The Treatment of Refugees and Immigrants - Case Study Example

IMMIGRANTS 5 Summary Immigrants are growing in numbers and also in political power and have vital things to add to the cultural mix of the US. Therefore it is significant that the average person in the US has accurate and non biased perception of the immigrant group, because immigration is what keeps the US vital, and immigrants need to continue to have basic benefits in the society, such as emergency healthcare, having a driver’s license, putting their kids through school, etc. There will always be a negative reaction of xenophobia in the US, however which tries to bend the facts and use propaganda in an insidious manner. Assumptions about the significance of this issue are based on individuals’ beliefs and personal politics, and their stance on issues like whether or not illegal immigrants should be granted a form of benefit that allows them to become contributory taxpayers, and gain even more benefits. To equalize the treatment of refugees and immigrants and give them more benefits, we need to fight xenophobia in society. Xenophobia, or the fear and hatred of strangers that is spurred by a perception of their unfamiliar otherness, is a real problem that becomes an obstacle to refugees seeking to get ahead economically. Many have commented on this pervasive problem as having roots in Americans’ common conceptions of foreigners as being holistic representatives of a confusing blend of cultural positivity and negativity, stagnation and newness. Some believe that America represents a culture that is polarized and slightly schizophrenic regarding its simultaneous embrace of xenophilia and xenophobia. These people would state that the culture, which is built on theoretical paradigms of the acceptance of outside cultures into its own, is fed by ideas of foreign uniqueness as providing sustenance to American values in terms of revitalization. But this perspective of otherness can easily turn xenophobic when this perceived uniqueness is turned around and used against the communities which it is perceived to represent. This negatively impacts the possibility of assimilation for both immigrants and refugees in this society. Although they do also stimulate local economies by paying sales taxes, illegal immigrants are often taken advantage of because of their dubious legal status, and forced to work in sub-par conditions for wages that, while, when sent home, amount to, in some cases, small fortunes, represent a disparity in economic opportunity within the domestic sphere that is often quite drastic. They are also subject to more inhumane treatment in their working conditions, as mentioned, having little access to avenues of regress or organization, and no health insurance. In some cases, however, the line is crossed and illegal immigrants are actually abused in inhumane ways on the job. “In some particularly egregious cases of violence and abuse, farmworkers have been held under armed guard, beaten and pistol-whipped, and even shot by labor camp bosses. One camp boss in Southwest Florida received a three-year federal prison sentence in 1997for holding some thirty men and women in captivity in an isolated labor camp” (Utsey et al., 2002). Although in this case, the camp boss was punished, in other cases, the perpetrators of injustice go free. Levels of government Local level—On the local level of government, illegal immigrants still enjoy many benefits in the US. For example, local public schools will accept the children of illegal immigrants and give them a free education. Local stores also get sales taxes from them. State level—State DMV and MVS services are able to give illegal immigrants a drivers’ license, provided that they can supply enough proof of identification, or translate their international license. State programs towards immigrants differ, but in terms of baseline benefits, they cannot be refused emergency healthcare, they can buy property, and they can get drivers’ licenses, under most state laws and regulations. National level—On the national level, the state and local levels are reflected in terms of benefits. In other words, without the national sanctions, states and communities would not be able to give the abovementioned benefits. The national government also works to suppress states and localities which seek to hold back these benefits. For example, if a community barred illegal immigrants’ children from its schools, the national government would be in a position to intervene and stop this process. Legality The legality of the abovementioned benefits for illegal immigrants is guaranteed under law. However, in US society, there is still a lot of discrimination that goes counter to the law. Generally, the benchmarks of discriminatory treatment and prejudicial treatment can be listed as “being treated with less courtesy than others, less respect than others, receiving poorer service than others in restaurants or stores; people acting as if you are not smart, they are better than you, they are afraid of you, they think you are dishonest; being called names or insulted, and being threatened or harassed” (Williams, 1998). This is the