ABP and the NCLR

American Border Patrol

http://www.americanborderpatrol.com

This first website takes an anti-illegal immigration stance when it comes to the issue of migrants coming over the Southern border. The APB (American Border Patrol) claim to be the only ‘non-governmental organization (NGO) that monitors the border on a regular basis’ and they do this mostly by air with the use of both drones and aircraft. The group has only been active for 7 years and according to posts on its Facebook page, members lobby the government and are involved with trying to persuade congressmen to see their side of the story.

The group never says it is anti-Latino immigration explicitly but is only in operation on the southern border where you would expect mainly Latino’s to be entering the country from. The group is obviously right wing and some may see them as odd but they are actually quite well run and seem to have some money as they are able to regularly fly over areas where they believe immigrants will be coming into the country from and inform the authorities.

The National Council of La Raza

http://www.nclr.org

This second website, belonging to the non-profit group ‘The National Council of La Raza’ is pro Latino immigration and integration into American society. They are the ‘largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S.’ and have been active since 1968. The organisation was born out of the ‘National Organization for Mexican American Services’, which was a group designed to bring Mexican americans together under an ‘organizational structure’. When working on this the founders decided that they could do more if they sought to help out the wider Mexican community and so the NCLR was created.

The NCLR wants the united states government to take a more progressive view on immigration, including easier paths for illegal immigrants living in the country to become citizens, and reduced deportations of illegal immigrants found in the US.

The organisation is nationwide and has offices in several cities, including Washington D.C. The group gets 85% of its funding from individual donations, sponsors and companies, with the other 15% coming from the government, which seems odd as the current administration is very anti-illegal immigration.

This website addresses issues in a very different way to the first, with more emphasis on them being a reputable non-profit organisation. Whilst seemingly better run, there has still been controversy surrounding them however as some people say that they promote the separatist idea.

The Great Immigration Debate

Pro-Latino Immigration

https://openborders.info/us-specific-pro-immigration-arguments/

This is website, which as the name suggests, is an organization seeking to share information on open border policies, which the general slant being very liberal, and pro immigration of almost any kind. The link provided takes us to a list of US specific headings with links to various arguments to open up the US borders. The headings are listed as pragmatic benefits, philosophical arguments, and tradition with various subheadings to go alongside this. Often, the more conservative argument against those who are pro-immigration is that it their arguments are not pragmatic; rather they are simply morally postured and would have an adverse effect on the economy. Here, the points for pragmatism form the liberal point of view are benefit to economy, exaggerations about reductions in wages, exaggeration of criminality, links between immigration and terrorism are incorrect and that immigrants come to work, not claim. One of the links seems to suggest that more developed countries benefit more from immigration as these immigrants will provide labor and entrepreneurship. There is much fault with this as it does not address the cultural differences between various countries, is not specific to the country taking the immigration of where it is coming from. This leaves the argument feeling somewhat hollow despite it being labeled as US specific. It also does not take into account the literacy rate, levels of education, nor does it provide any statistic about Latin immigration having strong potential for entrepreneurship. Sadly, this article attempts to take a pragmatic standpoint on immigration but fails miserably to provide any context, statistics or any well backed up argument.

Anti-Latino Immigration

http://www.cfr.org/immigration/us-immigration-debate/p11149

This article from CFR.org attempts a much more level headed discussion around Mexican immigration, seeking to point out key statistics relevant specifically to the US and Mexico. It does so by providing statistics on population, law, American general consensus from trusted sources, Congressional legislation, Executive orders (Presidential orders), state and local stances, as well as prospect for the future. This article sets itself out to be un-biased, however, the outcome would certainly suggest that the United States has no other option other than to implement controls on immigration, and certainly on illegal aliens. In order to have a sensible debate on the issue, facts and figures are completely essential. Those arguments of moral posture should always be brought to the debate but never considered over statistics and reality. This has distorted the debate massively with the politically correct aiming to brand anyone who seeks control on immigration as a ‘racist’ or a ‘xenophobe’. This article excellently executes thought provoking for liberals and conservatives alike without bridging the gap into being overly biased, much like the first article.

Pro and Anti Latino/a Immigration

Latinos Progresando

This organisation was founded in 1998 by Luis Gutierrez who was 24 at the time. He was the son of Mexican immigrants and was born and raised in the largest Mexican community in the Midwest, in Chicago.

It has built the largest family based immigration legal services program in Illinois, led by Latinos. As a part of this program, LP has an initiative focused specifically on immigrants that are also victims of domestic violence. This includes free, full-service legal support and educational presentations.

LP also runs the Teatro Americano Ensemble, a theatre ensemble and arts education program which writes and performs the stories of the Latino community of Chicago, while using theatre as a tool to preserve history and culture, and to promote social justice. By telling the stories of these people who have suffered, they provide faces and emotions for the people of America to grab on to and empathise with, creating more of a chance of an increase in support.

LP's values come in the form of three principles;

1 - "An injustice to any community is an injustice to our community. Social justice comes from collaborating around diverse causes, even those that don't directly affect us."

They do not have a narrow-minded view that it is all about them as Latinos, they recognise that it is not just them who suffer, and this will garner the support from those wider communities who also suffer.

