Almost everyone in our country is an immigrant, especially in Miami and many of the main cities like Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles. Immigrants will not be the minority for much longer. The fact that there are so many immigrants in the country does not change the debates on immigration. Immigration has always been a topic for discussion in the United States of America because this is the land of opportunity. People run away from their countries and everything they are familiar with to try and succeed in the United States. The current discussion on immigration is that Donald Trump wants to forbid Muslims from entering the country and there is always a divide between those in favor of immigration and new opportunity for everyone and
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Martín Espada’s poems “Cross Plains, Wisconsin” and “Federico’s Ghost” portray the risks that these illegal workers come across everyday and they constantly have to be on the look out to prevent any harm done to them or their families, they are constantly being threatened. In contrast, Pat Mora, in her poems “Legal Alien” and “Elena,” conveys the concept of changing cultures and being exposed to something completely different from what a person is already accustomed to. These writings express everything that an undocumented worker goes through, all the challenges and struggles to succeed and survive while constantly wondering if they are safe. Will they ever have a safe place to call home and a place that will allow them all the opportunities they are seeking without the dangers that string …show more content…
Leaving to start anew in a place where the language everyone speaks, the food people eat and the way people interact is new and different, truly a culture shock. In “Legal Alien” the speaker expresses the ability to constantly switch from one language to the other from “drafting memos in smooth English” to being able to “order in fluent Spanish at a Mexican restaurant,” although she does this with ease she stills feels as if she doesn’t belong anywhere (Mora 657). The speaker has been identified as “an American to Mexicans” and “a Mexican to Americans” (Mora 657). There is a loss of identity and no comfort in not being able to fit in anywhere, these illegal immigrants want somewhere to call home, but find it difficult when being discriminated against by the community. In Pat Mora’s second poem “Elena” a mother feels like an outcast around her own children. The difficulty was the language and “[her] Spanish was not enough” (Mora 658). When the transition of moving to another country came about, the children learned a new language and spoke that amongst themselves, mom felt left out thinking that if she doesn’t keep trying to learn English she “will be deaf when [her] children need [her] help” (Mora 658). There is the constant fear of
Martín Espada’s poems “Cross Plains, Wisconsin” and “Federico’s Ghost” portray the risks that these illegal workers come across everyday and they constantly have to be on the look out to prevent any harm done to them or their families, they are constantly being threatened. In contrast, Pat Mora, in her poems “Legal Alien” and “Elena,” conveys the concept of changing cultures and being exposed to something completely different from what a person is already accustomed to. These writings express everything that an undocumented worker goes through, all the challenges and struggles to succeed and survive while constantly wondering if they are safe. Will they ever have a safe place to call home and a place that will allow them all the opportunities they are seeking without the dangers that string …show more content…
Leaving to start anew in a place where the language everyone speaks, the food people eat and the way people interact is new and different, truly a culture shock. In “Legal Alien” the speaker expresses the ability to constantly switch from one language to the other from “drafting memos in smooth English” to being able to “order in fluent Spanish at a Mexican restaurant,” although she does this with ease she stills feels as if she doesn’t belong anywhere (Mora 657). The speaker has been identified as “an American to Mexicans” and “a Mexican to Americans” (Mora 657). There is a loss of identity and no comfort in not being able to fit in anywhere, these illegal immigrants want somewhere to call home, but find it difficult when being discriminated against by the community. In Pat Mora’s second poem “Elena” a mother feels like an outcast around her own children. The difficulty was the language and “[her] Spanish was not enough” (Mora 658). When the transition of moving to another country came about, the children learned a new language and spoke that amongst themselves, mom felt left out thinking that if she doesn’t keep trying to learn English she “will be deaf when [her] children need [her] help” (Mora 658). There is the constant fear of