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Garcia,Stephanie
English 101
Batty, Holly
May 8, 2018

Immigrants and their Struggle

Still Water Saint is a book that focuses on a town known as Agua Mansa. In this book we

learned about this guy named Rodrigo. Rodrigo is a Mexican immigrant who is looking for a

better life for him and his parents. Immigrants have been struggling for decades in the United

States . For many years undocumented people has becoming a huge problem to U.S. Those

people not only struggle trying to get a spot in here, but they also struggle in their way to the

United States. Rodrigo is an example of what immigrant have to face in this country. As many

other immigrants Rodrigo struggle trying to cross the border. In this book it discuss how hard

was for Rodrigo to get to this country and this is somethings many others have to face in order to

cross the border

In my opinion immigration really is affecting us because those people that have risk their life

and now they are being deported and that also will affect this country. Like I said before In the

book "Still Water Saints" by Alex Espinoza it talked about Rodrigo's life and how he had to go

through so many things. As many other immigrants he suffered trying to crossed the border.
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This is an example of what immigrants are and their struggle when they try to cross the border to

have a better life for their family. In the article “Deaths in The Desert”, David K Androff and

Tavassoli Y argue that “Many would acknowledge that immigration is a major issue in the

United States and that immigration reform should be a priority. However, there is little

attentionto the human rights crisis on the U.S.-Mexican border. As a result of tightened border

security since 1994, it is estimated that over 5,000 migrants have died in the Sonoran desert”.

This is something sad because people don't realize how difficult it has been for undocumented

people that die in this dessert and that is causing deaths of so many innocent humans. They don't

see what those people have been through they don't even realize how many people die in the

desert looking for an opportunity in here. This is a problem many immigrants have to faced when

they are crossing the border because the death in the desert are increasing in a high level. People

like the President Donald Trump seem to not care about those poor people that have been in this

country for so long. They don't realize how difficult it is for them because they also risk their

life.This illustrate how difficult was for Rodrigo to get to The United States and all the bad

things he experienced as many other undocumented people have experienced in their way to the

United States.

However we know that illegal immigrants have passed through so many horrible things

trying to get a better life. That has not stopped them to achieve what they have done for this

country. Rodrigo a teenager that decided to come to the United States to look for their brothers.
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He also decided to come because he wanted to help his family with money since they were poor.

During his journey to the United States he met different people. In Tijuana he met this guy

named Chino that offered him job and Rodrigo innocently accepted because he wanted to earn

money so he can help his parents.In the book by Still Water Saints it states " His name was

Chino, and led him to a bar called Estrellitas. There were boys there all of them skinny. All of

them in tight shirts and red shorts. There were older men there too, watching a boy on a

platformdancing naked." In this quote we can see how Rodrigo had to accept this job because as

many immigrants he was looking for a job and in that moment he didn't care about what he just

thought about the money. At first he didn't know that he was about to work as an entertainment

for men in a bar. We also read how Rodrigo was treating bad for those men and sometime he was

rape. This is a really good example of what those immigrants have to do in this country. They are

force to do jobs that pays them so little. That's something that Rodrigo face because he needed

money. This is because they have suffered so much and people like the President Donald Trump

show himself neglectful about what they have done for this country. Immigrants struggle is

mostly because of the low wages. Like I said before they are force to work for so little. Rodrigo

is a good example on how immigrants have to face so many horrible things. He didn't have an

option the only way to make money was by working at the bar. At the beginning he was doing

okay but then he startle to feeling worthless because of what this men were doing to him every

time he had to be with them. In the article "Immigrants and the Road to Power", Ruth Milkman

states that "many low-wage immigrant workers understand their fate not only as determined by

their individual attributes or achievements, but also as bound up with the fate of other members

of the immigrant community". This is something that really made us think about how
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undocumented people feel and how they are being treating and that they dont have option and

they have to take whaterever job it’s offered to them. This is also states that this people don’t lose

their fate and that everything that their doing will be worth it.

Regarding with immigration and the effects on this country is really controversial because

these new laws is what really is affecting this community. This is a osible that really will affect

us because as we know the immigrant population does have a place in this country and that’s

what others don’t see. In Rodrigo’s case he suffered when he was in Tijuana when he was trying

to cross the border because he didn’t know this place. He met this man named Felix who

practically raped him and made him do horrible things that Rodrigo didn’t know. He innocently

had to let him do those things to him just because he was taking care of him. Immigrants people

really have to face so many thing and and the new rules that this country is making are

destroying this community that fro many years have becoming so important. This is the real

osible that many of those people don’t pause and think for a minute that immigrants have done

so much for this country and have contributed in so many ways. Deportation seem to be the only

solution for undocumented population without realizing the struggle they have been through. In

the article “Immigration Reform”, Rino R.R. addresses that “Illegal immigrants are real people

with real need, in many cases drawn to America by industries that osible n the cheap,

underground labor markets that osibl immigrants makes osible”. This is a good example of

what the immigrant population does have a spot in this country this is because they make this

place a better one without them this country will have real problems. These people have worked

so hard in so many ways, they do this hoping to succeed and hoping to have a better life for their

family.
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Ultimately Immigrants have struggle so much in this country and nobody care about what

they have done for the United States. In the Still Water Saints we learned so much about

immigrants and their struggle in this country. Rodrigo's story reflects what immigrants have

suffered looking for new opportunities and because of poverty they are forced to work for

lowsalaries. In Rodrigo's life we see how he passed through so many horrible things and sadly

that's how immigrants are entitled when they decide to come here looking for jobs and better

opportunities. Immigration is being so controversial in the past few months and that deportation

is the only option they have now. In fact we learned that Rodrigo did not achieve what he wanted

for his life and for his parents, and this is the reality for many undocumented people.
 Works Cited

Milkman, Ruth. "Immigrants and the road to power" Dissent (2012 )

Reno, R.R. "Immigration Reform" First things; A monthly Journal of Religion and Public (2012)

Androff, David K. and Kyoko Y. Tavassoli. "Deaths in the Dessert; The Human Rights Crisis on
The U.S.," Social Work Volume 57 (2012)

Espinoza, Alex. Still Water Saints: Picador, 2008