Immigration: Mexico and Impact on Women Like

Immigration: Mexico and Impact on Women

Like many of the issues discussed in this course it is difficult to see a clear path to equal rights for female immigrants. This issue is particularly troubling because of the fact that there are layers of complex individual issues involved. A woman, whether in the country legally or illegally, may have challenges and struggles with regard to being treated fairly when compared to men as well as naturalized citizens. This inequality is compounded by the complex issue of immigration; those who are here illegally are highly marginalized and are not able to receive the protection that a citizen would. On top of all of those difficulties are the issues that affect illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S.A. These people risk rape, murder, death by heat stroke, dehydration, and hyperthermia which have all been increasing in recent years.

There is an interesting short audio recording by Kira Neel which is available at http://www.prx.org/pieces/14762-unsafe-crossings that details the impact of immigration on Mexican women crossing the border. The commentary deals with women who seek abortions at a Rhode Island clinic after surviving rape while crossing the border illegally. The issue of rape is compounded by the dangerous situations women are placed in during border crossings. The fact is that coyotes (people who claim to be helping undocumented immigrants cross the border) are no longer trusted friends or family members as they used to be. Instead they are strangers and can, in many cases, be connected with Mexican drug cartels creating a very dangerous situation for women attempting to cross the border.

The impact of social inequality to women includes many potential negative outcomes affecting both citizens of the United States as well as illegal immigrants. Legal and illegal immigrants mainly come to the United States either from or through Mexico. Those who would discriminate against illegal immigrants may make no distinction between a legal or illegal immigrant and judge someone based off of their appearance rather than whether or not they are actually citizens of the United States. Even legal immigrants can be mistreated because of incongruous associations.

Legal and illegal immigrant women face challenges because they often come across the border with their partner and/or their children. They can be separated from their partners or children if they are deported. While there are immigration laws and child welfare acts that are meant to prevent this issue, in practice it is not always the case. The ARC has documented some of these realities as shown at http://arc.org/shatteredfamilies.