Immigrant Fear in Milwaukee, USA | Student Research Report | Rhetorical Analysis

Immigrant Fear in Milwaukee

Introduction

I decided to do a research on the issue of immigrants in Milwaukee. When I chose UWM (University of Wisconsin Milwaukee) as my college for higher education, I began my research about the city and other information about the country and the city where my university is located. USA is a country that everyone admires and dreams to settle in because of the opportunity it provides, freedom and many more. So, it’s most likely to see a large number of non-native Americans in the U.S. Therefore, the topic of immigrants became one of my keen area of interest.

While did my initial research on immigrants in Milwaukee, I came across multiple websites and online articles that described the hard life of being an undocumented immigrant in the U.S. Hate comments from anti-immigrant groups, government policies, financial insecurities, health insecurities, fear of getting deported and so on sums up the terrible life of an undocumented immigrant in the United States. Surprisingly, former U.S. president Donald Trump’s name was seen in almost every document that I came across because his policies were harsh on the immigrant community in the U.S. To get a clearer knowledge and understanding on the topic of immigrant fear in the city of Milwaukee, I arrived at a couple of questions that could narrow down my research and lead me to the most constructive information. The questions I generated were:

1. How has the Trump administration jeopardized the lives of undocumented immigrants in Milwaukee?

2. Why there is so much hate in the society towards immigrants?

3. How has the local Milwaukee county officials addressed the issue of undocumented immigrant settlement in Milwaukee?

4. Is there any legal procedure where the undocumented immigrants can avail a legal permit to stay in the United States?

5. How does the Milwaukee residents react to the issue of immigrant fear in Milwaukee?

After learning more on the topic, coming across government policies like DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) and reviewing the above stated questions, I decided my central research question to be the first question but a little specific: How has the Trump administration jeopardized the lives of the ‘immigrant youth’ in Milwaukee?

Background

Undocumented immigrant youth are young immigrants entered the United States unlawfully with their parents when they were very young. They grew up and received education in the United States without a legal status. Due to this, they are denied work permit, driver’s licence, financial aid at colleges and moreover lead a life of constant fear of being separated from their family. DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival is an immigration policy established by the former president Barack Obama in 2012 to help the undocumented immigrant youth to attain official legal status, driver’s license, social security number and even pathway to citizenship. According to statistics by the American immigration council, Wisconsin has 6,540 active DACA recipients as of March 2020. Almost 191,163 immigrants contribute to the labour force in Wisconsin as of 2018.

My Sources

The Flores Family

The first source that I have come across is a YouTube video published by PBS NewsHour on the 4th of July 2017. The title of the video is, These undocumented Wisconsin parents ‘live with fear everyday’. This video describes the fear led life of an undocumented Mexican immigrant family in Milwaukee due to the new immigrant enforcement law brought into action by the Trump administration.

The exigence for PBS NewsHour to publish such a video was due to the rescinding of DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans) policy by the Trump administration on 15^th of June 2017. This news article by Washington Post gives a detailed information regarding the amendment by the Trump administration. The news article was published on 15^th of June 2017 and the rhetor is Maria Sacchetti, a journalist at The Washington Post who specifically works on covering immigrant communities and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This news article can be accessed by anyone with a paid subscription for review. Since this news article was published on the very same day of the execution of the amendment, the intended target audience are the general public and viewers who seek out trusted sources to learn about the amendment.

The PBS NewsHour video shows how the undocumented immigrant families, members of political parties, lawyers and county executives/supervisors react to the rescinding of the DAPA policy by the Trump administration. The rhetor in this video, PBS NewsHour special correspondent Portia Young of Milwaukee Public Television reports from Milwaukee Wisconsin on the life of Flores family and describes how they live with fear every single day of their life since the beginning of the Trump administration and specifically after the rescinding of the DAPA policy. My knowledge and understanding on the immigration policy were very limited. However, from the sources I came across, I learned about the negative impact of the new immigration policy on the Flores family. The three kids of Flores family have a legal status in the U.S. since they were born in the U.S. But, Mr. Flores and Mrs. Flores entered the United States unlawfully which led them to be declared as undocumented immigrants. Being parents of Americans, they were able to stay in the U.S. due to the DAPA policy. Therefore, the removal of the DAPA policy will lead to the deportation of Mr and Mrs Flores which will make the Flores kids parentless. My major takeaway from this video is that the immigration enforcement law by the Trump administration to ensure the nation’s security would seriously affect innocent immigrant families and youth in the U.S.

