Thus, the harsher legislations have created more business for illegal entities. Urrea says, “in the new organized crime, hierarchies of human smuggling the actual Coyotes are middle-management thugs. Asking questions about human smugglers, is dangerous. For example, individuals were unable to ask any questions about the catastrophe because it elicited three different warnings about being “shot in the head” (p. 60).…
Mirta Ojio’s book Hunting Season, Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town is based on a true story of an immigrant’s murder that turned a small American town on Long Island village of Patchogue into a war zone for immigration rights. In this critical reflection paper, I will discuss and analyze three key issues or themes that were represented in the Hunting Season and elaborate how these concepts connect with those of Governing Immigration through Crime by Dowling and Inda. The first concept is that of the Membership Theory, a theory which “limits individual rights and privileges to the members of a social contract between the government and the people” (Dowling & Inda,2013). The Membership theory often marks out boundaries of who is an accepted member of society and who isn’t, which was demonstrated in Hunting Season when Marcelo Lucero traveled from Ecuador to Long Island.…
In The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail by Jason De Leon and Michael Wells displays death and experiences of unpleasant factors of illegal immigrants that happens day-to-day in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. There are thousands of illegal immigrants that try to venture across the border from Mexico to the United States of America. This book illustrates several fields of anthropology, such as archaeology, forensic science, ethnography, and linguistics. De Leon uses these four significant fields to critique the “Prevention through Deterrence” which is the enforcement policy for the federal border that motivates migrants to pass in areas with severe natural and environmental conditions and carries a high death rate. He also draws on beliefs of cruelty and brutality to assert that there are significant impacts such as wildlife and desert terrain that is involved in immigration law enforcement, and how they die can reflect on their social location.…
I write in contribution to Mae M. Ngai’s topic on “Reforming Immigration for Good” and other clusters on immigration to deepen my argument. The idea of immigration brings up skeptical responses on what happens and needs to happen during migration in the United States. It has not only been an ongoing topic for many decades, but also heavily dismissed recently by the President elect Donald Trump. He highlighted many controversial topics about the Mexican-American border, Mexican natives, and other ethnic backgrounds. For this reason, I whole heartily agree with Ngai’s central claim of adopting a new immigration system, because the system is ineffective, but I further argue to advance immigration our society ought to willingly set aside differences.…
The emerging role of the local police involvement in illegal immigrant enforcement has potential political conflict in many ways. When politics are involved in local police matters it can be positive or negative. When used negative, “refers to attempts to impose external, partisan political influence on the operation of a department” (Swanson, 2016, p.134). When used positive, “the positive sense means governance of a city” (Swanson, 2016, p.134). As local police consider taking on involvement in the enforcement of immigration laws, they should consider the legal complexity of their role and legal constraints on methods of enforcement in a legal and institutional system that operates quite differently from local criminal justice systems.…
The criminal justice system often is examined using political, organizational, or sociological approaches [or lenses] (Pollock, 2010). Asking [simply] whether something is legal [or illegal]…is not necessarily the same question as asking whether something is right [or wrong] (Pollock, 2010). The term “ethics” or “ethical” refers to something “being in accordance with the accepted principles of right and wrong that govern the conduct of a profession.” In the case of police officers, use of discretion, or a lack thereof, in the application of force has direct ethical consequences to which the objectivity of the police officer on scene is subjugated by the subjectivity of a review board after the fact. Actors at every stage in the justice process…
The number of Latino immigrants deported have bloom up since the mid- 90s. In 1996, the U.S. law changed expanding the number of deportation offenses and eliminating the ability of judges to exercise any possible option to avoid majority cases. In combination with a congressionally imposed quota, which states that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the interior enforcement agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detains an average of 34,000 individuals daily. In his most recent book, Reform without Justice: Latino Migrant Politics and the Homeland Security States, Alfonso Gonzales opens with the story of a veteran, who he met at a protest against U.S. immigration policy in Mexico City in November 2010. Bernardo told…
