Immigrant’s life in LA
Introduction
California is one of the US states that has the highest percentage of immigrant population. Los Angeles is among the most diversified areas in the United States thus it is important to examine closely the experiences of immigrants living in Los Angeles, and how their presence in this proportion to the population impacts the society and the economy. First, this paper will analyze the experiences of a Syrian girl named Dalya, who migrated to Los Angeles to escape the war. Her story was presented by Julia Metzler (2017) and published in the NYTimes.com. We will then look at the details of the experiences of other immigrants in Los Angeles and how the experiences of immigrants from different backgrounds compare to those of Dalya’s. By looking at the experiences of immigrants, the contributions they have for the society and the costs of having immigrants in Los Angeles, I will offer a recommendation on how United States lawmakers should design immigration policies, and possible counter arguments against this recommendation, followed by a conclusion formed by considering all the facts presented in this paper.
“From Aleppo to LA”
In Metzler’s (2017) short documentary entitled “From Aleppo to LA”, she presented the life story of Dalya and her Mother, Rudayna, who migrated to LA 13 years ago to escape the war in the Middle East. Dalya is an 18-year old Muslim of Syrian descent and she recently graduated from high school. The story followed her life in and outside her school and home. Her brothers are born in the United States and her parents have been granted US citizenship prior to her birth. She is one of the luckier immigrants who did not have any trouble getting legal documentation to become a US citizen. She is part of a mid-income household and she goes to an exclusive girls’ Catholic school.
Her experience in LA had been mostly positive, she lives in a lovely home with her mother, her family can afford to send her to college, and she has good friends who accept her for who she is. She is constantly learning a lot by interacting with people in LA from various cultures. Furthermore, she has freedom of speech and suffrage, and she has the right to protest, she has the right to education and to do practice her religious beliefs that differ from the majority’s beliefs, she has the right to wear whatever she wants, eat what she wants and to go out and have fun with her friends, she can listen to music that she and her friends like with no restrictions. All of these rights that she enjoys would not be possible if she remained in Syria.
However, she has also experienced some challenges while she is trying to integrate into the culture of Los Angeles. For one thing, despite having all the freedom mentioned above, the fact still remains that she is part of a minority culture and her beliefs, likes and practices are not well represented in the popular culture. For instance, in her religion, she is prohibited to eat pork, which makes the available options of food for her very limited, because most of the food choices in the nearby restaurants are catered to the majority. Another example is her Hijab, which she consistently wears in public out of respect for her beliefs and cultural traditions, which means she also has limited choices for clothing since she does not want to show her skin in public, and most clothing stores only sell women’s clothes that appeal to the majority group. In addition, she is also constantly questioned by other people as to why she keeps wearing it. The biggest challenge for her and her family happened when Donald Trump was elected president and pushed for complete ban of Muslims from entering the country. This policy may not directly impact her since she is already a citizen but the repercussions of the law have a huge impact on her and her family. This policy means that her countrymen, and fellow Muslims are no longer allowed to seek refuge in the US despite the violence that are happening in the Middle East. This means that there are so many families out there who will suffer in the war when they could be enjoying a free life similar to that of Dalya’s. This policy also strengthened any negative stereotype and the racism against Muslims, which directly impacts how people would interact with her and her family. It may also limit her options for education and work in the future.
As a citizen of the US, Dalya and her family experienced a lot of benefits and challenges, but they also give something back to the society and the culture. They add diversity to the area, and increases acceptance of the society towards those who are different than most. She challenged cultural stereotypes against Muslims by being an honest, educated and productive member of society. Her mother works which adds to the country’s GDP. They all pay taxes since they are consumers who add to the economy through spending. The society benefits from her presence because of these contributions, and she and her family contributes to the society just as much as any American regardless of cultural backgrounds.
Other immigrants in LA
Unfortunately, not all immigrant experiences are the same as that of Dalya’s. More than one million immigrants in LA are undocumented and they are experiencing greater pressure and challenges since Trump had the Immigration and Customs Enforcement performing operations to find and detain undocumented immigrants. For instance, it was reported that in a single operation by ICE, back in February, more than 160 immigrants in South Carolina were held prior to being deported (Abram, 2017). Some of the rights that Dalya are experiencing were not applicable for undocumented immigrants. Some of these immigrants in LA are not as educated or striving to be educated. According to Waldinger (1999) “the Los Angeles migration stream is dominated by immigrants with modest, often scant, amounts of schooling (p.259).” Most of them flock to the city for employment and not education. Hence, it has been argued by Trump that they do not provide as much for the city as they take (Desjardins, 2016). However, these immigrants, documented or not, have various contributions to the city and not all of them are dependent. In fact, Waldinger’s research has been done almost two decades ago, currently, many immigrants are striving to stay in the country to be educated and be part of the workforce. In California alone, about 214000 illegal immigrant students were protected from deportation during the Obama administration (Watanabe, 2017). When Trump was sworn into office and announced the end of this protection, University of California students and faculty protested along with the immigrants to obtain justice and freedom to education (Watanabe, 2017). Although it is true that the state spends taxpayer’s money to put the immigrants to school, once they graduate, they become productive members of society. They pay their taxes and they take on professions that make the city better and they spend money that fuels the economy (Chou, 2017). Thus, in the long run, the immigrants are giving more than they take.
