Alvayero 1

Tania Alvayero
Dr. Oesterheld
English 305 MW 11:30am-12:45pm
25 November 2013
Human Injustice
The state of California has many issues and among many of them is immigration. Many
people from around the world have immigrated to the United States in hope for the American
dream and prosperity. Francisco Jimenez wrote in the year 1997 The Circuit telling from the
point of view of a child the struggles that his immigrant family and himself dealt with in the
1940s. Jimenez gives voice to the many lives of immigrants and at the same time the number of
the undocumented kept increasing through the years in California given by the website CityData. While in November 1994, a law was passed regarding the undocumented immigrants
residing in the state of California called Proposition 187. Proposition 187, California - Migration
(City-Data), and The Circuit show the different viewpoints of how immigration was and still is
a complex issue in California.
The language and tone expressed in the proposition and the data from City-Data.com
shows how the undocumented immigrants were conveyed. The California Proposition 187 uses
language of hostility and dehumanization of undocumented immigrants classifying them as
illegal aliens. The term illegal aliens serves as a negative phrase to people who are not born in
the same country. The demeaning term gives the notion that the undocumented are not people
(aliens) who are invading their place of stay (illegal). Dehumanization continues on by showing
the number of people who migrated to California. The expression used to define Mexican

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immigrants who came to California as hundreds of thousands perhaps even millions
(Document 3). The tone of fear and alarm given to express the increase of people who to the
writers of the article the immigrants are not people but animals who come in packs. By taking
away the humanity of the undocumented to comparing them to animals or insects who are able to
reproduce more times than humans can.
Furthermore the people of California declared in Proposition 187 that illegal aliens were
causing them to suffer economically (Document 1). While Francisco Jimenez, wrote in The
Circuit how his father, his brother Roberto, and a young Panchito would go work in the fields
picking food and cotton that the people of California need and was just enough for Panchitos
family to get by. This thought still continues in the present day where the undocumented are
accused of California and Americas economy. Nonetheless, the undocumented immigrants are
helping by working in jobs that no one wants. Panchito in The Circuit worked for twelve hours
a day, seven days a week picking strawberries or whatever was in season in the hot sun (Jimenez
1). They do not care what kind of job it was but as long as it paid and was sufficient for their
familys food and shelter was decent for them. The immigrants are providing the food that people
buy for the price to keep their family alive and well and most of them have enough to stay and
live in rundown garages. Where a mattress was occupied by the mother and the small children
while the older children and the father slept outside (Jimenez 3).
In addition to accusing the immigrants of economic hardship, Proposition 187 was
denying the rights to an undocumented immigrant; because the numbers kept increasing to about
170,126 foreign immigrants who resided in California (Document 3). The proposition kept
dehumanizing undocumented immigrants by excluding them from society. The fear pours out

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from the numbers given in the California - Migration (Document 3), proved that too many
immigrants were taking away the citizens benefits. The people of California felt inferior that too
many immigrants coming in were taking what was theirs. They wanted to deny them the
privilege of healthcare, allowing immigrant children to go to school, and to enroll to higher
education (Document 1). However the people of California did not know that the children whom
they were denying their education could not go to school because they were busy working, trying
to provide for their families. In The Circuit Francisco Jimenez tells how his young self felt sad
that he was given the opportunity to go to school because grape season was over. On the other
hand, his brother Roberto was not lucky enough to go since the cotton season would not be over
until February (Jimenez 4).
All things considered, by telling the point of view of a working child and the struggles
that Panchitos family had live through to get through the day showed that the undocumented are
trying to support their family like everyone else. The inferiorities that led City-Data and
Proposition 187 to believe that the undocumented were only in California to take was a false
idea. Passing laws and creating fear that undocumented immigrants were taking the benefits or
were not allowed the same benefits as everyone else demonstrate the views of immigration in a
state. Francisco Jimenez tries to show the people how life was as an undocumented child
working in the fields with his brother and father. The information given in City-Data, Proposition
187, and Francisco Jimenez story The Circuit demonstrate that immigration has been an issue
for many years. As the years pass by different views and complexities show how difficult of an
issue it is in the state of California to come to an agreement and change its views.