The 1990’s in Southern California is a period recognized by the frequent talk of illegal immigration. It is a time marked by Proposition 187, the1994 Save Our State (SOS) initiative to make illegal aliens ineligible from using non-emergency health care, public education, and other public services in the State of California ( “California’s Proposition 187” ). Between 1990 and 1995, more than 1.1 million migrants came to the United States every year on average (Passel and Roberto). Illegal immigration was a hot topic during this time and, like many, T.C Boyle was unsure of his feelings toward the issue.…
A controversial topic in today’s modern American society is illegal immigration. Many Americans today feel that illegal immigration is a threat to the United States and that it should be stopped. However, this is not the best course of action to take. Many of these illegal immigrants are fleeing their home countries due to violence and the ones that are already here have already been incorporated into our society. Many of these fears that Americans have towards illegal immigration are unfounded and untrue.…
Battles over who deserves to be an American citizen has always been a prominent debate in American society; this is especially true now. With the rise of “Trumpism,” violent rhetoric has propelled an anti-immigrant demagogue to power. Trump, who has scapegoated immigrants; particularly of Muslim and Mexican descent has labeled them as terrorists and rapists, and has called for a wall along the US, Mexico boarder, as well as calls for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. His rhetoric which has resulted in growing anti-immigrant sentiment is likely to lead to sanctuary cities, which are jurisdiction “that limit their cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)” (Mazorati 1) losing federal funding, for not complying with…
The first characteristic is that they, “take place around a pressing social problem, one that so galvanizes public attention that it calls for a transformative kind of action, something that turns the status quo on its head” (48). This is clear when examining the Punishment Imperative concept, as the fear of crime became a major social problem. As crime rates increased, “as high as 8 percent a year or higher,” public distress arose, which demanded a reform (4). The second characteristic is that there is a “coalescence of political will and public enthusiasm for a ‘new approach’” (49). In response to the rise in crime, President Richard Nixon initiated the War on Crime.…
Amanda Frost introduces the ethical dilemma of immigration officials, in the present, through her text in the Iowa Law Review. She expresses that the process and policies of current immigration officers, “leaves unauthorized immigrants vulnerable to exploitation at both work and home--harming not just them, but also the legal immigrants and U.S. citizens with whom they live and work.” Frost unbiasedly brings out the pros and cons of detaining and deporting immigrants throughout her text. She presents that, “Trump's campaign rhetoric expressed hostility to all unauthorized immigrants” which displays the trait of fear where has appeared progressively through time. “If the Trump Administration's primary goal is to instill fear in the immigrant population and appeal to…
Despite of all the efforts that the US government has made in the last decades to protect the southern border, many illegal immigrants have achieved crossing the border and started living in the US. Immigrants that are caught crossing the border and by this way risking their lives, are forced to go back to South America and some of them are freed and obliged to go to court at some time. (Border 2)‘’ Fencing and…
On Border Security: America’s Approach to National Security and Economic Opportunity The current state of immigration policy in this country requires change. Many advocate for stronger and more enforced borders, but some call into question the effectiveness and economic soundness of this approach. Those, that oppose building up our borders, call for reforming worker visa programs and making legality easier to attain for those that will cross illegally into the United States anyways. Most desire a secure border which would allow a controlled flow of immigrants into the United States. This paper explores the numerous reasons for and against increased United States-Mexico border security as well as alternative policies available for implementation…
Introduction to Political Sociology Political sociology is a broad discipline and interrelated with several areas including sociology, political science, history and economics etc. It is basically the study of power and relationships between society, state, citizenships, political participation and their socio-political interactions. It has specifically focused on the questions about the nature of power, development of states, sources of political changes, idea of citizenship and notion of political participation. In this sense, the purpose of this paper is the analysis and explanation of certain aspects of the power, state, citizenship and political participation. Contemporary political sociology involves, but is not limited to, the study of these critical concepts and their interaction within the larger cultural context.…