8. Portfolio - Paper 2

 Draft 1

Thi My Hanh Phan

Professor: Esther Lee

AMLA 80

19 April 2025

Immigration myths and the consequences of them

Immigration’s issue in the United States not only has a long history, but it is also a

controversial topic. Through topics of debate, we can identify that many people have

misunderstanding or bias about immigration. Most of people think that most immigrants are here

illegally, and it’s easy to enter the country legally. Why can’t immigrants today? Many people

assume that today’s immigrants don’t want to learn English, or immigrants take good jobs from

U.S. citizens, or the worst people from other countries are coming to the US and bringing crime

and violence… However, all of them are wrong, and they are common myths about immigration.

They cause negative effects and separations to communities in the US, and make the next

generation have misconceptions about immigration. Overall, distinguishing the truths and myths

about immigration is important for creating a better society, because it helps to reduce

misinformation, reduce discrimination, and help people have more exact perceptions for this

topic.

Myths are hurtful to immigrant communities, and the most hurtful myth is US citizens

think that immigrants take good jobs from them. This myth might be come from fear of US

citizens in labor competition; they are afraid that immigrants compete directly with them for

jobs; however, it is not correct. The kinds of jobs that immigrants are taking is different from the

US citizens. In an article “Ten Myths about Immigration”, it pointed out the result of research

from the American Immigration Council that “there is little connection between immigrant labor

and unemployment rates of native-born workers. Two trends-better education and an aging

population- have resulted in a decrease in the number of workers born in the Unites States who

are willing or available to take low-paying jobs.” (Learning for Justice). It means labor ages in

the US are old, and workers have a high education level, so they are not willing to take a lowpaying jobs. In the other hands, most of immigrants are unskilled labor, so they will take any

jobs they are hired. In “A Brief History of Immigration in the United States”, immigrants came

from poverty, speaking no English and lack of education during the history time. For example, it

mentioned that “In the mid-1840s, when the first great wave of poverty-stricken Irish immigrants

arrived, new factories and a growing web of railroads absorbed the unskilled labor.” (Teaching

Tolerance). Therefore, this myth is totally wrong and hurtful to immigrants because they have to

suffer difficult time and hard work to live in the way the citizens think it is good.

Thinking that immigrants take good jobs from US citizens cause to the negative

consequences for both immigrants and the communities they live in. First, when people think

about this myth, they are discriminating in their communities. They are hurting together. Second,

it is not pair for immigrants. In the immigrant side, they will feel that their value and contribution

are not recognized, but they are still considered thieves and they are vulnerable to bullying and

exploitation. In “A Brief History of Immigration in the United States”, it gave the example that

“Today, many guest workers toil in agriculture but even highly-educated immigrants, such as

teachers, can become trapped with no path to permanent residency or citizenship. Guest workers

have no path to citizenship; their visas typically allow them to stay in the country only for a year.

They are often tied to an employer who has paid to bring them here, and they are easily

exploited. With temporary residency, guest workers have few legal protections or rights.”

(Teaching Tolerance). Moreover, the article “Ten Myths about Immigration” gave the same idea

for this problem about “it is easier for unscrupulous employers to exploit this labor source,

paying immigrants less, refusing to provide benefits and ignoring worker-safety laws.” as well,

and it also recognized that “On an economic level, U.S. citizens benefit from relatively low

prices on food and other goods produced by undocumented immigrant labor.” (Learning for

Justice). Therefore, it will always be the damage and pain when we have any myths, and these

myths will lead to wrong actions, behaviors, and thoughts for our community.

Two possible solutions to combating the consequences of this myth are developing the

growth mindset and increase the public awareness about immigration. First, it is important to

develop the growth mindset to have deeply thinking about everything, and avoid having

misunderstanding. For example, the story Hudda Ibrahim and her husband started Dine and

Dialogue program which invited her neighbors to ask questions and get to know each other, after

Ibrahim discovered that her neighbors were afraid of her family. In the video How a Somali

Refugee Is Creating Community in Minnesota, Ibrahim shared that “People were afraid to ask

questions that they thought were inappropriate or offensive, and when individuals usually come

to our dinners, we say ask us any burning questions that you might have.” (2:18). We can

decrease myths by our effort. We can explain and talk to people who are misinformed about how

immigration affect the job. We will explain that getting a job is a competition. A vacant position

is opened to everyone, not only for a person. If we fail to get a job, it might be because we are

not suitable for this position, so we try to find another job. Secondly, government and related

officials should help increase the public awareness about immigration. For example, government,

labor official, or school should organize career work-shop to avoid surplus or shortage in the

workforce, and orientation programs to make sure that everyone have equal opportunities to get a

job.

In conclusion, it is evident that a call to action on immigration is crucial in reducing or

eliminating its myths. By immigrant’s efforts, we can explore myths about immigration and the

facts that prove these myths are wrong. It is imperative that government offices and school work

toward creating a knowledgeable and fair community. Let us join hands and advocate meaning

actions and programs toward a fair community.

Works cited

Great Big Story. “How a Somali Refugee Is Creating Community in Minnesota.” YouTube, 24

October 2019,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgvJaveSUkk.

Learning for Justice. “Ten Myths About Immigration.” Learning for Justice, Spring 2011

www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/spring-2011/ten-myths-about-immigration.

Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. “A Brief History of

Immigration in the United States.” Teaching Tolerance, 2013,

https://www.learningforjustice.org/sites/default/files/general/TT47_Immigration%20Deb

ate%204.pdf.

