Deportations

Pastor Max, a church leader in Iowa, was detained and deported by ICE agents. In my opinion, deportation should be on a case-by-case basis. Even though the Pastor had broken immigration laws, being that he is a community and faith leader, he should be exempt from deportation.

           

Another matter is the tactics ICE agents used to lure a parishioner, Reynold Garcia, out into the open and detained him. They used the cell phone of his cousin to send him a false message about an accident. That caused Garcia to appear at the church ICE agents were waiting for him. ICE agents need to be under watch on how they perform their duties.

http://americasvoice.org/blog/faith-leaders-pastor-maxs-family-slam-aggressive-ice-tactics-targeting-immigrants/

Supreme Court on immigration

The matter of President Obama’s immigration policy has reached the highest court in the country. With Supreme Justice Scalia gone, it has become a 50/50 split. Had he not died, the President’s immigration policy would have been overturned. Now his policy stands a chance to stay in effect if he can persuade one of the conservative justices to rule in his favor. With so many immigrants future hanging in the balance, this matter needs everyone’s attention as the outcome will affect every level of American society.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-immigration-idUSKCN0XF0B9

Survey of Americans towards immigration

This poll gives us a sense of the mood Americans feel about immigration at present day. Even though the economy is strong right now, not everyone is getting the effect of the upswing. Immigrants have always been blamed when Americans are experiencing economic woes. Terrorist attacks in US and Europe in the last 6 months involved immigrants. That produced further negative views on immigration for Americans.

What is interesting is the diversity of the people who are thinks immigration will jeopardize America. It ranges from in education background to age groups. Even millennials with negative views of immigration were polled at 55 %. Although this is just a poll, historically they had proven to be reliable in its results.  

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-07/americans-really-don-t-like-immigration-new-survey-finds

Expectations of immigrants

This commentary gave me a divided opinion. Granted it was written in 1907 when immigration laws were different from today and discrimination towards immigrants were still prevalent. However, Roosevelt did not anticipate back then how immigrants would change the landscape and fabric of present American culture.

If immigrants want to come to United States, they should place their allegiance to the country and the flag. Even though it still does not happen to this day, they are expected to assimilate to American society. However, Roosevelt did not anticipate back then how immigrants would change the landscape and fabric of present American culture. Most immigrants still speak their native languages in this country daily. To expect immigrants to only speak English in this country is just unrealistic.

Asian immigrants

The diversity of immigrants living in the western states of America is profound, especially in major cities. That is also the case in large cities on the east coast. Immigrants tend to settle in major metropolitan areas as present-day enclaves still exist.

Asians for the most part settle in California and Washington State. The availability of Asian supermarkets selling Asian by-products make the adjustment to live in this country easier for them. That is the reason why they did not move to the Midwest in large numbers because living in California amongst their own specific groups or race gives a feeling of not leaving their home country. It is likely that the current trend of large numbers of Asians migrating to US will continue for a significant period of time.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/asian-immigration-california-latino-immigration-video_n_2507026.html

Criminal immigrants

This is a case of immigrants deported because of criminal acts. In the case of these two deportees, they probably commit crimes multiple times over the years to cause them to be deported. From 1960s until present day, it will not be a one time violation of the law. As far as Immigration’s refusal to grant them entry into US even with a subpoena by lawmakers is the right decision. First, they definitely already serve time in prison for their crimes before being deported. So there are no warrants for them. Once they get back in US, they can disappear into society as illegals and commit crimes again. Two, once someone is deported, they are automatically barred from entering US for 10 years. Three, we do not need more criminals in this country.

http://kron4.com/ap/deportees-denied-re-entry-to-us-to-testify-before-lawmakers/

Illegal children

Every election year, politicians running for the Office of the President of United States discussed about comprehensive immigration reform. That reform never happened as soon as the elections were over. Either it was put aside over other priorities or members of Congress did not agree on what comprehensive immigration reform is supposed to be. All these years, immigration policies remained pretty much the same. I expect the same to happen after this year’s election is over.

Hillary Clinton said in a debate that she will not deport children entering the United States illegally. What she did not discuss was what to do with these children. They have to be clothed, fed and educated. Which government agency is supposed to be responsible for them? The government is just a temporary solution. Eventually these children will need homes to live in. An adoption program is a possibility but the adoption rate will not be 100%, so what happens to the rest of them? They will likely stay in foster homes until they turn 18.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/clinton-children-immigration-220541

Show of solidarity

Japanese-Americans came out with Arab-Americans calling for peace and tolerance in Japantown. With terrorists attacks around the world making the news in recent months, the incidents of racially-motivated attacks on Arabs living in United States have increased all over the country. If California have incidents of such attacks, imagine the number of incidents in Middle America. I used to live in the south and southeastern part of the country and I know people who live there are not as liberal as Californians.

This show of solidarity by Japanese-Americans in support of Muslims and Arab-Americans in this country shows that they have not forgotten the internment camps they had to face in World War 2. There are survivors from the camps who were present to voice their opposition to the prejudice that Arab-Americans endured. After all, the Japanese-American survivors experienced the same thing that Arab-Americans are going through right now.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/60518776-story

Rent problem for Chinatown immigrants

The price increase in San Francisco’s rental homes has finally reached Chinatown. It is sad because the majority of people who live in Chinatown do not have a high enough income to keep up with the cost of living in San Francisco. To this day, there are still many new immigrants who just got into this country. They rely on the community to start learning how things are here. That kind of familiar and support environment is what makes them decide to start their new lives there.

