Labor and Legality Essay

Furthermore, in most cases, it may seem the United States has a system in which immigrants are not given the chance to form a bright future. In the novel, “Antonio soon found himself settling for jobs that were clearly beneath him. He stood under the baking sun at the on-ramp to the Santa Monica Freeway, selling oranges for two dollars a bag: a dollar fifty for the guy from the produce market, fifty cents for him,” (Tobar, 53). Many of the immigrants that live in the U.S. have little power that allows them to succeed. Some races have benefitted from it more than others. The Cubans, for instance, have had it much easier than most immigrants who have migrated to the United States; whereas, Antonio, a Guatemalan, had trouble finding a stable job that allowed him to sustain himself. In contrast to many other races, many Americans described Cubans as being visitors who represent, “all phases of life and professions, having an excellent level of education… More than half of their families with them, including children brought from Cuba to escape communist indoctrination in the schools,”

Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz’s, Labor and Legality is a book written on the Mexican immigrant network in the U.S. She centers it on the Lions, a group of Mexican men from Leon, Mexico that all share their lives and help explain the many networks and strategies that are used in order to excel and gain happiness. There have been many different sorts of misconceptions about immigrants, and in recent years about undocumented immigrants from Mexico. The U.S. has made a sort of war on illegal immigrants and has made it a seemingly high priority in the media and in politics. Therefore, many Americans have been mislead and ill-informed about the history of immigrants/undocumented immigrants. Gomberg-Muñoz’s Labor and Legality helps set us straight. She unveils undocumented immigrants for the people that they are instead of the criminals that the media leads many to believe. Although she doesn’t have a wide range of participants for her study, I believe that she addresses many of the misconceptions and just plain ignorance that American people have of people that are undocumented; why stereotypes are supported by the people themselves, why politicians include stronger illegal immigration laws, and everything in between. Many of her topics reveal a sort of colonialism that the U.S. practices on Mexico; the exploitation of undocumented peoples to the benefit of the U.S. through economics, hypocritical laws and campaigns, and the racist and prejudice consequences.

In Hector Tobar’s book The Barbarian Nurseries, the labeling that occurs is that of undocumented immigrant as criminal. The book, while fiction, illustrates how the concept of the “good immigrant” and the “bad immigrant” come into play in societal structures. Because of white privilege and

Throughout the various books that we have read, one of the many concepts that stood out for me was the well-being and healthcare of undocumented workers. Due to the current criminalization of immigration, most undocumented workers live in a constant state of fear and anxiety. This really made me think about the psychological and somatic outcomes of fear, stigma, trauma, and prejudice for undocumented workers. This brought into question the structural and symbolic violence that causes undocumented workers to suffer from mental and physical illnesses and how the treatment, if any, is administered.

Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network, by Ruth Gomberg-Munoz, is a book that explains the difficulty of Mexican immigrant lifestyles, which has gained the attention across the country especially since Donald Trumps’ recent statements against these people, as illegal civilians come from Mexico to work in America. Gomberg-Munoz tries to give us an understanding of the life of these people. Gomberg-Munoz’s thesis is that immigrant workers work endlessly to improve their life by finding employment here in America. Gomberg-Munoz claims that due to these people being “undocumented” or “illegal” it created many struggles in their daily lives, which limits opportunities to achieve the “American Dream” that we previously discussed. During this review I will look through a number chapters, discussing some of Gomberg-Munoz’s points and getting further into them.

With the fast-paced globalization together with the heightening political economic issues of the world, it has brought forth the illegal immigrants to cross the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona, or as the anthropologist, Jason De León describes it, The Land of the Open Graves. However, there is more to unauthorized immigration than what meets the eye. Scratching the surface of the case of undocumented migrants reveals that it rooted from the intensifying global inequality and crisis of the world. Accordingly, the author’s decision to vividly depict the brutality beyond words the undocumented migrants had suffered while crossing the borders allows the readers to see the bigger picture behind illegal immigration, preventing further unnecessary deaths of the innocents.

Jose’s father had always mainly worked construction jobs with other undocumented immigrants and Jose joined his father’s line of work because there were not many jobs available to him and he felt obligated to contribute to the family, “A second feature of the Hispanic American family is the emphasis on cooperativeness and on placing the needs of the family ahead of individual concerns” (Manning & Baruth, 2009, p.170). Jose dreamed of going to college and pursuing art or graphic design but even these simple goals were out of reach for him because of his undocumented status.

