Jennifer Gaytan on "Policing Gender Lines"

In chapter 6: "Policing Gender Lines" of Andrea Ritchie's book, she focuses on the overpricing of women, gender nonconforming people, and people who didn't dress like their assigned sex. She explains that this ideology was based upon what it meant to be a "real woman" in a white supremacist world. A women needed to be white, gender conforming, and upper class to be treated like a "lady."

The fact that she focuses her paper on the over-policing of women and gender non-conforming people is very interesting because when people talk about the over-policing of a group of people, they talk about black men and people of color. However, women and people who don't associate with their assigned sex often get ignored. Ritchie explains that if a person is not dressing or acting like the sex that they are being categorized in. In several stories in the chapter, many people talked about their experience with the police and how they were wrongly arrested for not conforming to the law's thought.

Also, Ritchie talks about the fact that during encounters with police officers, women are often abused. They are either sexually, verbally, or physically abused and harassed. They do this to try and maintain the gender norms already in place because in our society a man is supposed to be more tough and the women is seen as a man's object and very fragile. Therefore, male police officers believe they can do whatever they want to them and it's okay. Not only are women abused, but so are gender non-conforming people. They are often criminalized because they are seen as deviant and not normal.

To apply this into the real world, I read a news article that closely relates to the topic. Anna Chambers, a 19-year-old woman was raped by two NYPD detectives after she was caught smoking marijuana in her car. The two detectives handcuffed her and in the police van asked what she would do so she won't go to jail and that's when they began their attack. They both took turns in abusing her and then she reported it and got a rape kit done to prove it. However, this wasn't the end of the story.

When in the hospital, she was visited by 9 police officers demanding that she doesn't report it and exclaiming that won't be the last time that she would have encounters with the police. The two detectives justify their actions by saying that the sex was consensual and saying that Chambers was posting provocative photos on social media. This news article makes me so uncomfortable because cannot even trust the authorities who are supposed to be there to serve and protect. However, they seem to be doing the opposite and taking advantage of their badge.

Here is the link if you want to read further:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5116565/Woman-tells-nine-NYPD-cops-visited-rape.html

It is important to discuss why this is happening and what we can do to stop this from happening? Why isn't this kind of behavior talked about as much as the police brutality and killings happening to men?

Jennifer Gaytan on "Undocumented Young Adults in Los Angeles: College Goers and Early Exiters"

In the second chapter, the authors are focusing on undocumented students or as they call them "college goers." They explain that when it comes to undocumented immigrants, college is hard, especially when you don't have someone to guide you through it.

I think it is interesting that the authors decided to focus on the experiences of undocumented people's school experience. A lot of the times, they haven't finished high school, and when they do finish high school and decide to go to college it is way harder for them. Many of them do not have parents with experiences of going to school especially not in the United States. Therefore, they need to look for guidance somewhere else.

They explain that because a lot of them decide on not going to college, then they earn "meager" wages. I find this very true for anyone and especially undocumented people. It is definitely hard to have a stable life with a very unstable or low income. With undocumented people, a lot of the times they have family to look out for, so it is even harder for them. I think it was important for the authors to explain this idea.

Gonzalez and Vargas made very good points in this chapter because I think it is an issue going on everyday that affects the way that undocumented people live. I have an undocumented nephew who is currently in his senior year of high school. He has a minimum wage job and of course, can't pay everything he needs to pay with that job. Also, he has decided on not going to college because of the cost and because he thinks school isn't for him. He dislikes it very much that he was going to drop out of high school.

Like my nephew, many young people think that once you're out of school it is easy to make "good" money. They believe that school isn't going to do much for their benefit. However, that is not true. Not only are you being taught math, grammar, and science in school, but we are being taught discipline, determination, and perseverance. My nephew doesn't see that and has decided on not continuing with postsecondary education, and maybe one day he will think back and maybe even regret it.

This is a picture of undocumented students with a sign about wanting to go to college:

It is important to discuss why are these patterns being seen? Why are undocumented people less likely to go to college and if they do, less likely to graduate? What can we do to change this? 

Giulia Oros on "Contested Membership over Time"

In the chapter titled, "Contested Membership over Time," Roberto Gonzales explains the obstacles undocumented immigrants in the United States face in modern times. He discusses how immigration policies like DACA do not meet the needs of many of whom these policies are made for.