As hard as it is with the rental situation that they face, I know they will find a way to make it through because they will face further rent increases over the next few years. Either tighten the budget or work more hours, it is human nature to make things work as hard as things may seem. This has been proven through history by all the different immigrants from all over the world that have come to United States.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/89222443-story

Chinese coolies

Chinese coolies had played an important role in the development of California and other western states. They worked in gold mines, helped build the rail tracks of the Transcontinental Railroad and levees in California. They were paid lower wages and worked longer hours compared to workers from other countries.

What made them come halfway around the world to United States? Life was hard in China in the 19^th century. The country was still ruled by the Qing empire, which was corrupt and weak. Ordinary citizens were mostly poor and there were not many opportunities to advance in life. The possibility of finding work that pays more in another country compared to working in China was a big pull factor for the Chinese to volunteer to become coolies.

Chinese coolies did not just go to United States, they were all over Southeast Asia. There were coolies in China too. Coolies in China were known for working along rivers. Steamboats were not available for rivers so coolies would line up on both sides of the riverbanks and pulled on ropes attached to ships upriver against the current. There were pre-positioned points along the rivers where other groups of coolies would take over from the previous group and continued pulling until the ships reached their destinations.

Chinese coolies knew the kind of work they signed up for. That is probably why they were willing to work long hours of hard labor for less pay.

http://immigrationtounitedstates.org/449-coolies.html

Migrant workers

Migrant workers are an important part of our economy. Without them, prices of produce in our supermarkets would have doubled. If Americans are not willing to do it, we will be forced to import our produce from overseas and that added costs in transportation will also increase prices.

The majority of migrant workers come from Mexico and many of them already have skills in agriculture. They know the best way to harvest different fields and that brings efficiency. After all, who wants to be under the sun or rain any longer than they have to.

Almost all of them are attracted by the pull factor of making more money compared to what they used to make in their home country. Some worked to send money home to their families, some came to make money so they can go back and buy their own land for farming. Whatever the reasons are, they resemble the reasons Europeans migrated to North America during the colonial period. Everyone wanted a better life for their families.

http://articles.extension.org/pages/9960/migrant-farm-workers:-our-nations-invisible-population

Exploration comparison

This week, I would like to use space exploration in comparison to the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus. I was writing an assignment on space rockets for my Business class and this idea came to my mind.

We have been sending astronauts to space since the 1960s. The reason for that is to explore the unknowns in space, study it and see if there are resources out there to be obtained, maybe even colonize. Currently, the earth’s population is at 7 billion people and it is only going to keep increasing. We have explored the entire planet and that led me to think of the overpopulation in Europe during the colonial period where there is no more room to grow. At the time, people thought that the earth was square and if they sail far enough, they would fall off the edge of the world. Columbus proved it wrong with the discovery of the New World. His discovery was the same as when we learned of the planets in our solar system, from Mercury to Pluto.

We are still at the infancy of our space exploration just like Columbus just landed in the New World. We have managed to put humans on the moon and started sending robots to probe Mars because it has conditions that seem right for liquid water, or even life. It took about 200 years since Columbus’ discovery before the Colonial period began. Space is the final frontier for us just as the New World was the final frontier on Earth.

During every election year, immigration and immigration reforms have always been an issue raised by politicians running for office. Legal and illegal immigration issues will affect immigrants in United States, especially the Hispanic community. They are the largest immigrant group.

There is no doubt that the Hispanic migration to the United States contributed to the economic growth of this country. They provided labor to sectors of the economy, such as plantation workers or housekeeping in hotels, that majority of Americans are unwilling to do. Of course there are also Hispanic intellectuals at all levels of society living the American Dream. Hispanics also serve in government institutions from Federal, State to local levels. While there are other ethnic groups that have come to America, Hispanics are the dominant group that can make significant changes to shifting population dynamics of this country.

Hispanics play an important role in United States. Their votes matter to politicians, their income and taxes helps local economies and they bring their culture to the diversity of the American life.

  http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-state-immigration-america

SF's shifting demographic

I am not surprised to hear that San Francisco is trending towards a majority Caucasian population. Increasing cost of living in the city has driven a lot of lower paid people, who otherwise love the city, away from it. With highly paid employees of Silicon Valley companies encroaching into the city, it makes the already expensive housing market even more unaffordable to a lot of people.

Even with this shifting demographic in San Francisco, other ethnic groups such as Asians will still be a significant portion of the population there. However, many of these ethnic groups have already migrated south of the city. If you go to Daly City, you will find that Asians are the majority there. Go further south to San Mateo and you will find a majority of Hispanic population there.

I personally try to avoid going to San Francisco for the fact that parking is a constant issue there. It is overpopulated with no adequate parking. That would be my push factor from living there.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/nevius/article/Study-finds-S-F-s-ethnic-diversity-dwindling-6222673.php

I am not surprised to hear that San Francisco is trending towards a majority Caucasian population. Increasing cost of living in the city has driven a lot of lower paid people, who otherwise love the city, away from it. With highly paid employees of Silicon Valley companies encroaching into the city, it makes the already expensive housing market even more unaffordable to a lot of people.

Even with this shifting demographic in San Francisco, other ethnic groups such as Asians will still be a significant portion of the population there. However, many of these ethnic groups have already migrated south of the city. If you go to Daly City, you will find that Asians are the majority there. Go further south to San Mateo and you will find a majority of Hispanic population there.

I personally try to avoid going to San Francisco for the fact that parking is a constant issue there. It is overpopulated with no adequate parking. That would be my push factor from living there.