2 - "Every decision we make must be based on what is best for our communities, not just on what is best for our organization or any one individual."

Again, this supports the idea that it is not about them, but about every one. They believe in what they are promoting and this encourages others to believe in it too. They are gaining more public support by being self-less in their approach and detaching the organisation from the benefits.

3 - "We do everything the best we can, because helping our communities achieve excellence means using and attentively refining our best practices."

Here we can see that they are considering their approach and methods in order to get the result that they want, rather than just forcing their opinion on others. Consideration will attract more supporters in the long run, furthering their cause.

Americans for Immigration Control, Inc.

This organisation defines itself as "an American non-partisan grassroots activist organization with more than a quarter of a million members - citizens of all races, creeds, and colors." By placing emphasis on the number of supporters, it suggests that this is what they believe will gain them even more support.

It was founded in 1983 and is about stopping the "millions of illegal aliens who across our border from Mexico every year." If we compare this language with the overall sentiment of the Latino Progresando organisation, we can see that AIC focuses on dehumanising the people who come across in the belief that they will have a better life. By dehumanising them, they will encourage people to view them as inferior and not worthy of empathising with.

AIC focus on the laws and legislation behind immigration, and also lists congressional endorsements in order to get people to support their cause.

“AIC has earned a reputation among members of Congress as one of the most active and responsive advocacy groups in the field of immigration reform. AIC is as feared by the pro-illegal immigration lobby as it is valued as a resource by those who seek to support and defend our nation’s borders.” — Rep. Charlie Norwood 

The website provides a detailed, if slightly dramatised, version of the history of immigration to America and emphasises the opinions of the founding fathers, men who hold a great deal of influence over the citizens of the US. 

AIC focuses on persuasion by facts, legislation and dehumanising language to gain support and tackle the issue of illegal immigration, whereas LP emphasises the stories behind the people, and the idea of family. They persuade people to join their cause by educating them, instead twisting the history of America to suit their cause, as the AIC does. 

America's attitudes towards Latino immigration.

The ideology of America is based on a society of immigrants from various countries who mould themselves and integrate their beliefs and cultures into one another. While doing so, this has led to the emergence of the ‘melting pot’ based on the causes of immigration of America. This has been particularly summarised in the famous poem ‘The New Colossus’ with the well-known lines ‘Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’ The impact of immigration has proved prosperous for America as a country, however, in recent events the immigrations of Latinos specifically has caused controversy within the media and a rise in pro and anti-immigration groups within America, this has led to a growth of controversial views, and has escalated since the election of Donald Trump with his promise of “We’re going to build a wall and Mexico are going to pay for it.”

Latino immigrants are significant in immigration within US borders. For many of these immigrants they have passed the borders illegally and therefore has negatively impacted themselves and their community. With 11.7 million of these Latinos being Mexican and residing in the US, their presence within America’s society has significantly heightened which has led to concerns and tensions within communities between ethnicities. Is this contributing to the ‘American Dream’ or is this mass movement of immigration contributing to this idea of the “Americano Dream”?

Pew Research Center reports on the social view within American society on Latino immigration, with 12% of Americans associating immigrants with ‘illegal’ among other words as well as ‘over-population’ and ‘deportation’. The government’s view of immigration is a difficult topic to analyse as 55% of the Democratic Party believe that Latino immigrants make America’s society better in comparison to the Republicans where over half (53%) believe that Latino immigrants are negatively impacting society. So how does this portray the real views of America and the increase of immigration of Latinas?

The information provided by the Center for American Progress suggests that many people believe that these immigrants are positively impacting society and the economy by contributing $10.6 billion in state and local taxes in 2010, whereas others believe that the Latino immigrants are ‘taking their jobs, healthcare and homes’ and prefer European and Asian immigrants in comparison.

The statistical data suggests that overall American people believe that immigrants have impacted society positively through the expansion of food, music and the arts but that they have also impacted the economy and crime levels significantly, suggesting that the attitudes conveyed by America are often overshadowed by the negative impact on crime rates.

Although these websites do not provide a strong view on pro or anti-Latino immigration to the US, it does provide a useful insight as to how America’s view Latino immigration and prefer other ethnicities emigrating to America compared to others. Both websites compare the information of data on pro and anti-immigration and provide a neutral attitude towards immigration issues while addressing the positive and negative impacts of immigration on society. Pew Research Center provides the views of America socially whereas the Center for American Progress provides a view of the impact that Latinas have on America economically. It can be said that the aggression towards Latinos are a result of mass-media coverage,  the policies and promises outlined by Trump on society and how the news emphasises how many Latino’s are in America illegally and/or unwilling to assimilate and ‘melt’ themselves to American society.

Sources:
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2014/10/23/59040/the-facts-on-immigration-today-3/

http://clas.berkeley.edu/research/immigration-latino-migration-and-us-foreign-policy

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/28/chapter-4-u-s-public-has-mixed-views-of-immigrants-and-immigration/

"The Hispanic Challenge". 2017. Foreign Policy. http://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/28/the-hispanic-challenge/, (accessed 2nd April 2017).