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Mother Tongue By Demetria Martinez

Better Essays

As the words of our founding fathers, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is the American dream that many pursue, whether immigrated to the United States or born here. Within Demetria Martinez’s book, Mother Tongue, a novel, the character named Jose Luis flees from El Salvador to the United States in order to escape it’s brutal civil war. His choice to flee El Salvador and enter the United States under a false name places him in a difficult situation, both in his moral abandonment of his home country El Salvador, and for crossing the United States border illegally. The position of Jose Luis can be dissected into the need for borders, the asylum process into the U.S., the reason why politicians reject immigration, and the potential …show more content…

Victor Davis Hanson, a columnist for the "Los Angeles Times", writes in his opinion piece, “Borders are to distinct countries what fences are to neighbors, [a] means of demarcating that something on one side is different from what lies on the other side..., [ it] is impossible [distinguish physical space] unless it is seen — and can be so understood — as distinct and separate.” Therefore, without a country 's borders it would be difficult to define where a country 's jurisdiction begins and ends, who is constituted as a citizen, and who is granted its legal rights. There are of course exceptions to this such as the border between Canada and the U.S. or the European Union, both of which have “porous” borders, allowing for easy travel between the two with often little to no physical barriers.
According to the U.S. travel page, entry into Canada will “...[R]equire that all persons entering Canada carry both proof of citizenship and proof of identity. A valid U.S. passport, passport card, or NEXUS card satisfies these requirements for U.S. citizens.” A border defines the countries limits of powers and influences. Logically you can’t just “walk-in”in to a nation, regardless of how open the borders appear. If a citizen leaves to reside within another, things such as taxes or laws would be impossible to regulate to its citizens as it becomes unclear who truly is a citizen. However, many citizens are often left with no choice but to migrate as their homelands become

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