Immigration and the Injustices

My first semester freshmen year, I took many classes that were not part of my major. I took American History to fulfill my CCC requirements. While in my class, we were assigned a big debate paper. The paper was centralized around the topic of immigration and whether we argued against it or agreed with it. Being a typical freshmen student, I took the side where I thought more research could back me up, that would overall make my paper simpler. The side I choose was that immigrants should have more restrictions because they are taking our jobs. I even discussed more in depth in my paper how there should be more rules and regulations for immigrants to pass in order to be a citizen. Not really taking this assignment seriously or personally, I handed it in without remorse. I never looked back on that paper until I had read for my Women’s Studies course.

                After our reading for today, Mapping the Margins by Kimberle Crenshaw, I wish I looked more into my research. In the article Crenshaw discusses how “Under the marriage fraud provisions of the act (the Immigration and Nationality Act), a person who immigrated to the United States to marry a United States citizen or permanent resident had to remain “properly” married for two years before even applying for permanent resident status” (page 201). Many things are wrong with this statement. This statement is supposed to protect immigrant women but it actually restricts them more than anything. Many immigrant women felt the need to stay with their abusive partners for fear of being deported and because their partner is their economic stability. As I read further into the article I saw noticed a story where an immigrant woman left her abusive home with her son and seek for help and shelter. When calling a hotline (PODER) the operator tried to find a safe place for this woman to be. Little did the immigrant women or the operator know, many shelters refused to take in foreign women because of their lack of the English language. Women should never be denied because of their differences such as race or color or ethnicity. Women should also always be protected and taking in women from abusive household should never be second guessed.

                Although I wrote my immigration paper before I had ever taken a Women’s Studies course, I wish I did further research to hopefully find more information such as these injustices. These injustices would have inspired my paper to be a true argument/debate paper instead of me just taking the easy way out.