Throughout this blog project I have been a somewhat good student. In the first half of the project I turned all my assignments in on time. In the second half of the semester I started to get lazy and started to turn my assignments in late. Towards the end of the second semester I started to turn in my assignments in on time such as the book blog. To get back to turning my assignments in on time I started to motivate myself by saying that this could be my first A in an English class.
By doing this blog I noticed a lot of things about my reading and writing. First I noticed that my reading became slightly faster. The second thing I noticed was that my vocabulary had improved and that I knew words that I never knew I knew. I also noticed that my essay writing also improved.
From what I have researched the thing I will remember the most will be the quota act. I never knew that congress had implicated that guideline. I also did not know that it was made to keep Asians from entering the country. The reason I chose to do this topic was because in the future I plan to be an immigration lawyer. In the beginning I felt that the immigration system should be fixed in the United States. Now I believe more that the system should be fixed in order to give hard working immigrants a chance to become legal.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Enrique's Journey
The book I read was Enrique’s Journey written by Sonia Nazario. She is a writer for the Los Angeles Times. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 2003. This book has gotten positive reviews form People, Entertainment weekly, and many more.
What inspired her to write about this book was a conversation with her maid. Her maid told her that she had children that she left behind when they were young in Guatemala and that one of her children has recently made the journey to come find her. After hearing this she wondered what made mothers decide to leave their children at such a young age and if gifts and having money to eat every night could replace the love of a mother. She also was fascinated by the dangerous journeys that the children take to be close to their mothers. After a while she decided to take the journey that immigrant children travel but first she would have to find someone that has taken the journey. After searching for a while she found Enrique and he told her his whole story. Then she spent months traveling the routes that Enrique took and interviewing people that Enrique met. To take this journey she first had to get permission from the Mexican government and had to get armed officers for the most dangerous parts of the journey. In my opinion the purpose of this book was to show how dangerous the journeys that people take are. She met her intended purpose because throughout the book she describes in depth the mutilations that people suffer while riding the trains and the beating that people suffer from the gangsters in Chiapas, Mexico.
This book was written in a weird way. The author chose to write this book in the third person but that was not the weird part of the book. What was weird about the book was that it would be telling the story of Enrique but then jump to the story of a person that Enrique had met during his journey. For example in one part of the book the author is talking about people getting mutilated and then jumps to the story of Olga Sanchez Martinez. Olga is a person that Enrique met during his trip. She is a person that was once very sick until she went church one day and asked god to cure her. She told god that if he would cure her she would devote her time to help immigrants that have been mutilated by the train. She raises money for medicine to treat the injured immigrants.
The book starts out with the author telling the story of Enrique’s mother leaving him and his sister. Then it goes into detail about the jobs Enrique had to do in order to get money. It also goes into detail about the struggles Enrique faced with drugs and with his mother not being there. After that it describes Enrique’s decision and journey to leave Honduras to go to the United States in search for his mother. After he is in the United States it describes the struggles that Enrique faces when living in the United States. For example his struggles with his drug addiction, alcoholism, and resentment towards his mother. It ends with Enrique convincing his girlfriend to come to the United States.
The key point in this book was to show the treacherous journey that immigrants face when coming to the United States. The book does this by describing the journey in depth. For example it describes how people got their limbs torn off by the wheels of the train. It also describes the beating people endure by gangsters that board the trains in order to rob the immigrants and in some case raping women.
In my personal opinion this book is great. This book taught me the way people from Central America travel through Mexico in order to get to the border. This book tied to my topic because it tells the story of an immigrant trying to get into the United States to find his mother. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to read a great story.
What inspired her to write about this book was a conversation with her maid. Her maid told her that she had children that she left behind when they were young in Guatemala and that one of her children has recently made the journey to come find her. After hearing this she wondered what made mothers decide to leave their children at such a young age and if gifts and having money to eat every night could replace the love of a mother. She also was fascinated by the dangerous journeys that the children take to be close to their mothers. After a while she decided to take the journey that immigrant children travel but first she would have to find someone that has taken the journey. After searching for a while she found Enrique and he told her his whole story. Then she spent months traveling the routes that Enrique took and interviewing people that Enrique met. To take this journey she first had to get permission from the Mexican government and had to get armed officers for the most dangerous parts of the journey. In my opinion the purpose of this book was to show how dangerous the journeys that people take are. She met her intended purpose because throughout the book she describes in depth the mutilations that people suffer while riding the trains and the beating that people suffer from the gangsters in Chiapas, Mexico.
