US Immigration

When I was researching about US immigration this was the first website that popped up.  http://www.uscis.gov/ it is called the US citizenship and immigration cervices. Anyone who has any questions or is thinking about moving to the US and applying for a visa should go there to find out their information. When looking through the website I found an award section which I thought was pretty interesting. It is called the Outstanding American by Choice initiative recognizes the outstanding achievements of naturalized U.S. citizens. Through civic participation, professional achievement, and responsible citizenship, recipients of this honor have demonstrated their commitment to this country and to the common civic values that unite us as Americans. Throughout the year, USCIS will recognize naturalized citizens who have made significant contributions to both their community and their adopted country. January 2014 Alejandro N. Mayorkas who is a deputy secretary of the department of homeland security won who currently lives in Washington and is from the District of Colombia. In that position, he led a workforce of 18,000 members throughout more than 250 offices worldwide and oversaw a $3 billion annual budget. While at USCIS he oversaw a number of important programs and enhancements, including the implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

There is a lot of media covering this topic as well. When I was first given this assignment it made me think of the show "Border Wars" which I watch all the time with my roommates. This show really shows what border patrol men go through every day and night. It is a VERY dangerous job. From what I noticed most of the people trying to cross find their opportunities at night. This can be scary for the patrol men because viability is limited; they don’t know if these men are armed with guns also trying to smuggle drugs across the border which makes it just as scary for the normal civilian trying to make it into America. One episode of the show had a rescue mission retrieving 4 bodies that had drown in the river trying to cross. It was so sad and pretty traumatizing to see.

From the show, book “Crossing the Wire” and in class we had a discussion about how dangerous and expensive it is to cross into America. Why would someone risk their lives or die trying to come into America? Already living in America it is hard to really understand why this happens but when you live in a country that is highly poverished and it is the only chance you have at having a decent life you can start to see why. One trouble that I found really interesting was the use of coyote’s in helping those cross the border. Almost no one tries this venture on their own because if you do and a coyote finds this out you can be killed. That’s how they make their money. For $4,000-6,000 you can have a coyote help you cross the border and if you don’t make it the first time you have a total of 3 tries for that amount of money.