Is the American Dream still alive?

        In the Declaration of Independence, it is declared that in the United States, “all men are created equal” with the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” the basis upon which many have built their American Dream. This term was coined by the author James Truslow Adams in 1932 and has for centuries been synonymous of opportunity and success for all in the Land of the Free, which has a long-held reputation of exceptional levels of social mobility. However, the arrival of President Trump and his controversial immigration policies have recently raised questions on whether this American Dream is still alive for those born with less privilege. It seems to be becoming more of a dream than a reality, or even a possibility.

        America was founded by immigrants and has, since the beginning, been known for its great tolerance new arrivals every year. Violence, poverty and persecution force people to make incredibly difficult decisions in order to survive and protect their loved ones, and they often turn to the US because they value the idea of the American Dream, but new policies under the Trump administration are endangering it. His platform and proposals generally focus more on ensuring the safety of the current citizenry, often at a cost to potential immigrants. Critics of these policies will argue that the party’s efforts to keep foreigners out appeal to and incite xenophobia. In 2017, President Trump admitted a record-low number of refugees, representing an 82% drop from previous Democratic and Republican administrations, even if it has been proved that refugees revitalize American communities. 13% of refugees are entrepreneurs, against 9% of US-born citizens, and refugees have paid a total of $20.9 billion in taxes in 2015 alone. Instead, the current administration is ignoring asylum seekers’ right under US and International law to claim asylum and be interviewed by asylum officers by keeping claimants indefinitely detained at the border. Furthermore, under the Trump administration, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a ruling making it basically impossible for women in the Central Americas fleeing domestic violence to seek asylum in the United States. The American Dream seems further and further away from vulnerable foreign populations. However, current immigrants living in the US are somewhat optimistic: nine out of ten immigrants in the U.S. still believe that the American Dream is possible to achieve. An overwhelming majority of immigrants believe that, with hard work, success and happiness are attainable, and 60 percent would still recommend relocating to the U.S. to their friends and family. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more difficult to do.

        While immigration issues are turning the American Dream into a myth for many people, the socio-economic situation on the US territory is not making up for it. Many regions fail to boost economic opportunity for young people from poor backgrounds, who are out of reach because of the social and economic forces of where they grow up. According to Harvard’s Equality of Opportunity Project, these forces almost always determine what a lifetime will look like for these new generations: a child born in the bottom 20% of the income distribution only has a 4% chance of rising to the top 20%. Prosperous rural areas, mostly the upper Midwest and the Northern plains, are the country’s most powerful engine of upward mobility, but more than a quarter of prosperous counties fail to positively impact the future earnings potential of poor children in their communities. Overall, the majority (51%) of counties in the United States exert a negative impact on the economic mobility of low-income children. 60 percent of Americans under the age of 18 are growing up in a county that has historically failed to provide opportunities for their most disadvantaged youth. This is quite a downfall from what the US has previously been known and admired for: 90% of children born in 1940 have ended up in higher social ranks than their parents, while only 40% of those born in 1980 can say the same. Additionally, disparities by race, gender, and immigration status persist. Only 20 percent of white men are working in low-wage jobs, versus almost 40 percent of black women and 46 percent of Hispanic women and more than 60 percent of Hispanic women noncitizens.

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