Analysis by Leo Lopez
One of the most interesting things about Jacquie is how she ended up in a country thousands of miles away from her home. For the migrants that come from Canada and Mexico it is easy to see how they end up in the US but for Brazilians to get here there must be some sort of connection. It is more than a coincidence that for the last ten years international trade with Brazil has been increasing, as we learned throughout the semester this would mean that we should see an increase in Brazilian immigrants. Just as it is referenced in the book Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs by Cathy Small, it begins with one person coming to the U.S. then others follow. First it was Jacquie's father that came and then he sent for them.
Jacquie is not a citizen yet but she will be soon, she is a permanent resident and she just applied for her citizenship. Although, it should be noted that she will not be a citizen like most American citizens, she will receive hers through the INS and after lots of paperwork. Most Americans receive their citizenship by birth because of the Supreme Courts ruling on March 28, 1898 (U.S. vs. Wong Kim Ark) that stated that if you are born in the United States regardless of your parents citizenship you are a citizen, a lot of countries in the world do not have this law. They require that at least one of your parents be a citizen.
Another interesting thing is that Jacquie sends money back to Brazil every month. Just as in Cathy Small's book these remittances have become an important part of the Brazilian economy. Many Brazilians that still live in Brazil know someone who lives in the US, this in turn creates more of those "bridges".
Something I quickly I realized was that like most migrants that come to the US, she is of color. Up until the 1950's the US was pretty much "binary," as Peter Kwong wrote in his report Forbidden Workers and the US Labor Movement: Fuzhounese in New York City, meaning that the country was mostly black and whire. Jacquie represents the new kind of migrant that has entered the fray as of the late 20th century. As Kwong states the last time that the US experienced a major inflow of migrants they were Caucasian, and in turn they found it a lot easier to blend into the American culture. All they had to do was learn English and they were in. Now, most of the migrants that come into the U.S. are either Asian or Latino and the American people do not seem to be taking it well.
One of the major reasons for this backlash is that the media severely influences the way that people view issues. As Peter Kwong states in his report, people are feed sensational stories of "waves" of migrants entering into the US unabated. This creates fear in people and they begin to lash out at innocent immigrants. The citizens begin to blame everything on the migrants because they are different and because they have been convinced that the migrants are to blame. It is the same story that has been told over and over throughout history but this time the media is here to add fuel to the fire.