The Problems Faced by The Immigrants in The United States

One of the biggest issues we see today in our community is about immigrants' rights and the number of deportations that have occurred these past years. Why is it that immigrants are always looked down as and aren´t given the same rights as citizens? “They are here to take away jobs from Americans” (anonymous). Immigrants are being abused and discriminated against because of their race and color. Others don't realize that because of immigrants (Mexicans), they have food on their table. Immigrants should be given the same rights as a legal citizen and shouldn’t be discriminated against. At the end of the day, they are the ones that are helping the country in an economic way. So this essay is focused on the problems faced by immigrants in the US: inequality, discrimination, abuse, and deportation.

Immigrants aren’t given the same opportunities as a legal citizen. They are greatly discriminated against by Americans due to their immigration status. Because of their status, they don’t have the opportunity to work anywhere they want due to their race and color. Many don’t offer them job positions because they think that they would steal their products or they won´t work to their expectations. On the contrary, they are the ones that are out in the fields working in this 100-degree weather picking the fruit that we eat on a daily. According to brookings.edu, “the impact of immigrant labor on the wages of native-born workers is low. However, undocumented workers often work the unpleasant, back-breaking jobs that native-born workers are not willing to do.” Think for just a bit, if you didn’t have the job you have right now and the only place you would be able to work at was the fields, would you work in the fields? That has always been one of the questions that many immigrants have. They know that not anyone would be up to work in extreme weather such as they do on a daily basis.

Other than being greatly discriminated by others, immigrant women are being abused sexually. In some workplaces, immigrant women are sexually harassed by co-workers. Many do this because they know that those women are afraid to speak up. “They're an easy target” as some will say, but it’s very unfair. Those sexually abused women stay quiet because they fear being deported or being fired and not having enough money to survive. According to EEOC.gov, “Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations, as well as to the federal government.” As you can see, there is a law that protects these women, but they are told otherwise. Instead of being told about their rights, they are threatened. Employers should have a policy regarding sexual harassment. These women should not feel alone and should be advised as to what they can do to solve their problem and be given a helpline for sexual harassment such as the women and film helpline. They should feel safe at work, not with the fear of being sexually harassed.

Lastly, deporting immigrants because they aren’t legal is unjust. This is a free country where everyone should be given the same rights, but that isn’t applied to the illegal. In these past years, what you will mostly hear about on the news is about immigration and how families are separated because of ICE. Before Trump became president, ICE would only focus on capturing illegal wanted criminals because that was their duty, to make the community safe. But recently, that hasn’t been their only job. In the article by cbsnews.com, it states the following “The Trump administration is moving to significantly expand the number of undocumented immigrants who can be deported swiftly without a hearing in immigration court”. Due to the news, immigrants do not go out for fear of being persecuted by ICE. There have been cases in which ICE will arrive at the fields or companies searching for illegal employers and arrest them to take them to detention centers and eventually, deport them. Children of those immigrants who are deported suffer psychologically and socially. They will not have the same motivations because they are not with their parents. After being separated from their parents, they are advised to stay with family members and if not child protection services will take them to a group home. But these children will not be the same. The population should realize the suffering of these families and how there should be some way to stop these improper deportations.