Recommendation and Conclusion
This current year, the American Immigration Council (2017) reported that immigrants make up more than 27% of the state’s population and take up about 34% of the state’s labor force in various jobs. The most recent data in 2015 recorded about 10.7 million immigrants in the state. In Los Angeles specifically, in 2010, it was reported that 3.5 million or about 37% of the population are immigrants (USC, 2010), with about a million have been reported to be undocumented immigrants (Mejia, Carcamo & Kroll, 2017). The city, and the country, could do better if they provide more progressive polices that make it easier for immigrants to get documented. By allowing the illegal immigrants a citizenship, the city could collect more income taxes since they make up a large proportion of the labor force. Furthermore, they could register their businesses and buy property which means higher spending and higher funding for the city. By legalizing all of their businesses, these could add up to a large amount of income, business and property taxes that could add up to more than what the city spends on the costs of having immigrants. In fact, prior to Trump’s crackdown against undocumented immigrants, it was recorded in 2014 that immigrants “contributed $232.9 billion to LA County’s GDP; held $70.7 billion in spending power in LA County and $28.8 billion in City of LA” (New American Economy, 2017). These numbers make up a large proportion of the city’s economy, and having them deported might mean the city could crumble.
On the other hand, there are people who oppose this move and see only the negative side of immigration because they fail to look at the larger picture. The president stated that “most illegal immigrants are lower-skilled workers with less education who compete directly against vulnerable American workers. (Donald Trump, cited by Desjardins, 2016)”. This is in support of what Waldinger (1999) said “The cities has always been havens for the least skilled, and the same applies to Los Angeles. These immigrants with the fewest resources, and those most dependent on migration networks converge on the largest urban centers” from two decades ago. Times have changed and the immigrants in the US are no longer as dependent, less educated and unskilled as before. This time, the immigrants have aspirations to learn and assimilate to become honest and productive members of society, and to give back as much or even more than they take. Removing all immigrants would mean a huge decrease in the country’s GDP and taxes and labor force. It would also mean a huge decline of the city’s rich, diverse and eclectic culture.
Works cited:
Abram, S. (2017). “LA County businesses experience ‘A Day Without Immigrants”. Los Angeles Daily News https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/dailynews.com/2017/02/16/la-county-businesses-experience-a-day-without-immigrants/
American Immigration Council (2017) Immigrants in California: Fact Sheet https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/immigrants-in-california
Chou, E. (2017). “Immigrants fueled LA economy to tune of $232.9 billion in 2014”. Los Angeles Daily News. https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/dailynews.com/2017/02/08/immigrants-fueled-la-economy-to-tune-of-2329-billion-in-2014/
Desjardins, L. (2016). “The 6 new, significant things Donald Trump said on immigration”. PBS. www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/six-new-significant-things-donald-trump-said-immigration/
Mejia, Carcamo & Kroll (2017). “L.A., Orange counties are home to 1 million immigrants who are in the country illegally, analysis shows”. Los Angeles Times. https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-illegal-immigration-los-angeles-20170208-story.html
Metzler, J. (2017) From Aleppo to LA. NYTimes.com. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/opinion/from-aleppo-to-la.html
New American Economy (2017). “New Study Shows the Economic Power of Immigrants in Los Angeles”. https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/newamericaneconomy.org/press-release/new-study-shows-the-economic-power-of-immigrants-in-los-angeles/
USC (2010). Los Angeles. University of Southern California. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b&q=los+angeles+immigrant+percentage+legal&oq=los+angeles+immigrant+percentage+legal&gs_l=psy-ab.3..33i22i29i30k1l3.6471.8150.0.8451.6.6.0.0.0.0.179.756.0j5.5.0….0…1.1.64.psy-ab..1.5.750…0i22i30k1.0.uErFsBlMsAY&gfe_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=_MjgWc-pFeL88wfPoKuICQ#
Waldinger, Roger. “Not the promised city: Los Angeles and its immigrants.” Pacific Historical Review 68.2 (1999): 253-272.
Watanabe, T. (2017). “California educational leaders vow to protect immigrant students from deportation”. Los Angeles Times. https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-daca-schools-20170905-story.html