This book was written in a weird way. The author chose to write this book in the third person but that was not the weird part of the book. What was weird about the book was that it would be telling the story of Enrique but then jump to the story of a person that Enrique had met during his journey. For example in one part of the book the author is talking about people getting mutilated and then jumps to the story of Olga Sanchez Martinez. Olga is a person that Enrique met during his trip. She is a person that was once very sick until she went church one day and asked god to cure her. She told god that if he would cure her she would devote her time to help immigrants that have been mutilated by the train. She raises money for medicine to treat the injured immigrants.
The book starts out with the author telling the story of Enrique’s mother leaving him and his sister. Then it goes into detail about the jobs Enrique had to do in order to get money. It also goes into detail about the struggles Enrique faced with drugs and with his mother not being there. After that it describes Enrique’s decision and journey to leave Honduras to go to the United States in search for his mother. After he is in the United States it describes the struggles that Enrique faces when living in the United States. For example his struggles with his drug addiction, alcoholism, and resentment towards his mother. It ends with Enrique convincing his girlfriend to come to the United States.
The key point in this book was to show the treacherous journey that immigrants face when coming to the United States. The book does this by describing the journey in depth. For example it describes how people got their limbs torn off by the wheels of the train. It also describes the beating people endure by gangsters that board the trains in order to rob the immigrants and in some case raping women.
In my personal opinion this book is great. This book taught me the way people from Central America travel through Mexico in order to get to the border. This book tied to my topic because it tells the story of an immigrant trying to get into the United States to find his mother. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to read a great story.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Poem
Dangerous and expensive journey
Dangerous animals hidden in the sand
Hot sun blaring down on you
No certainty that you will get into the United States
Officers patrolling the border
Families broken apart
One parent may live in United States other in Mexico
People working jobs that nobody else wants
Low wages and no benefits
Uncertainty of being deported
Government tried to pass a bill to legalize people
It did not pass in congress
Government tried to pass a bill to put more fencing at the border
It passed
Time to find a way to fix the immigration system
Dangerous animals hidden in the sand
Hot sun blaring down on you
No certainty that you will get into the United States
Officers patrolling the border
Families broken apart
One parent may live in United States other in Mexico
People working jobs that nobody else wants
Low wages and no benefits
Uncertainty of being deported
Government tried to pass a bill to legalize people
It did not pass in congress
Government tried to pass a bill to put more fencing at the border
It passed
Time to find a way to fix the immigration system
Friday, December 12, 2008
Border
Since 2005 there has been construction on 850 miles of fence along the Mexican border. To this day the fence is not done and the government hopes to get 670 miles done by the end of the year. The fence along the border is not only costly but also ineffective and dangerous to the sensitive wildlife.
The fence at the border is not only costly right now but the cost will continue to rise because of the elements and people crossing the border. It is estimated that at the moment it costs four million dollars per mile for pedestrian fencing (Kariam 2008). It is also estimated that the cost for vehicle fencing is two million dollars per mile (Kariam 2008). It is predicted that in 25 years the upkeep of the fence will cost 16.4 million dollars to 70 million dollars per mile depending on the damage (Kariam 2008). The fence is costing and will cost tax payers a substantial amount of money.
People that live on the U.S. Mexico border attest that the border is ineffective. They say that even though that the border has cameras and motion sensors it is lightly patrolled (Kariam 2008). They attest that since the fence has been built they have seen more people crossing the border. They attest that they would not mind the border being there if it actually did what it was meant to do (Kariam 2008). Those people believe that the fence has not stopped border crossers it has just kept people from crossing in other areas (Kariam 2008). The fence has not stopped people from crossing illegally it has just made them cross at different places.
The San Pedro River at the border provides a habitat to a wide variety of small animals. It also serves as a watering hole for bigger animals (Kariam 2008). Because of these reasons the United States made the San Pedro River a national conservation area. The conservation area is 57,000 acres big (Kariam 2008). The fence that was built at the border cut through the conservation area and is threatening the ecosystem. This was said about the fence “it’s between 14 and 18 feet tall; it goes on for miles; it’s not something they can jump over or circumvent. It might not be very effective at stopping people but its stopping wildlife in their tracks” (Kariam 2008). Because the fence is being built through the habitat of these animals people fear that it could cause great turmoil on the environment.
The fence is having a great effect on tax payers and the environment surrounding it. The U.S. government should find a more effective way to stop illegal immigration that won’t hurt the environment and will not hurt tax payers’ wallets.
Sources:
Karaim, Reed. "CQ Researcher." Americas Border Fence 6 May 2008: 746-767.
The fence at the border is not only costly right now but the cost will continue to rise because of the elements and people crossing the border. It is estimated that at the moment it costs four million dollars per mile for pedestrian fencing (Kariam 2008). It is also estimated that the cost for vehicle fencing is two million dollars per mile (Kariam 2008). It is predicted that in 25 years the upkeep of the fence will cost 16.4 million dollars to 70 million dollars per mile depending on the damage (Kariam 2008). The fence is costing and will cost tax payers a substantial amount of money.
