Fiches anglais sur le thème espace et échange

SPACES AND EXCHANGES: Illegal Mexican Immigrants crossing the US border.

INTRODUCTION :

The notion that I’m going to deal with is  «         SPACES AND EXCHANGES ».  I'd like to start with a definition of the notion. Spaces and exchanges are tightly related. In fact, the different spaces of the world are nowadays more and more connected to each other. Exchange can be about anything from money, goods, information, or people. And interactions across the borders have become easier and faster due to improvements in communications and transport.
I chose the theme "Illegal Mexicans immigrants to the USA", which is a very important political and cultural topic.

What could drive people to leave their land for the USA? And what are the results of this immigration?

In the first part I will talk about the causes of the immigration, then I will talk about the disillusion after crossing the border, and finally I will conclude.

I-CAUSES:

Like in most of the countries, the Mexicans live in inequalities. And we can see that near the US border, where the Mexicans' life is miserable. In fact, they are underfed, don't have a home. There's not running water, which brings diseases. Furthermore, there's not education for children, and no jobs for men, who earn a living for most of them, as seen in the video we analyzed in class.

So, since their childhood, the Mexicans have in mind to leave their land, knowing that therichest country of the world is their neighbour. The USA represent for them a land of opportunities. In fact, the Mexicans search wealth, and they expect to find it in the USA. As seen in the poster we studied in class, they see the USA's life as an expensive car, a beautiful woman, good clothes… More, it's an issue for the children's illiteracy, because there are many prestigious schools and universities.
After all, the Mexicans are in search of freedom, jobs, and better life conditions, that they hope to find after crossing the US border: it's the American dream. However, their expectations are far from being realities.

II-RESULTS:

On their way to USA, immigrants face many problems: heat, long distance, hunger… As seen in the text "A hard path to hope". Furthermore, the USA is against this illegal immigration, so they put some police such as the Minutemen on the frontier, generally in helicopters or boats, who have the right to shoot any Mexican they see.

After they move to America hoping for better prospects, they are often offered menial and painful jobs and accept low wages. In fact, While in USA, Mexican immigrants find out that they are not welcome there. They face language problems and live in communities. A feeling of anti-mexicanism has been developed among americans, which prevents Mexicans from having a job. Thus, the Mexicans turn to delinquency, which increases this feeling of anti-mexicanism, it's a vicious circle.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, immigrants are searching for the American dream, seeing their initial life conditions, and they're ready to confront danger to cross the US border. But most of them are disappointed and frustrated after seeing that they overestimated the USA and the life conditions there. So, Mexicans illegal immigration is still a debated topic, especially this year with the new political situation of the USA. In my opinion, the Mexicans who have in mind to go to the USA should rather go to the economic heart of Mexico, in the south

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