Esai Bahena

English

4/23/19

Argumentative Essay ​|​ Immigration

There is a lot of controversy for immigrants who move to the united states. Many

immigrants face a lot of problems with immigration and they should be treated equally and

deserve to have the same opportunity as anyone who was born in the united states because when

it comes to immigrants, most of them don’t know how to defend themselves, authorities take

advantage of them and families get torn apart as a result.

First off, when immigrants come to the united states, some of them don’t have some a lot

abilities that the average american has. For instance some immigrants don’t know how to speak

english or don’t know what their rights are when they come to the united states. ​“Donald Trump,

who repeatedly made anti-immigrant promises during his campaign, began his term as president

of the U.S. in January 2017. But no matter who is president, everyone living in the U.S. has

certain basic rights under the U.S. Constitution—​everyone​, including people who are

undocumented.” Even though people who are undocumented or who are immigrants, they still

apply to the same constitution as an American citizen, meaning that they have those rights, no

matter what. "Everyone in the U.S. has certain rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution,

regardless of your immigration status.” Immigrants don’t have to worry about not having the

same right weather or not they were born in the united states because we all share the rights no

matter your situation you are in. Although you may be in be undocumented or an immigrant,
your immigration status is not important to weather you have the same rights as an US citizen

because as long as you are in the United States, all of these rules apply to you, but it’s important

to know your rights.

Furthermore, many immigrants who are not informed about their rights can lead them to

not know what to do. The immigrant won’t know what is happening and how to defend

themselves in the situation that they are stopped by authorities. “federal immigration

enforcement policies and practices, including increased reliance on state and local agencies for

information about non-U.S. citizens, have swept an unprecedented number of people into the

detention and deportation system.” As a result by not knowing your rights authorities can take

advantage of you, and do whatever they want with you and put you into these detention centers

and not have a hearing in court about your situation with immigration authorities because you

were not aware of what is going to happen. ​“the Department of Homeland Security has expanded

programs that allow certain state and local law enforcement agencies to engage in federal

immigration enforcement activities. The programs have led to illegal racial profiling and civil

rights abuses, including the unlawful detention and deportation of U.S. citizens and permanent

residents.” These detention centers are being more funded to keep encouraging this act of having

immigrant and undocumented people in inhabitable environment where they are treated like

animals and run by not hate, but by profiling and discrimination. But because immigration

authorities have a lot of power on what they can do, not much can be done to stop this behavior.

Knowing your rights is very crucial in order to be able to know what is happening if you are to

be stop by immigration. When you know your rights, it limits the abilities that authorities can do

with because if they know that you know english and know your right, they are not going to want
to have to deal with the press about you harsh punishments that you are going to be facing and

what actually follow order. It can help save yourself and make this have the best outcome.

Meanwhile, immigration authorities can pop out of nowhere and take you to detention

center where you don’t know how long it would take to get out. In some situation it can take long

than expected to be released from you. ​“It is important to be prepared and to know your rights

and your family’s rights in case of a raid or other encounter with ICE or local law enforcement.”

Some authorities can take over your house because of your immigration status, but many people

don’t know that in order for a raid to happen you need a warrant in order to be able to step into

your house and detain people, but sometimes immigration does not always have a warrant with

them and get away with this from their high power in immigration.​“​ICE commonly places what

is known as an “immigration hold” or a “detainer” on individuals held in state and local jails

whom ICE suspects lack valid immigration status. The jail will then commonly hold the

individual for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release date for ICE to come and pick them

up.” If the a person has a family, they are being separated from their families and creates terror

and tragedy with the fear of that they may not be able to see their family member forever, but not

only is the family going to have one less family member, if that person was the only one who

was working, the family won't have a source of income and may lead them to homeless. Having

immigration authorities take many actions and in dominance of they can do does not help

anyone, it tears families apart, not only are these are actions create a big impact, they long term

effects like if the family is separated, the children can be put into foster care and the parents into

detention centers, it's going to be hard and a long process just to even see each other face to face.
 On the other hand, others believe having detention centers can help a lot with detaining

immigrants who are involved with drugs or crimes they have committed. These centers have

methods of keeping immigrants in their centers for as long as possible. Such as “Detention is

increasingly being used as an immigration enforcement strategy, and immigrants, including those

with legal status, are detained for prolonged periods – sometimes several years – without any

legal determination that they pose a danger to society or a flight risk that would justify their

detention. In addition to being cruel and unnecessary, prolonged detention makes it nearly

impossible for individuals to fight their immigration cases, including those with strong claims to

remain in the U.S.” Having these detention centers can help keep immigrants or undocumented

people who have committed serious crimes and so that it can lower the chances of them commit

anymore crimes for a long time, but as result from having them in those centers of detention, the

more people are in there, there more crowded it’s going to be in there. Not only will the living

condition be unfair, their method of keeping them in those centers for a long are unconstitutional,

they can’t just be left in those cells for years with having a hearing to be able to stand up for

themself. Many of those inmates who are in those centers have never committed a crime in their

life, so it’s not fair to put them in those harsh condition when they have not done anything to

deserve it.

At the end of the day, when it comes to immigration nothing is fair and nothing goes as

planned. Immigration authorities have taken advantage that they have such a greater power, and

even if you know your rights and try to stand up for yourself, not that much can be done to help

you because of their way work and the methods that they use so that they can get away with

things, is the reason why much can’t be done. It can take up to years to even just get a hearing.
There has to be a better way that things can be resolve, this is why immigrants should be

informed and be prepared or else more and more immigrants are going to have to deal with this.