People that live on the U.S. Mexico border attest that the border is ineffective. They say that even though that the border has cameras and motion sensors it is lightly patrolled (Kariam 2008). They attest that since the fence has been built they have seen more people crossing the border. They attest that they would not mind the border being there if it actually did what it was meant to do (Kariam 2008). Those people believe that the fence has not stopped border crossers it has just kept people from crossing in other areas (Kariam 2008). The fence has not stopped people from crossing illegally it has just made them cross at different places.
The San Pedro River at the border provides a habitat to a wide variety of small animals. It also serves as a watering hole for bigger animals (Kariam 2008). Because of these reasons the United States made the San Pedro River a national conservation area. The conservation area is 57,000 acres big (Kariam 2008). The fence that was built at the border cut through the conservation area and is threatening the ecosystem. This was said about the fence “it’s between 14 and 18 feet tall; it goes on for miles; it’s not something they can jump over or circumvent. It might not be very effective at stopping people but its stopping wildlife in their tracks” (Kariam 2008). Because the fence is being built through the habitat of these animals people fear that it could cause great turmoil on the environment.
The fence is having a great effect on tax payers and the environment surrounding it. The U.S. government should find a more effective way to stop illegal immigration that won’t hurt the environment and will not hurt tax payers’ wallets.
Sources:
Karaim, Reed. "CQ Researcher." Americas Border Fence 6 May 2008: 746-767.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Annotated Bibliographies
1. Karaim, Reed. "CQ Researcher." Americas Border Fence 6 May 2008: 746-767.
This article talks about the fence that is being built at the border. It tells you how the fence is hurting the wildlife around the fence. It also gives you facts about how much the fence is costing and how much it will cost to up-keep it.
This source is reliable because it is not biased. It seemed like the author researched the topic thoroughly. This source is useful to find out more information about the fence that is being built.
In the end this source helped me a lot. It helped me find out what kind of fence was being built at the border and how much it was going to cost. It also helped me find out what some people that lived at the border thought about the fence.
2. Archibold, Randal C. "Mexico & the U.S.: What Kind of Border." The New York Times Upfront 1 Dec. 2008: 6-7.
This article talks about Friendship Park at Imperial Beach, California. I talks about how people go to this park to talk to their love ones that are on the other side of the border. It also talks about the impact that 9/11 had on immigration.
This source is reliable because it was published in a magazine that is owned by the New York Times. It shows you the lengths that people are willing to go in order to see people that in a different country. For example one man travels three hours to Friendship Park to see his wife that is in Mexico.
This source helped me understand what hopes people had for immigration before 9/11. It also showed me of a place where people can go to see their relatives if they are in Mexico.
3. "Are Illegal Immigrants Good For the U.S. Economy." The New York Times Upfront.
This article debates about illegal immigrants being good for the economy. It gives you both sides from two different people. They back up their arguments with a lot of facts.
This source is reliable because both of the debaters are from websites that specialize in immigration. One of the debaters is from immigrationpolicy.org and the other debater is from cis.org. This source gives you information like how much money illegal immigrants contribute in to the economy.
This article helped me a lot with my topic. It showed me what both sides think about the contribution illegal immigrants make to the economy. It also taught me some facts that I did not know.
4. Wagner, P.F. The Dark Side Of Illegal Immigration: Facts, Figures and Data Show A Disturbing Truth. 9 Oct. 2008
This website gives you facts about diseases and various other things about illegal immigrants. This website only gives you the bad side of illegal immigration. This site is easy to navigate if you want to find information about a certain topic about immigration.
This source was a very biased against illegal immigration. It only gives you the statistics that make illegal immigrants look bad. The author made this website to inform Americans about the harm that illegal immigrants cause to this country.
I have only used this website once but would not use it again. I would not use it again because of some of the things that are said in this website against illegal immigrant. This is a good website if you want to know what crimes are committed by illegal immigrants.
5. "U.S. Permanent Resident Application Overview." US Citizenship & Services Help Center. 9 Oct. 2008.
This websites teaches people the steps to becoming permanent residents. It gives you step by step instructions. It also allows you to download the forms needed to become a permanent resident.
This website is not biased towards anything. It is a reliable source because it is operated by the government. It is a great source to find out the steps to becoming a permanent resident.
When I looked at this source it helped me get a further understanding on how illegal immigrants became permanent residents.
6. Katel, Peter. "Illegal Immigration." CQ Researcher (2005): 393-420.
This article talks about everything about illegal immigration. It gives you a lot of facts and statistics about illegal immigration.
This source is reliable because it is not biased. It also has other articles that answer questions like if illegal immigrants are good for the economy.