Undocumented immigrants include adults as well as children who have lived as long as they can remember in the United States. However, some cannot obtain legal status from immigration policies because of the differentiation between a good and bad immigrant. Some immigrants were a part of gangs or had a felony on their record, but their criminal history was in the past and since then they could have changed their ways. They might have been on a gang list in their teens, but now they could have put the past behind them and now have a family to take care of. The author is critical of this distinction between “felons” vs. “families” and I share a similar opinion. People are too complex to be categorized into ‘good’ or ‘bad’ because life circumstances change. So does that mean immigration policies fail to acknowledge that humans are variable and can turn their lives around for the better or worse. Does that mean that these immigration policies are a failure to the government? The policies could help out those who are accepted as “deserving” of legal status, but even then problems arise. Even if someone is deemed as deserving of legal status, it might come too late for them to build a career, like in Esperanza’s story. Although I admired Obama during his presidency, I feel like the author was not all that glad when he talked about the immigration policies.

The issue at hand is comparable to universities and how they select their future students. Just like certain immigrants are granted legal status in the United States, certain applicants are granted acceptance into a university. Just like when we applied to UIC, they checked at our background, our record, and high school GPA. A university selects the 'good' students and not the 'bad' students, essentially giving acceptance/membership to those deemed deserving of acceptance of the college education. If all universities failed to accept a straight A student  into their school because of a failed class in their freshman year of high school, they would be putting this person in the 'bad' category simply because of one thing done in the past. When an immigrant applies for legal status, the immigration policies ideally should recognize the person for who she/he is and not was.

How can immigration policies recognize who would be deserving of legal status without categorizing immigrants as good and bad?

Brenda Barrientos on "Undocumented and Coming of Age in America"

In " Undocumented and Coming of Age in America," Gonzalez and Varga have expressed their frustrations with The United States poor handling of immigration, framed in a dichotomy of "good" vs. "bad" immigrants that have not only prevented undocumented immigrants from fully becoming a part of the nation, but have also prevented the children they'd brought with them from receiving their promised chance at success. It is in their interactions with the 1.5 generation that Gonzalez and Vargas observe how these distinctions have created difficulties in transitioning into adulthood for illegal immigrants who’ve lived in the US since childhood.

The dichotomy of "good" and "bad" have stretched beyond adulthood for the 1.5 generation: the beginning of a process of exclusion starts as soon as elementary school. Though the Plyer decision allowed immigrant children at least a guaranteed a K-12 education, the authors note, they are not given any means to acquire citizenship or legal guarantee to a college education, both of which are essential keys to participating in and being protected by a system that would sooner deport them than accept them, based on shallow restrictions upon their actions if they're deemed"bad" immigrants.

The result of these restrictions leave them in what the authors call a "liminal stage," their name for how in-between many of the 1.5 generation are: between being social accepted as members of their communities, but legal outsiders according to the law. It is in this division of self, the authors claim, that creates a frustrating division of identities that provides no help to their futures: where their legally born cousins are promised jobs with the acquisition of a college degree, often the former cannot even begin to apply to colleges because of either home situations or financial difficulties from an inability to even obtain well-paying jobs. Their illegality, its noted, prevents them from becoming full-functioning adults in American society, and worsens their quality of life to dire straits. 

From their experiences with undocumented youth and research into the lives and conditions with them, I have to agree that this is another unfair and complicated situation that earns both righteous indignation and sympathy. The frustrations with American immigration policies and its education system aside, there's still hope yet that the fight for the right to legal citizenship and equal opportunity will continue. What's necessary is a change in policies, and Adriana Gonzalez is doing just that, joining others in a hunger strike to raise support for changes to DACA. 

 If given the opportunity, we should be able to discuss the other possible structural reforms  to give undocumented young immigrants a chance to pave their way upwards into the higher echelons of the American workforce and society, as proper citizens rather than aliens with little protections from the system.

Yesenia Saldana on Gonzalez and Vargas " Lives in Limbo: undocumented and coming of age in America"

In the "Lives in Limbo: undocumented and coming of age in America" Gonzalez and Vargas begin by stating that immigrants live in a big disadvantage even though they come to America looking for the "American dream." No matter what age an immigrant might be they are still affected by the different factors just because they are undocumented living in the U.S.

In this essay, Vargas and Gonzalez specifically discuss about immigrants that reside in California. This is one of the places in the U.S. like many other states that is home to many undocumented people. Most of the people that live in the L.A. Metropolitan area in California are undocumented facing difficult challenges there even though this place is made up of mostly immigrants. The authors discuss that one of the biggest disadvantages immigrants have is part of education. The author mentions how undocumented students face hard challenges because they do not receive the same help as other students. Not only do these students don't receive help from school personnel but they also lack help from their families. Usually, undocumented students lack help from their families because parents are forced to work long hours in order to be able to keep their families stable.

