Othering: Immigration to the United States Essay

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Mariela Rodriguez
Alysha Hoffa
Acad. Literacy
10 November 2014
Othering Immigrants
Everyone has their own thoughts about a person or certain group. Just like when we meet new people we automatically think weather they are nice, mean or shy. There are negative and positive thoughts that come to mind. Even though some thoughts might be negative they are not thoughts that will make the person or group feel a different way. The most negative way we can look at a group or individuals is by othering them. By othering I mean, viewing the person or group as totally different people. It means to leave out certain individuals and not accepting them for whom they are. One group of individuals who have really been othered are migrants who come to America in search of a better life. Every day migrants make their way to The United
States with hopes that they can actually stay here and obtain that better life. Although immigrants come to America in seek of a better life, many of us tend to view migrants in a negative way.
This including name calling, prohibiting things they can and cannot do, and many other ways.
“Travel, migration, and movement invariably bring us against the limits of our inheritance. We may choose to withdraw from this impact and only select a confirmation of our initial review.” (Henk Van 130) In this quote by Henk Van, it is telling us how everyone as individuals choose to move away from the immigrants and we do not see them the same as us.
Many people migrate to The United States and once they arrive here we choose to ignore them and have our own mindset of the. We do not see that group of individuals as us, we see them as

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people different than us. In my opinion, this is not the correct thing to do because all they want to do is come to the United States in search for a better life. Migrants travel here to make a higher income than they do in their own country.
“Generally they consist of a compilation of economic, social, and political factors deemed to force individuals to leave their native region or country and of a similar list impelling them toward another.”(Alejandro Portes 3) Immigrants move to America to find better jobs with more income. Since they do not receive as much money in their country they come to America in search of higher paying jobs to maintain their families. Even though it sounds as if immigrants just pack their belongings and come here without difficulty it is actually the opposite. I say that because not all immigrants make it in The United States. Some immigrants will find that better life while others will not this is due to the fact that here in the United States immigrants are not allowed to enter without being at least a resident. Jesus Nebot says, “Yet, crossing the border outside of legal channels is a violation of the civil code, not a criminal act. Their intent is not to cause harm or to steal. The illegal frame inflates the severity of their offense.” Just as he says, some people see immigrants as criminals for crossing the border undocumented, but the truth is that they are not criminals. They just want a better life.
That is one way they are being “othered” by the United States. If immigrants come to
America just to work why do we other these individuals? These individuals do not come to
America to hurt us, they come to better their lives. Immigrants will take any job they can have.
One of the main jobs they go into is in the agriculture. Most people who work in the agriculture are Hispanic immigrants. This group of individuals work in agriculture producing and growing the fruits and vegetables we consume. Some americans have even thought that these individuals

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are taking their jobs away when in reality they are not, because if they do not work in the agriculture most likely no one else will. From that being said why do we view immigrants as bad people? This group does not come here to make a negative impact in our society they come here
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