Immigration, Immigration And Immigration In The United States

Immigration seems to be a topic today that can definitely create a rise in debate, whether a person is for immigration or against it. The United States sees thousands of immigrants making their way north into a country they feel will give them a better life. When I first applied to the University of Oregon, my major was Political Science. Furthermore, I knew when I graduated; I wanted to apply to Law School. During my first term, I took a class called Immigration and Farmworkers. As I learned more about the migrants that worked on the farmlands to provide the food that we eat and saw how they were treated, that changed everything for me. I immediately applied to the International Studies program with a focus on Law and Human Rights, but …show more content…
Most migrants leave due to high crime, drugs, unemployment and poverty. With unemployment and poverty being one of the biggest problems, a huge contributor is the result of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which created unemployment for many. This was an agreement that was put into place between Canada, Mexico and the United States in 1994. It was intended to reduce trading costs, increase business investments and help with North America to be more competitive in the global market and to build upon economic success by working towards a regional economic cooperation between the three countries (Cravey 2012). Corn is the major commodity that is produced in Mexico and most of the rural population grew corn. However, when NAFTA negotiations took place, Mexico agreed to eliminate protection against imports of agricultural products. The US started exporting corn to Mexico, which eventually put the local farmers out of business. This placed billions of dollars worth of American agricultural products in the Mexican market and placing millions of peasant farmers out of business. In addition, it did not just place farmers out of work, but it also affected people outside of the agricultural industry (Weintraub p …show more content…
Organized crime and illicit drugs threaten economic development for any country, especially for the weaker and vulnerable countries. This degrades their quality of life and can force citizens with skills to leave their homes in fear of direct impacts of victimization. This can impede those that remain and over time can also obstruct the possibility of employment and education opportunities (United Nations 2012). Crime is expensive for those in poor countries and has disadvantages that they may struggle with to cope with the traumatization of