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Melissa Avina
Anya Connelly
English 5
3 August 2016
An Immigration Reform
Growing up in a Hispanic, low-income, immigrant, and first generation discourse community
can be challenging. I know the struggle it is to belong into this specific discourse community.
Growing up with the typical Mexican parents, can be challenging because as a female I am not
allowed to go out after a certain time and I am not allowed to do certain things a boy can do.
Both of my parents are immigrants and hearing what people say about them makes me get angry,
but, also opens my eyes to see how ignorant people are and they only judge other people but not
themselves. I am the first generation from my parents to make it to a four year. My parents in
Mexico went to elementary school only because it is not required to go to school during their
childhood. I see from my discourse community that immigrants especially Hispanics are not
thieves, nor rapist, or anything the media may portray them to be. I agree with having an
immigration reform for all the immigrants in the U.S.A because they are the ones that make the
economy keep running and work in most of the low wage jobs.
Many people are against an immigration reform but why? All you hear on media is someone
agreeing with what Donald Trump has said about immigrants. Isnt this the place where we say
everybody is equal and ask for equality. Why do people say something but, then will agree and

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do something completely different. If there was an immigration reform the immigrants of this
country would feel safer and secure knowing that they do not have to go hide or be afraid when
they see a cop. The people that cross to the US have lost their lives or loved ones for reaching the
American Dream. They should get an opportunity for them to be treated equal and have all the
rights as the citizens or residents of the US. In the website Trump Pence, one of Donald
Trumps propositions in the topic of immigration reform he said, A nation without borders is not
a nation. There must be walls across the southern border. Why do you want to isolate the nation
and only from the south. Why not the north too, since we have Canada up north. How can
someone talk about equality when they are trying to separate/isolate a country from the rest of
the central and southern America? Instead of enforcing the border we should focus on treating
everybody equally.
There are many people that still judge a person by ethnicity. Racism is another issue my
community has to overcome. I sometimes hear in the media that the Hispanics are not hard
working and take over the American jobs. Most of the Hispanic people I see either work in the
fields, packaging companies, in gardening, and all the other minimum wage jobs. And people say
we take their jobs? No we do not take their jobs they are the ones that do not want those jobs
because it's hard work. Most of the fruits and vegetables come from California where there is a
big number of Hispanics living. Pew research states, Among Mexican unauthorized immigrants
ages 16 and older who were employed in 2012, 19% worked in construction and 13% worked in
a wide range of businesses like legal services, landscaping and car washes. In the statistics and
percentages mentioned it shows that most immigrants prefer to work in construction, which is
hard labor. Many Hispanic immigrants do not work in businesses because they are afraid of
being caught by the police and to be sent back to their native country. If there was an

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immigration reform it would benefit all the residents of California and would open more job
opportunities for them.
Being part of the first generation discourse community I know that many of the immigrant
parents when they bring their whole family is to help their children pursue a higher education. If
there was an immigration reform it would help all the children of the undocumented immigrants.
It will help them with getting more financial aid and being able to get into many amazing
programs inside a four year. I know that some programs will not accept the Dreamers even if
they are legally here. The Dream Act is a bill that was made by the President Barack Obama to
help all the illegal immigrants that are students and want to keep studying and to get financial aid
to go to college. It makes the people under this bill to be protected of not being deported and they
are able to look for jobs and not be discriminated. If it was not for the Dream Act most of the
young people would have to pay more to get a college level education, just for being an
immigrant. Many families leave their loved ones behind in their hometown to start and help their
kids get a good education to get better paying job. There was this case that came on TV about an
undocumented lawyer that was not accepted into a law firm because he was an immigrant. He
had graduated with a high grade point average but was discouraged for being undocumented.
This is one example of how immigrants are sometimes discourages and not treated the same. It
affects my issue because this lawyer wanted and got a higher education, but for not being legal
here he could not work in the profession he wanted. There needs to be an immigration reform, so
other cases like this one do not have to be an issue.
There are many factors that play into why there should be an immigration reform. I believe
there should be one especially since I know the struggle it is for my discourse community to be

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accepted and the things that we have to overcome. In this country we are surrounded by
immigrants. There are immigrants from all over the world that are or have been in my shoes to
see how U.S. citizens or residents discriminate people based on where they are from. Just
because someone is Hispanic does not make them Mexican or because they look Mexican you do
not assume they are here illegally. I will help and fight for my discourse community because
those are the traditions I was raised with.

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Works Cited
Gonzalez-Barrera, Ana and Krogstad, Jens Manuel. What we know about illegal immigration
from Mexico. Pew Research Center. PewResearch. Nov. 20, 2015. Web. Jul. 20, 2016.
Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again. Trump Pence. Donald Trump.
Web. n.d. Jul. 20, 2016.