Argumentative Essay
2012 Immigration Policy in Alabama: Helping or destroying the economy?
Back in 2012 Alabama was dealing with a new policy regarding immigration. This policy
was known for creating harsh conditions for the illegal immigrants but also invading the privacy
of legal residents as well, which is unconstitutional. It can be assumed that many of the voters at
this time were in favor of this new law and felt it would be best for the state to restrict
immigration at this extreme level. This new policy was allowing a violation of rights and could
be destroying Alabama’s economy as well (Fox News Latino, 2011). With the new passing of
this law, protesters have immediately hit the streets in disagreement (Foley, 2011). While illegal
immigration is a problem throughout the United States, Alabama has gone to the extreme by
passing this law, which had allowed discrimination, decrease in workers and students, and a
negative impact on the farmers’ and their crops.
The DREAM Act was generated about two to three years prior to this immigration law
being introduced and was voted into California law around October 2011. Alabama, on the other
had, imposed harsher laws like the HB-56, which is an anti illegal immigration bill. News
coverage at that time captured the occupy Birmingham protests against the recent passing of the
law. The HB-56 law allowed police officers to arrest or detain persons in a reasonable attempt to
determine the detainee’s immigration status (Fox News Latino, 2011).
Argumentative Essay
Many of the protestors were detained and were checked of their immigration status. The
protestors were standing outside of the state’s capital buildings and other significant locations in
disagreement with the recent passing of HB-56 (Hager, 1991). According to Fausset (2011), all
of the released individuals who were apprehended at the protest were all legal immigrants and
citizens of the country. This shows that the state is more worried about finding the illegal
immigrants than officers are willing to racially profile people based on their appearance. These
also revealed that the officers involved weren't worried about consequences and were assuming
that those people were illegal when they were not.
One of the consequences of this law being passed is the discrimination and racial
profiling that was occurring during this time from the police projected onto citizens who look
“Hispanic” or “illegal.” This law has lead to the racial profiling by many officers among many of
the citizens of Alabama who were legal or not even of Hispanic descent (Plott, 2011). It seems
amazing that any person would be able to tell if a resident was legal or illegal just by looking at
someone. In addition, this seems like it would be a form of discrimination by placing people in
categories and excluding them as well as singling people out because they look a certain way.
This, similarly, seems like the start of a possible genocide against Hispanic workers or all illegal
immigrants.
Argumentative Essay
Many students and workers did not show up to school or work around this time because
they were scared of the new law's implications. This unrest has caused many of the farm
workers, no matter if their status is illegal or legal, to not show up for work (Stuart, 2011), for
fear of legal troubles. In the article by Hollis, he states that this new law makes it a crime for
employers to hire or assist illegal immigrants but the laws were and are still being changed in the
federal system. In the article it states, “Farmers across the state reported that workers left because
they feared harassment under the new law or have family member who are undocumented”
(Hollis, 2011). This quote reveals the harsh discrimination faced by certain people within the
state. Farmers have no way of cultivating all their crops without the workers. Many of the
farmers who were facing this harsh reality have posted hiring signs for short periods, which
make it very difficult still. Many farmers didn’t even know if they would make it to the next year
under these conditions at the time.
Another consequence of the farmer workers not showing up to work is resulting in the
loss of produce or crops. The result is that farmers now have no way of tending to all the crops
alone and depend on their employment to survive. Some of the crops are even becoming rotten,
as they aren’t being tended to fast enough (Hollis, 2011). Being in the farm industry is always a
large investment on the farmer’s side of it. With the unknown future of the effects this law will
have on Alabama, farmers also aren’t sure if they will have enough labor to harvest all of their
crops in time. The state also isn’t helping offer any solutions for the farmers and many of them
are at a stand still because they don’t know what to do from this point.
Argumentative Essay
Moreover, a consequence caused by the decreased number of students would eventually
result in low attendance rate and less money the schools receive from funding. Based on Stuart’s
article it states that, “…school attendance has been erratic and withdrawals have spiked.” (Stuart,
2011). Since the enforcement of this new law, with the decrease in the number of students, the
Hispanic population of schools had dropped double the amount before the law. This law isn’t
only affecting the families that are undocumented but the schools they were attending will now
receive less money as the amount is based on “per pupil” in the school.
With all of these consequences from the recent passing of this law, legal immigrants have
also faced discrimination and some have even went back to their home country. The fact that
Alabama’s own legal immigrants were leaving shows how severe the harsh discriminatory
actions are affecting these people. Many people had reported that they were harassed or bothered
because they “look illegal” or of Hispanic decent. The racial profiling has lead to a separation
within a state that already had racial tension or issues before.
With this new law creating a strong racial tension within the communities of Alabama,
could have resulted in racial conflicts that we have seen numerous times today. As mentioned
earlier, some of the forms of racial profiling and discrimination used seem to be what resulted in
the Holocaust around 1933, and much of what the Black Live Matter Movement stands for today
in 2020. At that time, with some people of the state strongly in favor of the passing of this new
law, it created animosity between residents. It can be concluded from many of the articles that
farmers themselves are unhappy and not satisfied with the current outcome of this law. With a
result that could potentially hurt their farms and way of income is devastating to their lives as
well as the economy. Even with the harsh conditions faced by the legal status workers, they have
also left the state to other states or even as far as their home country.
