Immigrants Aren't Criminals--They're Often Victims
Domanik, Undergraduate Student (UM-Dearborn) Looking back at American history there are many patterns that reveal themselves. One pattern that I am particularly interested in is how time and time again when we have faced a group that we do not like or disagree with we quickly begin to paint an ugly picture of them. We often demonized or depicted that group as savages, evil, or sneaky. During the red scare era we depicted Russia or communists in general as pure chaos, destruction, and devilish. Communism and the people supporting it were people to be feared. During WWII the Japanese were shown as sneaky backstabbing people that were not to be trusted. Often being represented by propaganda of snakes, rats, or just people with over-exaggerated and racist facial features made to look scary. This strategy has not been limited to use against “outsiders.” African Americans were commonly pictured as primitive, savage, and dangerous. Stereotypes that still persist today. This leads us to today where Latin American immigrants are the current targets of this generalized and very incorrect system of political propaganda and depiction by society. They much like African Americans are thought of as mostly criminals. With millions of Latin Americans immigrating to the U.S, politicians are saying that with them they are bringing crime and that if we allow them to come to the U.S they will cause chaos and pose a danger to everything we love. There is no single concrete answer as to why we often turn to painting such ugly pictures of certain groups. With Latin Americans, researchers such as Martinez (2002) suggest such assumption between immigrants and crime stems from the visualization of simply seeing a high percentage of Latin Americans go through the justice system. From a political standpoint, such arguments are also always used to obtain some type of goal or paint a picture of that population to the public. Although immigration has always been a hot topic in the U.S, President Trump exacerbated concerns over immigrants and crime. Mainly focusing on those coming from Mexico, Trump said that these people are responsible for high increases in violent crimes. His words and policies dramatically impacted the lives of millions, yet his claims were never backed by data. Most research demonstrates that the opposite is actually true: immigrants have lower—not higher—crime rates than U.S.-born citizens. For example, in ‘The Trump Hypothesis: Testing Immigrant Populations as a Determinant of Violent and Drug‐Related Crime in the United State,” David Green (2016) has produced convincing evidence that there is no association between immigrant population size and increases in violent crime. Research also demonstrates that Latin Americans are highly vulnerable to victimization here in the U.S. While we do admit many thousands of immigrants to the U.S. each year through the visa process, the U.S simply does not make enough visas available each year to accommodate the demand. That often leaves those from places such as Mexico with a difficult choice. Either stay in their home country, unable to make ends meet, or risk going to the U.S, where most of the jobs are, illegally. Without a valid immigration status, immigrants become vulnerable to crime and exploitation—especially in the workplace. Many people insist that these people are criminals and a danger to our society, yet this group of people is suffering from being underpaid, overpriced, and just getting taken advantage of in general. Those in high positions of power in the meatpacking industry or fresh produce industries that needed laborers that would be willing to work in harsh conditions looked towards immigrants to work. Most native born Americans would not take up jobs that require you to stay out in the harsh southern sun for 8+ hours a day and get paid as little as the employers offered. Unfortunately, because many laborers are here illegally companies realize that they can get away with things that they otherwise might not, such as illegally paying workers less than minimum wage. Not only do these workers get underpaid, but some even put their life at risk because managers will be more reckless and supply less safety measures on the job. Workers may not get breaks or they get fired for no reason at all. Most immigrants are too scared to stand up and say something about some of the poor treatment they get because they are not technically allowed to work in the U.S. They are afraid that they will be detained, deported, or both. The bottom line is that undocumented immigrants here in the U.S lack meaningful labor protections despite the fact that constitutional protections, as well as federal labor laws, apply to workers regardless of their immigration status. They are left with no safety nets that allow anyone to take advantage of them. They are vulnerable and that needs to change. We must combat the false narrative that immigrants are prone to criminality with the truth. This inaccurate picture has convinced many Americans that they are not safe with immigrants in this country. In terms of immigrant victimization, we need reform. While many laborers are here undocumented, that does not give us permission to treat them as anything less than human. They need meaningful protection under the law just as much as anyone else. References: 1. Ackerman, R., Alissa & Furman, Rich (2014). The Criminalization of immigration: Context and Consequences. Carolina Academic Press. 2. Green, David. (2016) The Trump Hypothesis: Testing Immigrant Populations as a Determinant of Violent and Drug‐Related Crime in the United States. Social Science Quarterly. 97(3) 506-524. 3. Martinez, Ramiro. (2002) Latino Homicide: Immigration, Violence, and Community. Taylor & Francis Group.
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