Racial profiling

While reading my classmate’s blogs, I found one that caught my attention. The blog is by Shannon, and she talks about the new Arizona law SB1070. The reason why I choose to comment on this blog is because I’m also against this anti -immigrant law. What first caught my attention is when she says, “ My mom and oldest brother came here 34 years ago and have lived here legally since then. My mom has a very strong accent and would most have her citizenship taken in question.” I like this line because, like Shannon, my family has been here for almost 15 years, and they came legally, but many of them have strong accents, and if they went to Arizona, they probably would be detained because of their accents and skin color. Shannon in her blog also talks about how many areas of the United States rely on the businesses of tourists and foreign business and now that Arizona has implemented the SB1070 law, it could lead to great economy loss on their as a state. I think that if Arizona continues implementing anti- immigrant laws, this state could end up losing not just money but many of its hard- working immigrants.

Arizona SB1070 Law

While surfing the internet, I found an interesting article in The Chronicle of Higher Education that talks about the fear that the University Arizona has now that Arizona passed the SB1070 law. This law makes it a crime to be present in the state of Arizona without proper legal status. Under this law which will take into effect in approximately three months from now, police officers will be given the freedom to stop anyone who looks “illegal” and ask them for their documents. What makes the University of Arizona afraid is that campus police officers would have to do the same thing on campus, and it could turn into racial profiling. I think that Arizona has gone too far on with this law. I’m a legal immigrant, and I probably look illegal because of my ethnicity. Every morning when I wake up, I think that I’m in a free country, but the reality is that if I go to Arizona or attend the University of Arizona I would be stopped both outside and inside campus. Many people say that Arizona is doing this to protect its border and its people, but you should really start thinking and ask yourself who are the people that make Arizona. The majority of the population in Arizona consists of legal and illegal immigrants. I understand that they want to protect their border, but what I do not like is that the only people they're looking for are people who look Hispanic.

Yes, to a great education!

While reading my classmates’ blogs, I found one that caught my attention. The blog is by Shannon, and it talks about the better approach to teaching and learning in the United States. What first caught my attention is the way that she defines good teachers. She says, “A good teacher knows how to engage students, are knowledgeable in their subjects, and understand the best way for students to learn.” I concur with Shannon’s definition of a good teacher because I know that every semester when I’m choosing my classes I look for those traits in my future professors. Shannon in her blog talks about a program that is called the Excellence in Teaching. This program was made to improve schools throughout the U.S. This program evaluates teachers’ learning methods and how efficiently are these method. Shannon concludes that if the United States adopted excellent in teaching’s methods of evaluation, The United States would have more successful students. I really like this notion because it’s true that behind an excellent student there is a great professor.

Legally Driving Controversy

The United States is known as one of the country with high immigrant population. In recent years there has been many controversies on whether to give an illegal immigrant driving license. The English and Spanish language media has contributed to this controversy by supporting or opposing of illegal immigrants having driving licenses. There are many reasons on why the legalization creates conflict between the Spanish language media that generally supports it and the English language media that generally is against it. I believe that illegally immigrants should get a driving licenses for the following reasons: for better opportunities , safety and trusts between the immigrant and the authority.

Two months ago the Spanish media Univision aired a story about a young man who decided to come to the United States illegally. His mom had breast cancer, and her medicines were really expensive for his family to afford. They lived in small town in the west of El Salvador where the pay is low. He came to the United States with dreams of making money and sending some home, so his mom would not die. He found out that nothing was easy when you are an illegal immigrant. Almost immediately on entering the United States he was denied a drivers license, because he had no social security card or visa. Because Jorge was denied a drivers license, he had to take three busses to get to work. While he went through this, his mom’s illness was getting worse day by day and he didn’t had not options. This shows the viewers the difficulty that an illegal immigrant can have because they do not have a driving license.

Univision supports for illegal immigrants having a driving license because it could help immigrants like Jorge to have jobs far from home. They would also not be afraid to drive on the roads anymore, and they will be able to get to work instead of having to use the busses, also buy insurance under their own names, and have their car title under their own names. Another example is my friend Jose who is an illegal immigrant has to always ask for his uncle’s help with his car issues, for example, if they need to see the owner of the car, he will call his uncle to come and prove that he is the owner, and this is because he doesn’t have a driver’s license and cannot title his car under his name.

While The Spanish media supports the giving of licenses to illegal immigrants, Fox news is against it. Fox news makes the point that illegal immigrants shouldn’t have licenses. They point out that if The United States gave all those illegal immigrants licenses it would reward them for breaking the law and now they would have the same rights and privileges of a legal citizen. Fox news also says that if more illegal immigrants got driving licenses to drive to work it would create problems for the legal citizen. Illegal immigrants would work for the less money and therefore have access to more jobs than legal citizens.

In the mean time, Univision prove that if illegal immigrants had driving licenses it would help authorities to know who is driving on the roads, and also to decrease cars accidents committed by immigrants. Univision said that it will be a safer nation if we encourage every adult in America to have a driver’s license and to respect the enforcement. Univision also showed that drivers without licenses are five times more likely to be in worse crashes than drivers with a valid license. Others studies show those who are denied licenses often seek forged documents, and that leads to identity theft and others problems in our society.

