A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller

In A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller there are a couple of characters that immigrated to the United States illegally. They came to the country though for the same reason that many immigrants or illegal immigrants come to our country today. They wanted what's best for their family. Marco is more of Eddie's favorite instead of Rodolpho. Marco immigrated to the U.S. for the sole purpose of making money and sending it back to his wife and children who live in Italy. He has some challenges though like all illegal immigrants. Marco has to work hard for his money and he has to be careful in what he gets himself involved in. One false move and he can be back on a boat to Italy. Marco faces a lot of challenges that immigrants in America do everyday. Rodolpho is the other person that immigrated to the United States. Rodolpho also had a some what difficult time since he came to this country illegally. Like Marco, he has to work hard to make money and he has to be careful so he doesn't get sent back. Rodolpho though seems to fool around in America. He buys himself everything and sends little money back home to his family. It seems like he is having an easier time immigrating to America since he is fooling around more. He has a girlfriend and he acts really outgoing. If you didn't know he was an immigrated you would think of him as a regular American citizen.

Poem

Poetry: Immigration 

by John Myers

Push and Pull

Like many who came before
From distant corners of the globe
Pushed from home
Fleeing calamity
Hunger, Poverty, War

The United States
Land of Dreams
Pulling those seeking a better life
Offering hope and optimism
To the downtrodden, the desperate

They've come to this New World
For several hundred years now
In crashing waves from different places at different times
Only to face new struggles
In a new land

"They're taking our jobs."
"They're stealing our money."
"They don't want to speak English."
"Send them all back to where they came from."
They've all taken turns bearing the brunt

Eventually each group melds into the giant pot
Becoming a part of a new America
Time and time again
And the wave we have crashing over our shores now
Will, too

This poem talks directly about immigration and how it is viewed negatively and positively in the eyes of immigrants and Americans. The poem talks about why people want to immigrate to America. They want to leave their country that's full of poverty, hunger, and war. America is the land of opportunity. Thomas Jefferson wrote in The Declaration of Independence that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal". That right there is welcoming immigrants into our country, the fact that everybody should have equal opportunity in life. Our country wanted to be treated equally when Britain was in control of us. There are four lines that explain how America feels about immigration in the poem. They are "They're taking our jobs," "They're stealing our money," "They don't want to speak English," and "Send them all back to where they came from." These are racist tensions that American people have on immigrants coming over. From our history though we shouldn't be thinking like this. We were all immigrants at some point in time. The best line in the Poem has to be  "Eventually each group melds into the giant pot, Becoming a part of a new America" This line is saying that eventually we accept these people and they all blend in to American Society, the land of opportunity. Eventually we won't even notice that these people are foreign because they need time to learn their own American dream.

Political Cartoon

There are estimated to be over 30 million illegal immigrants in our country today. It is also estimated that 10,000 illegal immigrants are coming into our country everyday with a lack of border patrol. There have been numerous ideas over the years to solve this problem. Some people want to have a huge fence built on the Mexican, American border which would stretch over 1,969 miles. This would cost over 1 million dollars per mile which would make a grand total of at least 1,969,000,000. Other people want to grant citizenship or make it easier for illegal’s to become citizens in our country. The dream act was the closest we go to something like that but it was shot down. This cartoon might be the most unrealistic out of the ideas but I think it would solve most of the problems we are faced with on the Mexican border. Making Mexico the 51st state would stop illegal Mexicans from taking our jobs, we wouldn't have an issue of spending money on the border, and all the illegal immigrant would become legal citizens. The only negative would be taking over all the problems that the Mexican government has with the drug cartel.

Arizona SB 1070

     Illegal immigrants have been an on going problem in the United States. With more and more coming in every year there is no room for them. Now don't get me wrong I have nothing wrong with immigration if you do it the right way. My mom's side of the family emigrated from Argentina in the 1960's. However I am against illegal immigration whether it helps this country out or doesn't help. The Arizona SB 1070 which stands for Arizona Senate Bill 1070 was put into effect on July 29, 2010. As much as I dislike illegal immigration this bill might have took it too far.
     The Arizona SB 1070 makes it a state crime for aliens to be in Arizona without required documents. Some Aliens do have papers in the United States because it is a federal law for certain illegal's to register with the U.S. government. So why are so many people against this law? Critics say that it promotes racial profiling which has been a big issue in America over the years, including American citizens. The law prohibits racial profiling though. Arizona Cardinal, Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles said “the authorities’ ability to demand documents was like “Nazism.” (Archibold, 1) I think it is ridiculous to compare this law to Nazism. Especially when these people have no proof that they live here.
     The law can affect us in a lot of ways though. After it was passed "The move unleashed immediate protests and reignited the divisive battle over immigration reform nationally". (Archibold, 1) I agree with this. A lot of human beings can lose family members over this bill. As much as Americans hate to admit it, without illegal immigrants a lot of services and companies we take for granted couldn't run. For example in 2006 there was "A day without Immigrants" in America. Thousands of businesses, schools and restaurants closed down because there weren't enough workers to keep them open.
     Carlos Moreno is a 17 year old boy who was born in America. He said "I was born here,” but I’m doing it for my parents and for my family, and for all the Latinos, because I know what the struggle is". (Bogado, 1) Even if Moreno's family doesn't live in Arizona were affecting him by taking away his people. They're one big family. Even President Obama was against this law. "Mr. Obama’s criticism of the law — presidents very rarely weigh in on state legislation". (Archibold, 1) Obama's job is to worry about the country as a whole but this could turn into a nation wide problem.
     I don't want to compare this law to segregation, but how is it fair that one state has a certain law on immigration and others don't. California, New Mexico, and Texas have just enough illegals as Arizona does and they want to find a solution also. They know that this time though, the solution has gone too far. It doesn't look like the bill is going to be overturned anyways. "Those challenging the law say the Arizona measure violate the 1986 federal Immigration Reform and Control Act, whereby federal regulations supersede any “state or local law imposing civil or criminal sanctions (other than through licensing and similar laws).”(Jones, 1) If this isn't enough to overturn the law then I don't know what is.

     Works Cited

Jones, Ashby. "High Court Appears Poised to Uphold Arizona Immigration Law - Law Blog - WSJ." WSJ Blogs - WSJ. 8 Dec. 2010. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/12/08/high-court-appears-poised-to-uphold-arizona-immigration-law/.

Archibold, Randal C. "Arizona Enacts Stringent Law on Immigration." NY Times. 23 Apr. 2010. Web. 6 Jan. 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/us/politics/24immig.html.

Bogado, Aura. "Cali. Students Defy Lockdown, Walk Out for Immigrant Rights*." The NewStandard. 30 Mar. 2006. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3012.