Immigrants Through Acculturation

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Pages: 12
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Emotional Manipulation: Policymakers’ Influence on the Societal Role of Immigrants Through Acculturation.

Andrew Thornton-Sherman

Word count: 2357.

The issue of Latino-American immigration has grown significantly in recent years, primarily due to its political ties. On the surface, the relevance of global immigration policy may not seem to be of great concern. Immigrant families associate higher wages with better living conditions and, therefore, better opportunities for their children, prompting them to migrate to a country with a higher quality of life—is it any more complex? This seemingly trivial train of thought is misleading toward the bigger picture. Governments take advantage of vulnerable migrant workers by hiring …show more content…
This transition, however, has caused more harm than good, especially within communities that are so dependent on the contributions of lower/middle-class labor to control and regulate the means of production. The implementation of a system where these means are regulated by wealthy, privately owned companies in developing areas – areas with a predominantly low-income population – such devices only make the rich richer and the poor unable to sustain themselves entirely. Patrick Taran and Eduardo Geronimi (2003) have historically identified that “many developing countries face serious social and economic dislocation associated with persistent poverty, growing unemployment, loss of traditional trading patterns, and what has been termed a “growing crisis of economic security” (p. 2). Since this information wasn’t published very recently, it’s reasonable to assume that growing political radicalism has only amplified economic insecurity. These issues encourage people to immigrate to countries that advertise high employment rates and better opportunities for future generations, as seen in Latin American countries. Furthermore, xenophobia has thrived in the United States as these issues of trade are put in the overlap of a Venn diagram associating political policy with undocumented Latin-American immigration. Simply …show more content…
They face a situation with few opportunities for employment, implicit and explicit racism, a complete loss of identity in the presence of an unfamiliar, unwelcoming culture, and a perpetual fear of incarceration and deportation. This process of acculturation within a xenophobic community has undoubtedly had a detrimental impact on the mental health of Latin-American immigrants. The International Migration Review (2004) found that “health outcomes of Latino(a) immigrants worsen with time in the United States and across generations” (p. 4). These health outcomes primarily consist of anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), poor nutrition, substance abuse, and severe depression (Finch et al., p. 241). Cultural differences exacerbate mental health issues. Living in constant terror that your family could be tracked down and separated, never to be found again, in an unfamiliar country, is traumatic for those just trying to provide a better life for their loved ones. Acculturation has been proven to have a significant impact on immigrant children’s mental health. The Journal of Traumatic Stress (2020) concluded that “actions that “unnecessarily and traumatically” remove children from their parents can have detrimental effects on physical and mental health, particularly for those who
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