Migration, Family, Home, Belonging

After thinking about my family’s migration history, both my father and mother who are from the Dominican Republic have completely different perspectives coming to the U.S. Moreover, my mother was able to come the U.S legally by getting married (before she officially met my father) to get papers and my father came to the U.S illegally, but he managed to get his U.S citizenship around 2010. The parts that are left out was how my father was able to become a legal immigrant and then go on to be a U.S citizen. At the border, family separation receives a lot of public attention in the U.S and around the world. In Laura Bush’s op-ed, the story reveals about the culture in which it appears to be very cruel and immoral. This is because the Department of Homeland Security sent nearly 2,000 children to mass detention centers or foster care and more than 100 of these children are younger than 4 years old. The zero-tolerance policy for their parents who are accused for crossing the U.S border illegally is the cause for the separations. However, the narrative does embody and advocate values by saying that “Americans pride ourselves on being a moral nation, on being the nation that sends humanitarian relief to places devastated by natural disasters or famine or war”. The author Caitlin Dickerson of “Baby Constantin” uses the story of a single child to reveal a much larger narrative. In my opinion, this narrative approach is effective by using an innocent baby to bring more attention to the issue of immigration. This is due to the fact that there are parents in the U.S who have an immigrant background who would just feel so emotional for an innocent baby for being in the situation that he’s in.

Self Grade: 4/5