Final draft

Thi My Hanh Phan

Professor: Esther Lee

AMLA 80

19 April 2025

Immigration myths and the consequences of them

            Immigration’s issue in the United States not only has a long history, but it is also a controversial topic. Through topics of debate, we can identify that millions of people have misunderstanding or bias about immigration. Most people think that most immigrants are here illegally, and it’s easy to enter the country legally. Many people assume that today’s immigrants don’t want to learn English, or immigrants take good jobs from U.S. citizens, or the worst people from other countries are coming to the US and bringing crime and violence… However, all of them are wrong, and they are common myths about immigration. They cause negative effects and separations to communities in the US, and make the next generation have misconceptions about immigration. Overall, distinguishing the truths and myths about immigration is important for creating a better society, because it helps to reduce misinformation, reduce discrimination, and help people have more exact perceptions for this topic.

            Myths are hurtful to immigrant communities, and the most hurtful myth is US citizens think that immigrants take good jobs from them. This myth might be come from fear of a large number of US citizens in labor competition; they are afraid that immigrants compete directly with them for jobs; however, it is not correct. The kinds of jobs that immigrants are taking is different from the US citizens. In an article, “Ten Myths about Immigration”, authors of Justice pointed out the result of research from the American Immigration Council that immigrant workers don’t have much impact on unemployment rates of workers born in the Unites States, but higher education and aging population are reasons lead to drop in the amounts of native-born labors who take low-paying jobs or unskilled jobs. It means that labor ages in the US are old, and workers have a high education level, so they are not willing to take a low-paying jobs. On the other hands, most of immigrants are unskilled labor, so they will take any jobs they are hired. In an article, “A Brief History of Immigration in the United States”, immigrants came from poverty, speaking no English and lack of education during the history time. For example, the article shared that, when the first wave of Irish immigrants, who came form poverty-stricken, arrived in the mid 1840s, and they worked for new factories or railroad companies because they were unskilled labor (Teaching Tolerance). Immigrants have to suffer difficult time and hard work to live in the way the citizens think it is good. Therefore, this myth is totally wrong and hurtful to immigrants because immigrants worked for low-paying and unsafe conditions jobs which citizens rejected, but they blamed that they took their good jobs.

            Thinking that immigrants take good jobs from US citizens cause to the negative consequences for both immigrants and the communities they live in. First, when people think about this myth, they are discriminating in their communities. This thought will make people have negative behaviors to treat to immigrants. They will always blame and never accept values which immigrants contributed, so it will be always a debate for these topics. Second, it is not fair for immigrants and create injustice in society. In the immigrant side, they will feel that their value and contribution are not recognized, they have to face to laws based on incorrect information. In an article, “A Brief History of Immigration in the United States”, it gave the example that many unskilled workers in agriculture, or even skilled immigrants, such as teachers, were difficult for them to become permanent residency or citizenship, they had few legal protections or rights, so they had to depend on their owner. Therefore, they were easily exploited (Teaching Tolerance). Moreover, the article “Ten Myths about Immigration” gave the same idea for this problem. The article’s author described that unscrupulous employers often tend to exploit this labor source by paying less, refusing to provide benefits or work condition, and they also pointed out benefits which U.S. citizens received on low-price food and other goods which produced by undocumented immigrant labor (Learning for Justice). Therefore, it will always be the damage and pain when we have any myths, and these myths will lead devise in the community.

            Two possible solutions to combating the consequences of this myth are developing the growth mindset and increase the public awareness about immigration. First, it is important to develop the growth mindset to have deeply thinking about everything, and avoid having misunderstanding. For example, the story Hudda Ibrahim and her husband started Dine and Dialogue program which invited her neighbors to ask questions and get to know each other, after Ibrahim discovered that her neighbors were afraid of her family. In the video, “How a Somali Refugee Is Creating Community in Minnesota”, Ibrahim discovered that her neighbors didn't dare to speak out their question to Ibrahim because they were afraid that these questions would be mean or offensive, so Ibrahim asked her neighbors ask them any questions they had when they come to her dinners (2:18). We can decrease myths by our effort. We can explain and talk to people who are misinformed about how immigration affect the job.  We will explain in the peaceful way to everyone can understand. A vacant position is opened to everyone, not only for a typical person. We fail to get a job because we are not suitable for this position, so we try to find another job or improve ourselves and come back for the next opening. Secondly, government and related officials should help increase the public awareness about immigration. For example, government, labor official, or school should organize career work-shop to avoid surplus or shortage in the workforce, and orientation programs to make sure that everyone have equal opportunities to get a job. Overall, these solutions are really necessary to practice for combating the consequences of this myth.

            In conclusion, it is evident that a call to action on immigration is crucial in reducing or eliminating its myths. By immigrant’s efforts, we can eliminate myths about myths by explaining or giving the facts that prove these myths are wrong. It is imperative that government offices and school work toward creating a knowledgeable and fair community. Let us join hands and advocate meaning actions and programs toward a fair community. By this way, we can increase good things and prevent bad things in our society, and our life will be better.

Works cited

Great Big Story. “How a Somali Refugee Is Creating Community in Minnesota.”  YouTube, 24 October 2019,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgvJaveSUkk.

Learning for Justice. “Ten Myths About Immigration.” Learning for Justice, Spring 2011

www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/spring-2011/ten-myths-about-immigration.

Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. “A Brief History of Immigration in the United States.” Teaching Tolerance, 2013,

https://www.learningforjustice.org/sites/default/files/general/TT47_Immigration%20Debate%204.pdf.

         Learning lession

I got a lot of feedback and reviewing my work from my teacher. I had mistakes in grammar, sentence structure and the way I explained my idea. Moreover, I had too many direct quotes, so my teacher recommended me work on paraphrasing them. In the final draft, I corrected these mistakes, tried to describe my idea clearly, but I failed. It still exited some sentences that were confusing, some grammar mistakes. For example, I used the symbol "..." in this paper, Therefore, I need to improve my English thoroughly.