This (Illegal) American Life

Name

Professor name

Subject

April 24, 2019

The illegal America life

Maria Andreu highlights the issues faced by immigrants in America due to the state's decision of throwing them out of the country. Many people leave their homelands and move to America in search of jobs and a better lifestyle. Strict measures for removing immigrants have adverse impacts on their lives and futures. Andreu shares her personal experiences of living in America as an immigrant. She herself witnessed the illegal Mexican border crossing at the age of 8 years. She encountered many events when people called her illegal immigrant that undermined her self-esteem. Such responses for the Americans make immigrants believe that there are outsiders and have no place in the country. Even Mexicans after living many years in America fails to get the status of citizens.

The biggest challenge faced by Andreu was to fit into western settings. This was due to the fact that she faced criticism from American citizens. Finding a permanent place remained a dominant challenge for her family. The family changed many places that influenced the life of a young girl. She mentions, “Sesame Street" my parents had assured me that one day we'd be in our real home of Argentina” CITATION Mar081 \l 1033 (Andreu). This reflects her state of unhappiness and confusion. Her family struggled hard to find an appropriate place for living in America. She witnessed the odds of immigrant life that made her believe that she belongs to somewhere else. Andreu mentions, "I missed home" CITATION Mar081 \l 1033 (Andreu). In America, she always felt like a foreigner or an outsider. This was due to the unwelcoming attitudes of local Americans. She missed her homeland and her people. The author explains through her experiences the darker side of immigrant’s lives. They are blamed for the bad things that happen to America. Andreu adds, “the coyotes hid my mother and me for weeks in a shack in Tijuana with an outhouse so pungent I held my need to use it until I was bursting”. The quotes transmit the complexities experiences by the author as a young girl that proves the adverse implications of removing immigrants.

Survival in foreign land involve challenges and require a lot of patience. The struggles of Andreu never ended in America due to the negative role of the state. Andreu mentions, “when the pundits began to tear into undocumented immigrants last summer, using terms like "parasites" and "criminals," my first reaction was to bury my head and turn off the TV” CITATION Mar081 \l 1033 (Andreu). Immigrants were called criminals and parasites that affected the author emotionally. She felts pain for being called by names that disrespected people of her land. The feelings of Andreu depicts that she wanted to attain the status of citizen that was impossible. Her experience of coyotes allowed her to see her place as an immigrant. Andreu remarks, “I only vaguely understood the danger of being in a no man's land”. This indicates her sense of shame and guilt. Andreu as a young girl continued to search for her reality because the people and media representation of immigrants caused discomfort and displeasure. At times she attempted to find who she really is and whey she is in the unfamiliar land. Andreu adds, “I became legal and what had always seemed a blank future of no hope suddenly turned dazzling with possibility”. The quote indicates that irrespective of all her efforts and legalization the changes for living in a foreign country didn't end. The argument of the author reflects that Mexican immigrants are unable to attain the status of American citizens irrespective of their years of struggles.