Immigrants around the world have come to this nation searching for a better sense of purpose and the chance to work for their families. I understood the need for these immigrants to work to make their source of income even more so from the field trip to SJSU. For Cesar Chavez, he saw the Catholic Social Teaching of the Dignity of work and rights of workers being disregarded. He and his fellow migrant workers couldn’t work with better equipment and therefore their health and safety were often jeopardized. Chavez spoke on behalf of the workers and worked to create the awareness of the issue by creating a community of union workers and working to make the lives

Denice Frohman also criticizes the superstructures that suppress the Latinx community, specifically the undocumented community. Denice Frohman recites, “Ana Maria is now 16. Her father works 18-hour days as a dishwasher. Her mother cleans houses she’ll never get to live in so that Ana Maria can sit in a college classroom and say, “I am here.” But her guidance counselor tells her she can’t get financial aid or the instate tuition rate because of her status. She says it like an apology. Ana wonders if her family ever crossed the border, or if they are just stuck inside another one, aggravating it like a soul. Her guidance counselor stands in front of her with a mouth full of fences” (). Denice Frohman narrates the structural hardships that undocumented families usually face. The arduous labor that is accepted from undocumented immigrants and their families but not their full acceptance into an exclusive society. The dehumanization of immigrants who are here to work towards a better life, but work so hard and never actualize their dreams. Moving across one border to be faced with another border. A border full of limits that forgets about the humanity of those it ousts.

My interviewee, Delia, is the child of Mexican-immigrants and was born in Mexico. At the age of eight, she was brought to the United States, which makes her one of many 1.5 generation immigrants (Feliciano Lec.1/4/16). For the remainder of this paper, my respondent will be referred to as Delia in order to conceal her identity. In this interview paper, I will discuss Delia’s family’s migration

As depicted in John Steinbeck's novel Grapes of Wrath the 1930's was a time when migrant workers like the story's Joad family had to leave their homes, cross a perilous desert, live through the social injustices of the time, and work at jobs with low insufficient pay just to have a better life (Steinbeck). Seventy years later, the situations and experiences stay the same but the people are no longer native-born Americans but illegal immigrants who sacrifice everything to come to the United States to live a better life, as a result of that the 500,000 immigrants that illegally enter the United States through the Mexican border annually and stay in the country are the Joads of today (Aizenman).

He is able to do this by bringing along the audience into a sense of emotions with a true story regarding a worker who is an illegal immigrant. This allowed the audience to feel connected to the illegal worker. Nadadur introduces the undocumented worker by providing a background of the worker’s past hometown. Nadadur believes that the reader is more likely to be persuaded by the argument in the article when their emotions are intensified. The authors take advantage of pathos to illustrate the issue of illegal immigrants as a positive factor to the U.S. economy. The anecdote of the Illegal immigrant worker allows a likeness between the audience and the

Additionally, Section 8 proscribes federation fraudulent labor procedures, which include, in accordance to legal interpretation, failure to provide a reasonable representation to all participants of the bargaining constituent. (Office of the General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board, 1997)

The book ‘Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network’ by Ruth Gomberg-Munoz explains the hardships that surround the Mexican immigrant network. Over the years the ‘undocumented’ workers coming to America from Mexico has increased which has gained the attention of the American government and the media, as it is ‘illegal behavior’. Gomberg-Munoz attempts to create an understanding of the lives of these workers by telling individual’s personal stories. The author reports the workers undocumented lives rather than reviewing their status as this is already covered in society. The author’s main topic revolves around the principle that undocumented workers strive to improve their quality of life by finding employment in the United States (Gomberg-Munoz 9). Gomberg Munoz also presents the daily struggles the works face daily, and how these struggles “deprives them of meaningful choice and agency” which effects their opportunity and futures (Gomberg-Munoz 9). This ethnography shows their social identities through work, the reasons why their position is illegal and how they live their everyday lives under the circumstances.

A spiral of events lead Mr. Jose Vargas to unrightfully apologize to former bosses and employers regarding his immigration status. Many undocumented citizens, Vargas states approximately, “11 million undocumented immigrants” have endured a battle to gain their citizenship. Obtaining proper documents, Green Cards, social security numbers and drivers licenses is undesirably long and difficult. Mr. Vargas, a college graduate and acclaimed author for major newspapers was denied of jobs, opportunities and scholarships despite the numerous accomplishments he gained.