result of stereotypical thinking that separates the in-group in terms of uniqueness and the capability of possessing infinite traits, from the out-group, which is viewed homogenously in terms of shared and non-unique traits. Stopping stereotypical thinking is the first step in combating prejudice and discrimination. Statistically, this has been shown to create health risks in the communities represented by increasing the levels of total stress and decreasing quality of life (QOL) perception. In one statistical research example, “psychological QOL scores than did Asian and Latino American participants… ethnic identity and cultural racism were significant predictors of QOL and accounted for 16% of the total variance for the entire sample” (Utsey, et. al, 2002, p. 366). This situation might be more effectively addressed if private agencies like banks and insurance companies were to play a more active role in fostering policies which would promote the rehabilitation of existing housing and the private construction of new housing opportunities for illegal immigrants. Cultural attitudes People in the US tend to think of immigrants as coming to steal their jobs, but this is more of a myth than reality. Immigration actually creates a lot of new jobs, especially when it is legal. And even illegal immigrants are not taking jobs from the middle class Americans who get so upset about them. Most of these illegal immigrants are going to work in low level positions such as migrant farming and manual labor, that Americans with a high school education do not want to work anyway. Ethnocentrism has affected immigration by creating an atmosphere in which one group’s, usually the majority’s, stereotypes of out-groups are used as functions of political legitimacy that targets immigrants based on their race or ethnicity rather than as individuals. As one source states, “it is not legitimate to deny to foreign citizens the constitutional rights of due process and political freedoms, as these rights do not turn on citizenship, but on personhood” (Orlando et al, 2004, p. 35). People think of immigrants as a drain on the economy when the real situation is that in many cases they are a vital stimulation to the economy. These taxes increase the overall economic situation of many local communities. The smaller the community, the more positive effect an influx of illegal immigrants is going to have on the economy, as they spend money and therefore spend sales tax. They also stimulate the economy by providing stimulation of the workforce. However, illegal immigrants are subject to institutional and societal prejudice for several reasons. First of all, they are perceived as taking jobs from citizens, as well as making use of educational and health services for which many people and the media accuse them of not paying taxes (although, as mentioned, they do). “Many local government officials have expressed their concerns that illegal immigrants are a burden on their budgets and do not contribute tax revenues in what they cost in public services and those includes incarceration and medical care”(Vang, 2009). Legalizing all of them could be a simple solution to this presumption. It is also the case, however, that illegal immigrants are perceived as belonging to groups which have traditionally been subjected to prejudice in the past, leading many to see the groups (Latinos, for example) as a homogenous mass, all of them illegal aliens. The very term “alien” seems to be prejudicial, suggesting an otherness that is unknowable, dissonant, and semantically barring. In terms of reportage of discriminatory conduct, groups differ in prevalence in terms of self-report. Statistically, in the Commonwealth National Minority Health Survey, “7% of whites, 44% of blacks, 24% of Latinos, and 56% of Asians reported that they had been treated badly because of their race or cultural background in the previous year” (Williams, 1998). Overall, an illegal alien is usually conceived of stereotypically as Latino (although more recently there has arisen the stereotype of the illegal alien as the Muslim), and though many are Latinos, many others come from places like Ireland or Eastern Europe or Asia and are, accordingly, indistinguishable in appearance from many Americans who are legal, naturalized, or assimilated. BIBLIOGRAPHY Utsey, Shawn O., Chae, Mark H., Christa F. Brown, et. al. “ Effect of Ethnic Group Membership on Ethnic Identity, Race-Related Stress, and Quality of Life.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8(4), pp. 366-377, 2002. Vang, B “Benefits of illegal immigration.” http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/464357/benefits_of_illegal_immigration_offset.html?cat=17 Williams, David. “Discrimination.” http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/Research/Psychosocial/notebook/discrimination.html 2009. “Restriction or legalization?” http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10438 2009. “New Report finds legalization of immigrants improves economic status.” http://washingtonindependent.com/66794/new-report-finds-legalization-of-immigrants-substantially-improves-economic-status 2009. Read More