As we have learned through out this course and I am sure as many of us have heard within the past couple of years, there is this idea that Mexicans, or Latinos, are taking all the jobs from "hard-working Americans" and the Latinos are hurting our economy. However, it seems that people tend to look over the little fact that these "illegal aliens" are doing all the jobs no one would ever really want to do; however, this doesn't make it right for their mistreatment with wages and what not. Nonetheless, people tend to not see how the Latino population, especially the undocumented immigrant, is a huge driving force not just in California's economy but in the United States economy.
I love how the movie showed that Latinos contribute a lot to society, more than those would want you to think that is. Also, I must say I was a little disappointed that no one was laughing at some parts in the movie. I don't know if it was because you didn't want to be there or for some other reason. Or maybe I thought it was funny because of the connection to LA with its traffic and tremendous Latino population. Either way, I really liked this movie for both its message and humor. Its nice to learn something and also get a kick out of it too.
4 comments:
I greatly appreciate your reflection on this topic. I actually also wrote a reflection post on this film. My ideas about this were similar to yours as I really believe it was good to learn about important issues going on while also getting a kick out of it. Also, I do agree that besides all the satire, there was actually a lot of important information to be taken away. I am right there with you as I strongly believe eliminating these "illegal immigrants" will actually just create more of a problem as I strongly believe Americans would not fill the jobs left by immigrants.
That was a great post. Many people don't know they contribute 90 billion dollars to California's economy, while only taking 3 billion in social services. I didn't even know that, but all I hear about from my relatives in California is how the Mexicans don't pay taxes and only take social services away from others. I think the movie did a good job of presenting this overall sentiment towards Latinos.
I thought the movie was funny in some parts too, but I can see where some people wouldn't laugh.
To elaborate on what Erik said, it is very true that many people constantly comment on how much money is drained from the economy by illegal immigrants. What many people do not realize is that illegal immigrants contribute to the economy every time they purchase something from a store through sales tax. Many undocumented workers are still forced to pay legitimized payroll taxes that contribute directly to governmentally funded programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Yet these same people are largely not allowed to draw money out of these programs because they do not exist as far as the government is concerned. I even recently read an article that went as far as saying that many of the low level jobs not taken by undocumented workers are only possible because of the willingness of the undocumented worker to work other less desirable lower level jobs. It is hard to imagine that the economy could be worse than it is today, but without undocumented workers it very well could be.
I agree with you when you say that this movie really shows just how large of a role immigrants play in our economy. That is why I find it ridiculous when I hear people saying we should send all illegal immigrants back to Mexico. It is not like these individuals are creating any major problems in our society. If anything, they are contributing and adding to our economy. At times like this where our economy is worsening every day, the last motive on anyone's mind should be to send all immigrants back to their home country. Our economy would only get worse if these measures were taken by government. America should be focusing on how to get our economy back on track. Overall, I agree with all points made in your post. The underlying message in this movie is powerful as it tells all of America to stop focusing on the illegal immigrant "issue" and start looking at the bigger picture.
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