Fox news commented that 76 percent of the population in The United States was against giving drivers licenses to immigrants. They also say that if illegal immigrants had licenses it would make it easy for them to illegally cross the border with Canada. Because they would use their driving licenses to cross over without needing of passports and come back without any supervision. In February 21,2008 Fox news reported in one of their night shows a story about a women named Alianiss Morales who killed four kids while driving. Fox news focused on the fact that she was an illegal immigrant and broke the news with big headlines saying “WOMAN DRIVING VAN THAT HIT SCHOOL BUS WAS ILLEGAL ALIEN”. They commented that illegal immigrants are not safe to have a driving license because of their lack of responsibility while driving. They would have to learn English in order to read the sign before they would be safe to drive.

Univision showed in one of their ranking news show “Primer Impacto” that if The United State change the law that would allow immigrants to get driving licenses would help decrease the tension between immigrants and police. They said many times immigrants are faced with the situation when get stopped by a police, and they try to run away or to give wrong information, because they know that police officers would be punish them for breaking the law. I have seen this fear happen among the illegal immigrants. Last year while driving to work, a lady was stopped by a police officer. She had three of her kids with her in the car. She attempted to escape by accelerating. The lady ran into two cars and died with her three kids. A week after, Univision announced in that the lady was an illegal immigrant without a driver’s license, and that the she was afraid to be stopped and probably get deported back to her country.

In conclusion, we can see that the Spanish language media encourage The United State to give driving licenses to illegal immigrants by making their news more human and also showing that people are suffering because they don’t have driving licenses. But on the other hand the English media are giving examples of why the legalization would be a reward for the people who cross The united States borders illegally and make the life of citizens much harder and unsafe. In my opinion The United State should make a law that can help the country because our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed some way. License restrictions are not the answer for the problem. Immigrants like Jorge Mendez, come to this country to supports their families back home. However, they will not survive in this country without a license.

Staring Into The Murky Waters Of Immigration in 1988

I read a well done commentary blog on the Crooks and Liars website about the issue of immigration. The author Gordonskene, makes excellent points about how the United States government has tried to hide the issue of immigration. One thing that the author says that I totally agree with is when he mentions how long immigration problems have been happening in this country. He says, “Ever since we actually became a country, we’ve been tackling the issue of what to do about the unannounced, the undocumented, the illegal.” I like this line because it is true that the United States has had immigration problems since it became a country and that it has not done much to solve the immigration issue. They are just potting the immigration issue aside like is not an important issue for the country, but in reality, immigration issues are hurting the country. Immigrants are suffering from the lack of rights in this country. There is a statement that Gordeonskene makes that has caught my attention and make me read this article. This is when he says, “[immigration] it’s not a recent problem. It’s has been with us longer than the issue of universal health care.” I agree with this statement. I know that health care reform has been a big issue in the past years for the United States. I also know that there are many people who are not insured in this country, but I also know that there are so many people who have come to this country for a better future for themselves and for their loved ones, and that these people are suffering every day , every minute of their lives because they are afraid that one day they will be sent back to their native countries.

Gordeonskene, the author of this commentary blog, makes really good arguments in favor of solving the immigration problem. The author’s target audience is people who are opposed to immigration. He makes readers become interested by giving some background on immigration. Gordeonskene’s credibility is really excellent because he has a picture of immigrants suffering as they try cross the Rio Grande river. This picture makes a strong statement even before the reader has begun reading the commentary blog.

Yes, to the Health care Reform!

I read a very interesting commentary article on The New York Times about the good side of the health care reform. Nicholas D. Kristof, the author of this commentary agrees on a new health care system. I agree with many of the Kristof statements about what would happen if the United States don’t get solved the health care issues. One thing that he points out is that “ sure hospitals are expensive and serve tasteless food,” but we need hospital to take care of sick people, and staying with the same existing system would in the future bring more cost the country and individuals pockets. Kristof says that with a poor health system in the future people would be lacking of health care access because of the high prices. Kristof also gives great statistics example of what would happen to the United States if there would be no reform, he says, “uninsured will increase, spending on public programs will balloon, and individuals and family out-of–pocket would increase as many as 35 %” with this statesmen ,it scares me to think what would be in the next years if there is no reform.
In my opinion Kristof gives great examples of why the United States should have a new health care system. This articles is right to the point and is very interesting because of the statistic and gravity of the words. Kristof is trying to get people from teens to adults who are opposed of the reform to read this article and understand the big problem behind the system that we currently have. His style is very interesting because he begins this article saying that “ if you found suspicious lump in your neck, you’d never put off dealing with it the excuse: ‘this is the loveliest neck in the world and don’t want to thinker with it”’ meaning that people will always need a physician to see what is wrong with them.

Americans unhappy with the govermnet

I read an article in the Washington Post about how most Americans are unhappy with the American government. In this article, they beginning by pointing out that two- thirds of Americans are unhappy or angry with the way the federal government is handling taxpayers’ money. This article also focuses on how much the public knows about the recent Tea Party movement. They conducted a poll asking how much people knew about this movement. What they found out is that Americans knew little to nothing about the Tea Party movement, and the 40 percent of Americans hold a negative view of this movement. The last thing this article talks about is how the Americans opposed with President Obama’s economic policies and health-care agenda. This article is great for everyone to read. I recommend everyone to take a time to read it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021004708.html