Immigration has been a hot topic in the media recently due to the current political campaigns. On Wednesday, November 18th TCNJ held an Immigration Stereotype Discussion Panel to educate those in attendance. The panel included: El Centro Founder/Director Roberto Hernandez, TCNJ professors Alberto Carbonilla and Sandra Sepulveda-Kozakowski, Bonner Scholar Talia Martinez, and LTA sister Aracely Vivanco.
They focused on five common stereotypes about immigrants:
1. Immigrants do not pay taxes.
False. They are provided an ITIN number by the IRS to pay taxes. These people pay taxes because they want to do the right thing. They want to do everything that it is to be American.
2. Undocumented immigrants take away jobs from documented Americans.
False. Immigrants take jobs no one wants. These can be intense manual labor jobs that people turn down all the time or don’t even bothering thinking about. They work countless hours, breaking their backs to feed their families. They find something they are good at and use that to their advantage just to get by. Lastly, these individuals only receive about 81% of what native born workers get.
3. The overwhelming majority of immigrants are Latinos.
False. The biggest increase of immigrants coming to America are in fact Asian, not Latino. So where does this stereotype stem from? Media. The media portrays immigrants as Hispanic in movies, and there is also a focus on the news at the border between the US and Mexico.
4. Immigrants only have children in America to secure a path to residence or citizenship status.
False. First of all, no one has to justify as to why they have a child. As Professor Sepulveda-Kozakowski stated at the panel, “Why does anyone have to justify their choice to have a child and make that be their reason to do anything? Everyone else is allowed to have a child because of whatever reason they want yet we stand in judgement of other people and say that ‘oh, you had that child to be a ticket to your freedom.’” Just because immigrants decide to have a child while in the United States that does not mean they are guaranteed to stay here. There are so many stories of families that have been split apart because one parent might have documents and another might not or for other factors.
5. It is simple to become a citizen.
False. This process is so difficult and not being a citizen limits you in so many ways. There is this misconception that it is an easy and fast process when in reality people wait years to become a citizen. Also, as another Bonner Scholar in attendance, Horacio Hernandez stated: “Life doesn’t stop when you are waiting. It continues to move on. You still have to feed your family, you still have to go out of your way to do stuff to provide not only for yourself but for your community, for you family, for your children. Life keeps going and you’re expected to wait five to ten years for a single document that can allow you to do certain daily actions that others are taking for granted.” The process to become a citizen is not only expensive but also emotionally draining.