In the video, the rhetor also interviews people like Brian Westrate (chairman of the Wisconsin 3^rd district Republican party), Deanna Alexander (Milwaukee county supervisor) and Cain Oulahan (Immigration attorney) regarding the removal of DAPA and its effect on the Flores family. All of them sympathized with the situation of Flores family and clearly pointed out the flaw in the new amendment. However, Deanna Alexander, who was a former member of the army national guard has been on the front line of the U.S.-Mexico border and she believes that more security is needed.

The City of Milwaukee Equal Rights Commission

The second source that I came across is an online article on the DACA statement by the Milwaukee Equal Rights Commission (ERC) on the official Milwaukee county government website. This online article describes the reaction of The City of Milwaukee Equal Rights Commission (ERC) towards removal of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program or DACA by the Trump administration on 5^th of September 2017.

The exigency is fairly explicit, the removal of DACA program by the Trump administration. The intended target audience in this text are Milwaukee residents, human rights activists, social workers, DACA recipients, local government body, politicians (especially Republican party representatives), lawyers, attorneys and so on. DACA statement by the ERC is accessible to anyone on the Milwaukee county government website. In this text, I came across terms such as ‘Trump administration’, ‘young immigrants’, ‘deportation’, ‘ERC’, ‘Congress’, ‘legislative and community partners’ and ‘City of Milwaukee Common Council’. This makes me realize of the people/group of people who has a stake in this particular issue. Therefore, the identified stakeholders in this text are, former president Trump and his administrative office, young immigrants (both documented and undocumented), DACA recipients, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, The City of Milwaukee Equal Rights Commission, Milwaukee county leaders, lawyers, legal attorneys, politicians, Republican party and members of Congress. From this article I could clearly understand that the Milwaukee county leaders were disturbed by the new amendment and they are taking all legal actions to help their young immigrants to live their American dream.

Supreme Court Ruling

My third research source is a three-minute audio file with an associated article published on WUWM News titled Milwaukee DACA Recipient Responds to Supreme Court Ruling. This text was published in 19^th of June 2020 and it describes the reaction of a DACA recipient and an immigration attorney on the Supreme court ruling of Trump administrations immediate end of the DACA program.

The exigency for WUWM News segment was due to publication of a report by the Supreme Court on ruling the Trump administrations immediate end on the DACA program which protects more than 700,000 young undocumented immigrants in the United States from deportation. This is a very long and detailed report titled Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California posted on the official website of the supreme court of U.S., which can be accessed by anyone for review. The intended target audience in this detailed report are the Trump administration, policy makers, legal attorneys, researchers, DACA recipients and protesters.

As mentioned earlier, the WUWM News segment describes the reaction of a DACA recipient named Camila Flores and an immigration attorney named Laura Fernandez towards the supreme court ruling. The intended target audience in this text are Milwaukee residents, people tied to the UWM community. The rhetor in this news segment is a reporter for WUWM News, Angelina Mosher Salazar. This news segment is a combination of interviews with Camila Flores and Laura Fernandez along with the narration of the reporter. The WUWM News reporter Angelina Mosher gives a brief introduction about DACA and how it protects the undocumented immigrant youth in the United States. In reference to her interviews with Camila Flores, the rhetor describes how Camila Flores and her fellow DACA recipients and other immigrant friends are feeling on the supreme court ruling of Trump banning the DACA program. However, concerns are also expressed stating that the supreme court decision is just a temporary relief on a much deeper uncertainty. Meanwhile, my major takeaway from this News segment is that, DACA program is not going to be rescinded by the Trump administration and the DACA recipients will receive two years extension on their work permit in the United States.

