Essay On Empire Of Dreams

Words: 540
Pages: 3

Immigrants were targeted with cultural dominance using laws and were exploited through the Bracero Program and the Immigration Act of 1917.
The United States set two laws, the “Immigration Act of 1917” and the “English Only” legislation, which culturally dominated the immigrants in terms of their knowledge of English. One example was the Immigration Act of 1917 that was passed by Congress; they mandated a literacy test that required immigrants to read and write in their own language (Law). The level of change in the education standards was an example of cultural dominance because it created higher standards for immigrants, which was favored by the United States due to eugenic beliefs, creating a lower chance for them to have the eligibility
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One way this was proven was in the documentary Empire of Dreams, when an interviewee of the documentary named Grey Gerstle stated, “Between 300,000-500,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans were forced out of the United States in the 1930’s” (Empire of Dreams). Mexicans around this timeframe were constantly migrating to the United States and did so at an exponential rate. Although it is illegal for undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States, documented citizens who were legally in the country were deported too, being unfair and exploiting those who had to wait a long time just to get in, afterwards being sent back to Mexico for an unjust reason. This is an example of exploitation and competition because it the United States only saw the people who wanted to find a new home of freedom, the immigrants, as pawns, using them for work only and deporting them when the immigrants no longer benefitted them Additionally, Mexicans who were forced to work with low income also worked under terrible conditions. In the Bracero Jigsaw Reading, it describes how in the field, “Work days stretched for 10 hours every day” and “At the center, they were sprayed with a white powder in order, ‘To kill the Mexican fleas’” (Jose de Jesus Garcia and Jigsaw reading). The immigrants who needed work, through the Bracero Program, went to the United States to work, but were treated the immigrants very poorly and