Immigration

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" –excerpt from Emma Lazuras’s poem “ The New Colossus” that is inscribed on the inside of the pedestal of the statue of liberty in bronze.

Estimated amount of immigrants from Mexico to the United States for the following years.

Country 2004 2010 2010

Mexico 7,841,000 8,544,600 9,600,000

In 2010 23.7 percent of the population will from mexico alone

STEREOTYPES

In the history of Cinema in this country the Mexican stereotype has come off as the following:

• Mexicans all wear sombreros and sandals.

• They all lead a burro around.

• They cook in monstrous cauldrons.

• They all have moustaches (the men, anyway) and lounge around.

• They are avid lovers.

• They thrive on war.

• They are followers, not leaders.

• They are loud and boisterous

• The only music they listen to is Mariachi

Other stereotypes:

They are usually illegal inmigrants

- They look at you in a very lustful way or talk about you if they see you are hispanic (I hate that!) They usually clean floors at night so I avoid going shopping too late

- Women like to wear these fake fur coats or pretend they have a lot of money (I've met a few of them and they always say they have lots of money in Mexico)

- A friend of mine works in a retail company and they always catch mexicans stealing gadgets

- They usually look for ways to take advantage of the USA laws

- Guys think they are the best of the best (macho man)

Generally the sentiment is that they stand outside the 7 11 and wait for jobs, that they are probablly poor, and that they have a bad command of the English language.

Most people view Mexico as Spring Break 24/7 and a country pretty much in ruins. Lots of people think if you drink the water down there you will get sick.

- Mexicans are poor

- Mexicans are illiterate

- They will accept any job no matter if it is below minimum wage

- Mexicans are nothing but adulterers, lazy, melodramatic, and they love to sit at home and watch nothing but telenovelas (Mexican soap operas)

- Mexican women have a tendency to be melodramatic and very gossipy.

- The art of procrastination is universal. Mexicans are known for having a different time system than everyone else on the earth being that they are OFTEN late!

- Mexican males have a tendency to be possessive, dominating, and overall overbearing

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So who should deserve to become legal?

A) The immigrant who has come here on a legal visa but when it expired they stayed here illegal but worked ever since graduation for several years AND payed his taxes for every year that he has worked.

B) Immigrants who are desperate for work who escape across the border hoping for a better life?

C) Immigrants who pay Americans up to $20,000 to go through the immigration process with them just so they can get their green card?

D) What about the children who are born here in this country by immigrant parents who are here illegally? Should they get to stay? Why or why not?

• Some people say that if immigrants want to become legal that they should have already worked here for ten years and then pay a fine to become legal

• Others think that it should only be a fine that is payed in order for them to become legal

• Some feel that no one should