In the news segment, Angelina Mosher also interviews an immigration attorney Fernandez and sheds light on the supreme court ruling from a legal perspective. Fernandez shares her support towards the court decision and also tells that the court decision isn’t concrete. Fernandez describes that the Trump administration can still pursue legal pathways to rescind DACA program and she also speculates that there is a potential chance that the Trump administration will do. However, the chances to overturn the supreme court decision seems mostly unlikely since the litigation process can take up to months putting the administration’s efforts in limbo, explains Fernandez. Therefore, the DACA program still being legal remains uncertain.

Live the Life Without Fear

The fourth research source that I came across is an opinion column on Milwaukee Neighbourhood News Service website by a DACA recipient with the title, I want undocumented youth to live their lives without fear. This opinion column was published on 9^th of October 2020.

The exigency for this opinion was the upcoming 2020 presidential election and the pre-existing threat on immigrants by the Trump administration. In this opinion column, the rhetor, Alejandra Gonzales describes her life of being an undocumented immigrant and later gaining the citizenship status due to DACA program. Alejandra Gonzales explains the struggles she had to face in school, college and work being an undocumented immigrant. However, due to proper advocacy from the right people, she was able to the follow her passion. Inspired by the advocates, Alejandra is now an activist helping and supporting other undocumented immigrant youth to live a life without fear, fight for their rights and follow their passion. Towards the end of the opinion column, it can be seen that the Trump administration posts a threat to Gonzales’s mission to help the undocumented immigrant youth. Therefore, she urges the people of Milwaukee who believe in human rights to vote in the 2020 presidential election and to be their voice.

Under the New President Biden

My fifth and final source is a news article from The Washington Post with the title ‘Dreamers,’ DACA and Biden’s First Try on Immigration which describes the initial plans of president Biden and his administration on new immigration and DACA policy. This article was published on 25^th of January 2021.

The exigency for this news article was the newly inaugurated White House office and the pre-existing tensions on immigration policy due to policies executed by the Trump administration. The rhetors of this news article are Laura Litvan and Erik Larson. The rhetors describes what is DACA, its function and how it protects the young immigrant groups in the U.S. However, my major focus is towards the end of the news article. The last paragraph focuses particularly on Biden administrations strategy to preserve and protect the DACA policy. The Biden administration has in fact issued an executive order to protect the DACA policy. However, for granting citizenships and permanent residency Biden has to urge the Congress to pass the bill which can be very challenging for the Biden administration.

Conclusion

From all the sources I’ve collected and reviewed, a lot of stakeholders have been identified. Since the topic of immigration is not just confined to the city of Milwaukee and has national importance, it obvious that the number of people having stake at this issue should be considerably high. Therefore, it’s not just the Milwaukee county leaders, politicians in Milwaukee or immigrants in Milwaukee who has a stake in this issue. Policy makers, Republican party, Democratic party, members of the Congress, people who work in the legislation and in the making of law, are also the major stakeholders in this issue. Human Rights Commission, lawyers, legal attorneys, journalists, social activists and immigrant support groups are people who communicate directly with the immigrant groups and so they play a key role as a stakeholder as well. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, police and national guard are people who implement and execute the law, so they do have some stake in this issue. In the other hand, voters are important stakeholders, but only during elections. We saw how immigration policies changed from Barack Obama to Donald Trump and now to Biden, therefore, voters are an important stakeholder.

Back to the central research question. Life of immigrant youth in Milwaukee was definitely hard under the Trump administration. Rescinding of DAPA and DACA policies under the Trump administration led to a life of constant fear. There was so much hate towards the immigrant groups especially during the Trump era because people considered them a threat and burden to the country. Contrary to that, it was really nice to see a lot people in support for the immigrant groups and immigrant youth who were once undocumented in the country now helping other undocumented immigrant groups to live a better life. I personally have no stake in this issue. However, this research has helped me to look into the issue of immigration from a totally different perspective. Just like any other human being the immigrant groups also wish to have better life and not just for themselves but to their kids as well because they see the United States of America as a land of hope and dreams. Thus, it is important that we show love and support towards them.