THE CRIMINALIZATION OF LATINA/O/XS
BY C.A.G.M
Moving from the Dominican Republic to the United States was big cultural shock, but mostly a dream, as me and my family were seeking for the “American Dream”, yet soon enough I will be realized that my dreams, were criminalize and oppressed by upper class. The criminalization of Latinos is something that we have seen often in the last three years, as the current president of the United States are severely oppressed to them. In our class so far, we have discussed about Latinx most common urban areas and places to live, which are New York, California, and Chicago. Being from New York city, we can see how there is several Latinos, and Hispanic communities that live in new York city in areas such as, Washington Heights, The Bronx, Lower East side, and Spanish Harlem. According to The Marshall Project, “An estimated Half-Million New Yorkers are undocumented”, not only there is big population of Latinos in New York City, but also there are several undocumented, but How does the Mexican Population is Criminalize in New York? How are Latinos and minority groups criminalize for being undocumented?
Criminalization of undocumented Latinos and Latinos in general have started in the early 1960’s, where there was a huge migration to the United States, where people were running away from their country. Yet, the topic of criminalization of undocumented Latinos have been more, and more mentioned as Donald Trump post-election TV interview where he stated “"They're sending people that have a lot of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."(Mark, 2018),here we can see how the President of the United states criminalize the Mexican population by calling them several names, and assuming that they are bringing several crimes to the country. One of the example, is in the class reading $800 Million in Taxpayer Money Went to Private Prisons Where Migrants Work for Pennies, by Spencer Ackerman and Adam Ronsley, “Yesica, 23, fled her native El Salvador after MS-13 persecuted her for being a lesbian. The brutal gang, which the Trump administration uses to demonize immigrants like her, murdered her father, and she came to the United States to seek the safety of rejoining family here. She has instead spent the last two years locked inside ICE’s prisons.”, this an example of how people come here trying to achieve the American dream or safety, but because they are undocumented, they are sent to Immigration and Customs enforcement (ICE) offices.
Yet, in reality studies have found that immigration that is lets than 10% of undocumented immigrant population in the united states have criminal record. The report by Migration Policy Institute stated that 7 percent of the 11 million undocumented individuals in the United States have criminal records, (The Center for Migration Studies of New York).In others words, we can notice how even though immigrants have tried to do the right things, such as paying taxes and work in the places other won’t work, we can see how the Trump Administration have criminalize those that don’t have legal paper the most, los indocumentados con un sueno.
Bibliography:
The Marshall Project. “How Donald Trump's War on Immigrants Is Playing Out in NYC.” The Marshall Project, The Marshall Project, 23 July 2018, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/07/23/new-york-on-ice.
Ink, Social. “Making Immigrants into Criminals: Legal Processes of Criminalization in the Post-IIRIRA Era.” The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS), Leisy Abrego, Mat Coleman, Daniel E. Martínez, Cecilia Menjívar, Jeremy Slack, https://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-legal-process-criminalization/.
Spencer Ackerman, Adam Rawnsley. “$800 Million in Taxpayer Money Went to Private Prisons Where Migrants Work for Pennies.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 27 Dec. 2018, https://www.thedailybeast.com/dollar800-million-in-taxpayer-money-went-to-private-prisons-where-migrants-work-for-pennies.
Mark, Michelle. “Trump Just Referred to One of His Most Infamous Campaign Comments: Calling Mexicans 'Rapists'.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 5 Apr. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mexicans-rapists-remark-reference-2018-4.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mexicans-rapists-remark-reference-2018-4
Photo 3:https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mexicans-rapists-remark-reference-2018-4
Great post! This highlights the racialization of crime and how it is still capitalized in our society. People continue to make money off Latinx bodies while putting them in prison institutions. Do you think this hints to more than just writing crime into race, writing crime into class and writing crime into place when we talk about the racialization of crime? I feel like your post is hinting that society also writes crime into legal status, being undocumented means you are a criminal. Let me know your thoughts!
ReplyDeletewhen I was writing the post I was mainly thinking of crime into race, but now as you pointed out I do see how it can relate to writing crime into class, as all the minorities are been sentenced and judged, or put into prison for their class statues, as we learned in class we can see how middle class and below, are the ones been accused of raping, or even been a drug dealer. While talking about writing crime into places, I will say is about where the group is located, as we have seen that the closet they are to the borderland, or in a low-income community, are the one being accused of not having their "America values". Do you believe if minorities are in a higher class, and better neighborhood they will be still targeted for their skin color or the way they look?
DeleteThis is a superb post on the criminalization of Latino bodies. To talk not only about how Latinos are generally criminalized in american society but the huge immigration problem. Bringing up all the facts about how Latinos are generally not criminals and showing how Latinos are portrayed in the media shows how the media can alter how american think. My question is how do you think we can fix the immigration problem and how we can fix the media portraying false narratives on immigrants and Latinos.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the only way to fix the current immigration problem that we have is to shut down the Fronteras and let everyone in. Yet, we know that is not realistic, so the other option will be to work on a system for those who have proved that they have been here for more than 10 years and at least get them visa or working documents, because sadly those immigrants are the workers that large companies hired to do they work. The only way we can fix the media portraying the false narratives is by having the media cover what immigrants go through, so people can see both sides.
DeleteIf you were the next elected president, how do you think we can fix the immigration problems currently happening?
I love what you said in your post, latinos, especially Mexicans, are criminalized based simply off the color of their skin. I recently spoke about the "American Dream" in another one of my classes and we read an article that stated, the only way we are really able to reach the American Dream is if we are asleep. At first I laughed but then I realized how true it is, many people born in America struggle to reach that dream and it is 10 times harder for Latinos to make that dream a reality because of the odds against them. The American Dream seems to be only a dream when you realize the reality of obtaining that dream.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the only way to fix the current immigration problem that Yes, in my beliefs the American Dreams is something that everyone aspires for, but sadly is not designed for us. The only way we can achieve the American dream is by having a healthier democracy, where every vote counts, and where inequality is a thing.
DeleteI think the fact that you've experienced both living in DR and in the U.S makes your post very interesting because it gives the readers a better understanding of your perspective of the U.S as a whole. The "American Dream" is what we as Latino/as strive for but will never fully achieve due to all the barriers set in our way. Living in a world where we are racially profiled makes it almost impossible to achieve that so called "Dream." I attended an event on campus where the guest speaker said "We as Latino/as and minorities have to be twice as good, to even be considered half as good" and that quote popped up in my head when reading this post.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Yes i think we went to the same event, thats something i was thinking while writing my post, how the struggles and challenges we faced are twice than others.
DeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post, it was very interesting. Your personal experience of arriving to the United States, eager to achieve the American dream, but learning the reality that people with black and brown skin are often criminalized was very eye-opening. This is often the case for many immigrants and as you mentioned, it is due to the faults within the system that favor people with white skin. Today, ICE is a very large part of the problem. People who fled to the United States in search of help or a better life are kept in poor conditions for long periods of time. What are some possible ways to combat the criminalization of Latinos?
ReplyDeletein my opinion things we can do to combat criminalization, is to start showing the good things WE, the latino due for our communities, to give back to people, because the only things i see in the news is the bad things.
DeleteI enjoyed reading this blog post a lot. I also immigrated from DR at a very young age. It's sad to see that most of came here to have the American dream but instead we are criminalized for the color of our skin. I believe trump's presidency also made it harder on those who migrated, and it's very frustrating to see his opinions on us cannot be supported by facts.
ReplyDeleteYou said it best!!
ReplyDelete