This source really helped me a lot in my blog. It gave me a lot of statistics and facts about illegal immigration.
This article talks about the fence that is being built at the border. It tells you how the fence is hurting the wildlife around the fence. It also gives you facts about how much the fence is costing and how much it will cost to up-keep it.
This source is reliable because it is not biased. It seemed like the author researched the topic thoroughly. This source is useful to find out more information about the fence that is being built.
In the end this source helped me a lot. It helped me find out what kind of fence was being built at the border and how much it was going to cost. It also helped me find out what some people that lived at the border thought about the fence.
2. Archibold, Randal C. "Mexico & the U.S.: What Kind of Border." The New York Times Upfront 1 Dec. 2008: 6-7.
This article talks about Friendship Park at Imperial Beach, California. I talks about how people go to this park to talk to their love ones that are on the other side of the border. It also talks about the impact that 9/11 had on immigration.
This source is reliable because it was published in a magazine that is owned by the New York Times. It shows you the lengths that people are willing to go in order to see people that in a different country. For example one man travels three hours to Friendship Park to see his wife that is in Mexico.
This source helped me understand what hopes people had for immigration before 9/11. It also showed me of a place where people can go to see their relatives if they are in Mexico.
3. "Are Illegal Immigrants Good For the U.S. Economy." The New York Times Upfront.
This article debates about illegal immigrants being good for the economy. It gives you both sides from two different people. They back up their arguments with a lot of facts.
This source is reliable because both of the debaters are from websites that specialize in immigration. One of the debaters is from immigrationpolicy.org and the other debater is from cis.org. This source gives you information like how much money illegal immigrants contribute in to the economy.
This article helped me a lot with my topic. It showed me what both sides think about the contribution illegal immigrants make to the economy. It also taught me some facts that I did not know.
4. Wagner, P.F. The Dark Side Of Illegal Immigration: Facts, Figures and Data Show A Disturbing Truth. 9 Oct. 2008
This website gives you facts about diseases and various other things about illegal immigrants. This website only gives you the bad side of illegal immigration. This site is easy to navigate if you want to find information about a certain topic about immigration.
This source was a very biased against illegal immigration. It only gives you the statistics that make illegal immigrants look bad. The author made this website to inform Americans about the harm that illegal immigrants cause to this country.
I have only used this website once but would not use it again. I would not use it again because of some of the things that are said in this website against illegal immigrant. This is a good website if you want to know what crimes are committed by illegal immigrants.
5. "U.S. Permanent Resident Application Overview." US Citizenship & Services Help Center. 9 Oct. 2008.
This websites teaches people the steps to becoming permanent residents. It gives you step by step instructions. It also allows you to download the forms needed to become a permanent resident.
This website is not biased towards anything. It is a reliable source because it is operated by the government. It is a great source to find out the steps to becoming a permanent resident.
When I looked at this source it helped me get a further understanding on how illegal immigrants became permanent residents.
6. Katel, Peter. "Illegal Immigration." CQ Researcher (2005): 393-420.
This article talks about everything about illegal immigration. It gives you a lot of facts and statistics about illegal immigration.
This source is reliable because it is not biased. It also has other articles that answer questions like if illegal immigrants are good for the economy.
This source really helped me a lot in my blog. It gave me a lot of statistics and facts about illegal immigration.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Letter To Barrack Obama
November 20, 2008
Dear Barrack Obama:
As you have said countless times, change is what America needs. One of the changes that America desperately needs is its immigration system. That is why I propose that in order to fix the immigration problem you must first fix the immigration system. What I mean by fixing the immigration system is making it so some groups of immigrants have a better chance to become legal citizens. For example, I can attest that families that have paid their taxes, have not broken any laws, and have been good citizens only have a 5% chance of becoming legal citizens. Don't get me wrong I'm not proposing that the system be so lenient that anybody can obtain legal status. I’m proposing that only the people that constitute the group of good immigrants be allowed to obtain legal status.
If the group of good immigrants were to get legal status with the new system than it would show future immigrants that if they play by the rules than they too can become legal citizens and obtain the better life that they desire. This is the change America needs.
Sincerely,
Daniel
Friday, November 14, 2008
Statistics
(businessweek.com)
In these statistics that I found from an article in 2004 at businessweek.com it shows a lot of information about illegal immigrants. One of the graphs shows what percentage of all immigrants in the United States are illegal. Another graph shows what the difference is between the income of a family that is illegal, a family that is legal, and a family that is native born. These statistics are related to my topic because they show where most immigrants come from and in what field of work do most illegal immigrants work in.
While looking at this data something that surprised me was that the percentage of legal permanent residents is the same as the percentage of illegal immigrants. In my mind I would have thought that the percentage of illegal immigrants would be higher.
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