The United States of America has always had immigration as one of its cornerstones. In fact, almost every single person living in the U.S. currently was or descended from an immigrant; hence, the nickname of “Melting Pot of the World”. In recent years, the debate on how immigration should be limited has become a key component of politician’s platforms, as well as a topic of many heated debates. Dr. de la Torre and Dr. Richard Froude are two immigrants to the United States within the past 50 years. They came and shared their experiences, but more importantly they revealed how difficult it is to immigrate to this great country.
Dr. Richard Froude first came to America as a student. His original thought was that he would spend some time here and then go back to Great Britain, which is where he is originally from. His first visa, which was a F1 visa, allowed him to finish his schooling, and then when it expired in two years he had to go back to Europe. His education left him with a writing degree. He attempted to find a job that would appeal to his possession of such degree. This was difficult for him, but he finally found work and he got his visa renewed. He went through the cycle of moving from job to job, and renewed visa to renewed visa, until he found himself in L.A. He worked post-production for some movies and television shows for some time, but then his visa completely expired. He then struggled to obtain a professional visa. This would allow him a much longer stay in the United States. But unfortunately, the process needed to acquire a professional visa was very confusing and expensive, involving thousands of dollars. He finally got the visa, but by then he had a girlfriend. They discussed getting married, but they didn’t want the main reason to be assuring his stay in the U.S. Right as they finally agreed that they in fact would get married, Dr. Froude received a letter saying that he qualified for a green card. This said that he was a “permanent resident” of the United States. This is his current status. He is not allowed to vote, nor does he get Social Security or other benefits, but he still has to pay taxes. At the moment, he is trying to attain dual citizenship. He told us a story of how complicated this process is, although he is slowly pushing through it. Throughout the whole talk, it was stressed that he had no language barrier at all, and almost no cultural barrier. Becoming an immigrant to the U.S. would have been much more difficult had he had those hurdles to jump over as well. Take this into consideration, looking at how much he had to go through without the other barriers.
Dr. Richard Froude’s direct description of the immigration process into the United States is that it is a “difficult, confusing, expensive process.” In a way, that is an appeal to pathos. He is doing this by almost subconsciously asking for our pity in how difficult the route of immigration is. He explained how many people come here for a better life, and they have to do so much to achieve that. Dr. Froude also exhibits good timing for this speech. The current spectrum of immigration might not apply specifically to British immigrants, but the topic is still a much-discussed issue. He made his point well with many facts and examples. For instance, when he was discussing the high costs of getting dual citizenship, he used specific numbers. He said that it cost him $3000 just to file all of the papers, and then sometimes you might even need a lawyer to read over everything. Overall, Dr. Richard Froude was a very convincing speaker. He was not very animated, but you could tell he was passionate about this topic, as it had changed his life.
The other presenter was a man named Dr. de la Torre. He had come to the United States when he was a child from Cuba. On April 3, 1961, he was forcibly asked to leave the country. He claimed that the reason why he came to the United States in the first place is because of U.S. foreign policy. He specified that “We didn’t cross no borders, the borders crossed us.” So, in essence, he said that he, and all other Latin American immigrants, belongs here. He supported his argument moderately well, as he talked about the United States’ “gunboat policy” of the past century and how that affected immigrants and Latin America in general. He also discussed how, in 1994, NAFTA ruined every farmer in Mexico; within a year of NAFTA being passed, over one million farmers had lost their farms.
Dr. de la Torres had an especially strong appeal to pathos. He passed around a picture of a fourteen year old girl that died trying to cross the desert into the U.S. because she sprained her ankle. This is founded on the commonplace that (obviously) it is wrong that a young girl should die trying to have a better life. He also explained how the border patrol works mostly on the notion of “deterrent policy”. This is the idea that if you let people die trying to cross the border, it will discourage and frighten other people from trying. Dr. de la Torres’s kairos was also perfect because this is such a huge argument in modern day America.
Both Dr. Froude and Dr. de la Torres arguments were convincing, and their presentation and delivery sound. I look forward to possibly going to listen to people like them talk again.
No comments:
Post a Comment