Argumentative Essay
The main problem is that Alabama and other states similar, like California, that have
illegal agricultural workers are going to have an impact on their economy and farmers if similar
laws continue to pass. The reason this is a federal issue is that immigration is an issue for the
country, as a whole, and from all countries, not just Mexico or Central America. Many people
argue that these illegal workers are taking jobs from Americans, but it can be easily shown that
even in the state the economy is in, no one is willing to harvest crops for $60/day or per basket
picked if they have to work twelve hours a day. The biggest counterargument against this is there
are many people who feel that illegal immigration is against the law and those individuals must
pay for their actions if they are in this country illegally. It is understandable to want them to
follow the rules and the law and do things the right way. These examples are showing that the
illegal immigrants are in fact taking jobs away from American citizens but the real question is
how many of those citizens will work hard labor for the little pay the illegal immigrants are
making? Probably not many. In addition, there may be unknown circumstances that prevented
them from coming into the country the proper way.
Also, giving all these illegal workers work visas allow the workers rights to receive
minimum wage when the farmers cannot really afford to do so. Raising the cost of labor
increased the cost of produce people find conveniently at their local grocery store. In order to
keep costs low and pay the illegal workers ``decently,” the best solution for the federal system
would be to re-establish the temporary work visas. These visas would allow the workers to come
and go as they please since most of them are only here to make money to send back home.
Majority of the illegals also planned to go back to their home country after making money for a
period.
Argumentative Essay
Obviously, establishing a system like temporary work visas is easier said than done, it
will allow convenience to Americans and the workers. Because without the workers and enough
labor to harvest the entire crop, the crops might be rotten by the time they are harvested. This in
turn loses more money for the farmers. The cost of other food that uses certain produce items in
their products. Many people, especially Americans, love to buy their food at cheap to no cost to
them. Having the convenience of cheap produce for less than a dollar per pound is a great deal.
But if people who are used to paying five dollars and sometimes less for baskets of strawberries
to almost ten dollars, nobody would buy it. Many people don’t realize how one thing like labor
can affect an entire state and then country.
One main issue with establishing temporary work visas will affect our own economy as
well since costs of produce will increase. Many Americans aren’t willing to pay a lot of money
on fruits and vegetables, which is why temporary work visas might not be possible. Although it’s
a great solution, the U.S. government wants to put into place temporary work visas because like
in the 1930s with the bracero program that was established. Many of the visa holders stayed long
after their visas expired, resulting in the government not willing to put this type of solution into
action without a valid way to keep track of visa holders.
Argumentative Essay
Overall, Alabama had gone to the extreme by passing this back in 2011. This law it has
allowed discrimination, a decrease in workers and students, and resulted in a negative affect the
farmers’ and their crops and school funding. This law clearly shows early signs of destroying
Alabama’s economy because without the workers to provide care for the crops and the decrease
in the number of students all result in less money coming in from state and/or federal funds.
Many people are against this law because it is a federal issue and not a state issue that needs to
be determined equally for all states involved instead of random laws uprooting in every state.
The issue of immigration should remain in the federal systems agenda.
Argumentative Essay
References
"Occupy Birmingham Plans Protest Against HB 56 | Fox News Latino." Fox News Latino |
Home. Fox News, 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 01 Sept. 2020.Fausset, Richard.
"Demonstrators Denounce Alabama Illegal Immigration Law - Latimes.com." Blogs -
Latimes.com. Web. 01 Sept. 2020 . Foley, Elise.
"Democrats Visit Alabama To Push For End Of Immigration Law." Breaking News and Opinion
on The Huffington Post. Huffington Post, 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 01 Sept. 2020 . Hager, Mark M.
"Farm Workers, Boycotts, And Free Speech." Labor Law Journal 42.12 (1991): 792-799.
Business Source Complete. Web. 01 Sept. 2020. Hollis, Paul.
"Alabama Immigration Law Called Nation’s Toughest | Government Content from Southeast
Farm Press." Southeast Farm Press Home Page |. 07 Dec. 2011. Web. 01 Sept. 2020.. . 63.1
(1998): 131-132. Academic Search Complete. Web. 01 Sept. 2020. Plott, Elaina.
"PLOTT: Expelling Work, Embracing Entitlement | Yale Daily News." Yale Daily News - The
Nation's Oldest College Daily. Yale University, 02 Dec. 2011. Web. 01 Sept. 2020.Stuart,
Elizabeth.
"Alabama Immigration Law Doubles Latino Student Absentee Rate, Targets Supreme Court
Ruling | Deseret News." Salt Lake City and Utah Breaking News, Sports, Entertainment and
News Headlines - Deseret News. 02 Nov. 2011. Web. 01 Sept. 2020.
Argumentative Essay
1. What have you learned about how to present a strong argument? How could/will you
apply this knowledge in your professional or everyday life (3-4 sentences)? Even if I
disagree with someone in the workplace there is a way to do it professionally. By having
supporting facts and evidence I can help prove my point in a professional manner to get
my point across. The evidence can help back up my reasoning for the subject too.
2. Consider the English Composition I course as a whole. What have you learned about
yourself as a writer (5-6 sentences)? I learned that with practice, I can still get better and
there is still so much more I can learn. It will help me in the workplace when I have to
communicate for my job with other individuals. In the past I have struggled with
organization and even creating a strong thesis. However, with those things done in the
form of an outline makes the writing process much easier for me.
