Thomas Wilson

Dr. David Colon

Intro to Latinx Studies

May 11, 2023

Response Paper 2

“The American Dream” is a term that has been used to describe an idealistic, fairytale-

like way of life in the United States for decades. To some people it means winning the lottery,

to others it’s being able to live a comfortable life as a result of their hard work, but to multiple

generations of Latinos, it is a far-fetched myth that is virtually impossible to attain. Many U.S.

citizens cite that a poor education or their income being too low as to why they have yet to

achieve the dream life, but Latinos face a much more daunting challenge in their path. The U.S.

immigration policy, the lack of assistance provided after naturalization, and the manner in

which Latino immigrants are unfairly treated once they the country are the biggest factors

affecting Latinos across generations today.

Immigration in the U.S. has been a hot political topic for many years running, yet it

seems as though nothing policy-wise ever changes. The current regulations for immigration into

the U.S. put all Latino immigrants at a steep disadvantage before they ever step foot on

American soil. These disadvantages that were put into place many years ago are still affecting

children and grandchildren of immigrants, who have never lived anywhere but the U.S. Our

policies have targeted immigrants in many ways, lack of documentation, lack of employment,

little to no education, etc. (328) These people would do anything to stay in America, and our

harsh immigration laws make it seem like we never wanted them here in the first place.
 It is no secret that immigrants from all over the world are treated differently than

natural-born U.S. citizens. It is believed by many people that jobs should be saved for people

that are naturalized by birth, and then whatever is leftover can be filled by whoever will do it

for the least amount of money. This is where immigrants, especially Latinos, come in. Legal or

illegal, business owners look to the Latino community when they need manual labor done, and

for a multitude of reasons. First, they have been wrongfully discriminated against for

generations and many people need all the money they can get their hands on. Second,

especially illegal immigrants, are subject to being taken advantage of or threatened so that

business owners can pinch a few pennies. (328) Finally, the majority of Latino immigrants are

more willing to work extremely hard on jobs like these because they have not been provided

with the proper education to become more skilled laborers.

Although the road to chasing the American Dream is much harder for many Latinos, it is

not impossible. As stated earlier, some of the disadvantages of being an immigrant have been

passed down through multiple generations, but there are also a select few who were able to

conquer all of the obstacles so that their children and grandchildren do not have to experience

the same challenges. However, if it wasn’t for the U.S. immigration policy, the lack of assistance

provided by Americans following the naturalization process, and the unfair treatment and

harassment once citizenship is attained, there would be more stories about people who were

able to beat the system, than those whose entire bloodline has been steamrolled by it.