Reflection #5

Government Encouragement

http://www.foxnews.com/topics/immigration/illegal-immigration.htm

According to this FOX news clip, 62% of the US thinks the government encourages illegal immigration. The people speaking in the clip think that illegal immigration needs to completely stop, and that this can happen by "building a fence", even though it's "un-American". They say in this clip that we need to worry more about our own country rather than worrying about the Latin-American countries. 

I think that the man making his point was being very close-minded about his views. He thinks we need to worry about our own country rather the Latin-American countries south of us. Yet they are directly effecting us, hence the illegal immigration, and so we do need to worry about and spend time with those countries. And the man speaking also talked about people coming to America just to cause violence and get involved with drugs and whatnot. Sure, that happens, but there is also a huge population, such as Reyna's family from The Distance Between Us, that is simply coming to America for a better job, education, and other opportunity. Also, if he is so concerned with our own country and not worrying about other countries, then he would see that the US has our own violence and drug problems. I thought this guy was a little crazy for being so set on his ideas that he can't see it any other way.

This made me a little upset after reading Reyna's perspective of the whole situation and what her family went through to make better lives for themselves. I'm not saying that the man who was speaking in the clip was completely wrong in every single thing he said, but he just seemed to be on one extreme side of stopping illegal immigrants.

Reflection #4

Healthcare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w7SEXOxQ34

This commercial with undocumented immigrants in the US talk about "Obamacare" and how they believe that they should be covered. I think they have a valid point asking does Obamacare cover everyone, or "everyone"? I understand that they are not US citizens, so healthcare cannot be provided to them, but I think changing that may be beneficial. I don't know all of the details and aspects of this problem, but as they mentioned, everyone gets sick, so they should be covered.

In The Distance Between Us, Reyna's family had to sneakily go to the doctor's or dentist's with their stepmom, who was a US citizen. They were lucky that they had someone that could legally take them places for healthcare, but their dad was not so lucky and could never take his own children to doctor appointments.

Maybe immigrants shouldn't be allowed to Obamacare, I'm not sure. But they need to have some sort of a healthcare deal provided to them so that they can stay healthy and help the country while hopefully having a better life.

Reflection #3

Education

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/07/unaccompanied_children_immigra.html

In this article from The Patriot News, it discusses the thousands of children that are going to be moved to Pennsylvania by the authorities to await immigration hearings. With Obama installing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals helping some immigrant children, the restrictions for this bill don't apply to the recent immigrant youths. It is also thought that the immigration court system is so backed up that these issues will take a very long time to be attended to. The communities are worried about the children "burdening" the school system. The article also talks about the children being abused or traumatized and how we cannot really understand what they're going through- they don't have anyone else to turn to, so America is their only hope.

This article reminded me of The Distance Between Us because when Reyna went to school in the US, she was treated differently for not being able to speak English and not being from the US. The fact that in the article people were saying they don't want the kids in their school system because they will a burden almost sickens me... Shouldn't we be trying to help educate children and help them rather than thinking about our own conveniences? Also, Reyna and her family had kind of scary situations and things they no longer to be a part of- they wanted a better life for themselves, and so they came to America. That's why immigrants come over, and shouldn't we try to help them? Or at least try to help their own home countries. I just feel as though some people are too arrogant to think that way.

Reflection #2

Living In the Shadows

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/nyregion/de-blasio-offers-initiatives-for-immigration-reform.html?_r=0

In this article publish by The New York Times, New York City's mayor De Blasio suggests to pass a bill that allows immigrants to obtain drivers licenses as long as they have a high school, or equivalent, education. If this bill is passed, he would also like to make it available for immigrants to have proof of residency to use things such as public libraries. Although governor Eliot Spitzer tried to pass a similar bill in 2007, De Blasio seems to have more determination on this and chances seem greater for him.

De Blasio said, "Our city can't be whole while hundreds of thousands of people are living in the shadows. We need compassion and common sense." I feel that Rena and her family in The Distance Between Us felt as though they were living in the shadows. They had to be careful about not talking about crossing the border. And then they had to be creative as to going to the doctor's and dentist's so that they would not get deported. Although this changed for the better when they got their green cards and became citizens of the US, for a while they really couldn't go and do much. I think this is a problem that De Blasio has correctly addressed.

While New York city's population is composed o 37% immigrants, I believe this is such a smart idea. It won't only help the immigrants feel less "in the shadows", but it could also help the economy. The downside to this bill proposal is that it could attract even more immigrants. A few states have already adopted this bill and it seems to be working well for them. Before this article and reading The Distance Between Us, I did not realize how severely immigrants were living in the shadows.

Reflection #1

Border Crosings

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-mexico-border-sees-decline-in-unaccompanied-child-immigrants/

This article from CBS news talks about the decrease in illegal Mexican immigrants coming into the US. This is thought to be due to the hot, strenuous weather conditions on the border, and officials on the border say when the temperature cools down, more children from South American countries will start coming into the US again. The article also talks about President Obama's possible plans for the situation now that there is a decrease in immigrants coming to the US and there's not as much attention on it all. The article goes on to talk about the temporary shelters for the immigrants, and a woman's story of why she came to the US and the difficulties they've found here.

The story reminded me of The Distance Between Us when they were crossing the border, even in the night the conditions were rough and it was scary. I can understand why there's a decrease in illegal immigrants right now coming from the border. Also, even though Reyna and her family did not stay in a shelter, they were in a sketchy neighborhood that brought problems to them that they weren't expecting.

Reading about ideas of what Obama will do and has already done with the immigration situation the US has, I'm not sure what the best solution is. The immigration topic has so many different aspects, that there can't really be a plan that solves 100% of the problems. And even if there is a really good plan, the country is torn where it stands on this situation, so the people of America would be upset at any decision. I'm not sure what I think the best ideas for immigration laws are, but I know there needs to be a change. In the article, a women's story is mentioned about her coming to the US, and there's obviously huge problems in both Mexico and the US. Even though illegal immigrants come to America because of their poor conditions in their home country, they face major, and possibly more serious problems than before.