Like I previously mentioned, another disadvantage for immigrants is when it comes to jobs. Undocumented people are the ones that are only able to get jobs that require the most labor for less pay than even minimum wage. Jobs take advantage of them knowing that they are undocumented and that they are scared to speak up for their rights. Not only are they required to work hard for long hours, but they are also mistreated and work in dangerous work places.

Just like Vargas and Gonzalez have mentioned in their essay, immigrants that reside in the U.S. do indeed have to live in a struggle in their everyday lives. Over the past years we have seen more and more how immigrants suffer in the U.S. Just last year during the elections was when immigrants were hit the most. President Donald Trump made huge changes that are now affecting undocumented families. Beginning with deportations, lack of healthcare and services for them, and taking undocumented students rights, Trump began to make hurtful decisions towards immigrants. At the moment, DACA students are fighting for their rights that the president is taking away which will hurt their educational careers greatly.

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/a9398aeebe4d9879adf9efcd65b89d133e33fe60/c=0-114-2000-1618&r=x408&c=540x405/local/-/media/2017/09/05/TXNMGroup/ElPaso/636402321749113451-UTEP-DACA-Rally-3.jpg

Will the unfair treatment of undocumented people ever stop in the United States? Or will there come a time when we will have a president that will fight for their rights?

Noemi Barrera on "Undocumented Young Adults in Los Angeles"

In Undocumented Young Adults in Los Angeles by Roberto G. Gonzales and Jose Antonio Vargas, they argue the struggles the Mexican community faces in California. They also talk about how this not only has affected them as migrant workers but their families stability here.

The author mentioned in this part of the article that segregation was a characterization of these immigrant communities. This brought me to think that it has played an immense amount of attention for their families stability. They are being destitute from opportunities others have to become successful in their lives. They come here with a dream to have a better life not only for them but for their future children as well. Their ethnicity has separated them from opportunities in school like getting financial help and going to a good school. 

This article only made me reflect on all Latino workers/students today. Many need a work permit to work and have to worry about having to refile every year. Students like DACA are worried today that their dreams of becoming someone with a professional career will be taken away just because of their status. I believe that it's unfair because all those who worked really hard are now put a stop to what they have studied so far. We can see through this how segregation continues to flow through today's society when you are not financially stable or have the privileged ethnic background.

http://neatoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/students-in-high-poverty-schools-2.jpg

If Migration has occurred for many years, Why do you think that these immigrant communities have stayed at the same level for many years? Could it be because of the change of laws over the years?

Danijela Kaurin on Gonzalez and Vargas’ “Lives in Limbo: undocumented and coming of age in America” CH. 2

Gonzalez and Vargas made a very clear statement as soon as the chapter began: undocumented immigrants are at an extreme disadvantage compared to the rest of the population. The disadvantages vary from education to employment to everyday living conditions.

The L.A Metropolitan area is made up of five different counties, together holding more than half of the undocumented people that reside in California. As explained by Gonzalez and Vargas, the “immigrant communities face clear educational challenges… Latinos [they] are also underrepresented in the California State University system.” With lack of guidance from school counselors as well as parental guidance, these undocumented students who yearn for an education cannot fulfil that feeling due to the lack of support and hope they have.

In addition to education, undocumented people fall at a very hard disadvantage when it comes to trying to support themselves. The chances of a man or women receiving a minimum wage job in comparison to a documented citizen is near unheard of. The closest these immigrants get to employment are dangerous factory jobs that pay employees a daily wage of what is equivalent to a loaf of bread. It is truly sad and difficult for these immigrants who just want to better their lives.

Gonzalez and Vargas offer very intriguing and factual evidence when explaining how large of an disadvantage undocumented immigrants come to be, especially in such immigrant dominated counties such as the L.A metropolitan area. It is hurtful to see so many hopeful people coming to the land of opportunity and only be offered the bare minimum of opportunities. The following photo shows an example of undocumented immigrants who are attempting to go to college but the legal system and their backgrounds make it very difficult for them to achieve that goal. This occurs for thousands of kids around the country especially in such immigrant dominated counties such as the L.A metro area.

America is known as the land of opportunity and freedom, yet when these people come here searching for that, it magically disappears.