Spaces and exchanges, immigration in the usa

Spaces and exchanges: immigration in the USA

The notion I am going to deal with is “spaces and exchanges”. To begin with, I’d like to give a definition of the notion: an exchange is a continuous movement or circulation. There are different kinds of exchanges: people, trade, media etc.

I would like to tackle this notion thanks to the theme studied which is the immigration in the USA. Indeed, more and more people are crossing American border, leaving their countries to seek better lives in the USA. This migration can be for several reasons moving to find work, for a better quality of life or to escape political persecution or war. By coming to the USA, those people are trying to accomplish the American Dream.

So, we can wonder if this American Dream is still possible for immigrants todays?

To illustrate this notion, I have chosen three documents we studied: the lyrics of a song sang by U2 about the evolution of immigration in the USA, then a radio program entitled “ New Horizons” which give us an example of a Mexican immigrant who accomplished his American dream, and finally a cartoon draw by Joe Heller about the Mexican illegal immigration and the law of Arizona.

The first document is the lyrics of the song “These are the hands that built America” sang by U2, it represents the immigrants that came to the USA for decades by millions to build the railroads, the industries, and the cites such as New York. The song pays a tribute to all the immigrants who sacrificed their life to build the USA. So, this document is a good illustration of the notion as it demonstrates that there is an exchange, a movement between people from one nation to another, but in the respect of the history and the oldest.

(After seeing a general vision of the immigration in the USA, we are going to illustrate the positive and the negative aspects of the American dream.)

The second document is a radio program entitled “New Horizons” which is about the hyphenated Americans. Alejandro Perez gives his example as a Mexican immigrant coming to the USA to achieve the American dream. He explains that millions of Mexicans are still attracted by the country because there are better prospects, higher living standards, med facilities, a good education... etc., but we can see that there is Mexicans who come to the USA to get money and paper and then they go back their homeland. Thus, this document makes us aware of a positive aspect of the notion because the immigration between Mexico and the USA is still a continuous movement, millions of immigrants are attracted b the country in order to improve their living conditions. Therefore, in spite of the global recession and the poor economic situation there is still a growing flow of immigration.

The third and final document is a cartoon draw by Joe Heller where we can see the statue of liberty being arrested by an Arizona officer. This cartoon criticizes racism and racial profiling as it addresses the subject of illegal immigration, which is a rampant in States like Texas and Arizona and more precisely the aspects of the Arizona State Law of April 2010. The cartoonist tackles the topic issue of immigration and racist reactions that some right-wing citizens can have. It is a good illustration of the notion as it is about the Mexican immigration in Arizona next to the Mexican border

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