El Norte Reflection

Maddie 

Rosa and Enrique fled their home country of Guatemala  with little to no understanding of the role government played in illegal immigration. They knew that the army was going to kill them in their own country, but they didn't know how the US treated immigrants and how difficult it is to be undocumented. I assume someone taught them what a green card was after they had gotten to the United States, and never learned about the US government enough to know they could seek political asylum. It made me wonder why the US doesn't put more if its resources into teaching and showing individuals who want to immigrate how to do it rather than spending money and resources on finding illegal immigrants in the United States, sending them back to their home country, and patrolling the boarder. I understand that this would probably require a lot of policy changes to allow more individuals to enter the US and for the process to be faster, but I don't see why this would be a problem based on how many people enter the United States illegally. There are so many towns and industries that thrive due to the cheap labor of undocumented immigrants who are unable to unionize, and yet the government puts effort into moving them rather than accepting their contribution to the economy and trying to help them. 

Another thing I thought about during this movie is how companies are responsible for employing immigrants. I've heard the argument against Latin American immigration that makes the assumptions immigrants are taking jobs from US citizens. Watching El Norte made me acutely aware of the fact that the companies hire immigrants purposefully so that they do not need to pay them the minimum wage. So to those who believe Latin American immigrants "steal jobs," how could they "steal them" if the company never intended on hiring US citizens? I believe that is the company and government's fault rather than individuals who decided to cross the boarder and look for work. It reminds me that many people blame "outsider" groups for issues they face, and the fear that is so common of those who are different. I think this fear and blame is a trend that allows those in power to stay in power and wealth. 




Comments

  1. Catherine BolzendahlMarch 6, 2023 at 3:36 PM

    Nice job connecting your comments and the imagery. I have similar questions as the political situation around immigration reform seems particularly intractable, but we are very dependent on immigrant labor. I mentions this in other comments, but I wish we'd had a chance to discuss possible ties between the arguments over immigration and the issues of Norma Rae.

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