her contributions to gender equality and civil rights. 

Womens' Status in America

WWII is a significant event in the shaping of female identity in America. The war created an interesting paradigm in which the dominate gender, ‘the norm’, was removed thus leaving a void in which previously constructed gender roles within society were invalid.

Women across the nation voluntarily mobilised in order to fuel the expanding American government and industry during wartime. More than a million women filled previously ‘male only’ government positions. By 1944 women accounted for more than a third of all civil service jobs.

Although women were only permitted to fill the vacant jobs for the period of national emergency it did improve the credibility and respect of women. Some cases physically embody this advancement of the American female. Mary Ruth Hunter, for example, worked in a plant in Pennsylvania when she was drafted by Army recruiters. Mary worked in the intelligence sector known as G2 in the Pentagon collecting historically relevant material for WWII missions. She worked alongside Professors of History from prestigious East Coast Universities. (Mary remained with the Defence Department until her retirement in 1979).

This case is especially interesting because women simply didn't work alongside men in professional and academic positions but the war forced such an abandonment of societal norms. Women like Mary Hunter went a long way to dispelling the myth of inadequacy that shrouded women in American history.

A contemporary event that has improved the status of women in America is the election of Barack Obama as President and thus his wife, Michelle Obama as First Lady. Obama has been able to project an impressive image of feminine power with her intelligence and grace whilst the eyes of the nation scrutinise her. Also, as the first black First Lady, she has been able to empower black women who have been particularly neglected throughout history. As a lawyer, Obama symbolises professional female success for African American women who have scarce options when it comes to role models outside of entertainment and sport.

The particular significance of Obama comes from her public relationship with her husband, the President. They appear to have a very mutually respectful and equal relationship. A fist bump during a speech may seem insignificant but it puts her on the exact same level as her husband and thus promotes gender equality in front of the entire nation. Furthermore, Obama has been involved in initiatives that strive to tackle childhood obesity and LGBT rights. The impressive activity of Obama as First Lady in an age in which media defines the identity of many groups – including women – has had a positive effect upon the status of women in America.

American Woman

Rosemary Casals

A strong player on the tennis court and a fighter for women's rights, Rosemary Casals made steps for women in the world of tennis/sports. No professional coaching at all, she began participating in tennis tournaments, breaking barriers at country clubs with her Salvadorian background and wildly colored outfits.  In 1967, Casals won the doubles tournament at Wimbledon. She fought for women's monetary prizes to be equal to men's and also for women to have more media coverage. 

Hillary Rodham Clinton

The first First Lady elected to the United States Senate and the first female senator from New York, is currently campaigning to be the first woman nominated for the president and become the first president.  Running for the  Democratic, she is working hard to ensure that the press and American people do not see her as the wife of President Bill Clinton, but as a senator who has contributed much in her own right. On January 20, 2007, Hillary Clinton announced that she was running for president, and joined the historic 2008 race. Although Clinton received roughly 18 million votes, she lost in the Democratic Primary to Senator Barack Obama, who went on to win the presidency. Clinton served as Secretary of State for the Obama administration from 2009-2013. Now she's giving Trump a real run for his money.