1990’s Immigration on Class on Gender
Illegal immigration in the U.S. has been there for several decades. As seen in The Tortilla Curtain, immigrants faced several challenges, especially the low class who could not afford standard life. T.C Boyles describes the challenges these immigrants faced and the reasons why society did not accept them. Although gender and class are seen in the book as factors that affected how the immigrants stayed in foreign lands, there still opposing opinions regarding the same. Different people could relate the immigrants to varying viewpoints, and as a result, there have been opposing views concerning the immigration of the Mexicans. It is, therefore, crucial to carry out research that investigates the link between the theme of gender and class, as seen in Tortilla and Curtain and the historical events, laws, and cultural trends concerning immigration in the 1990s.
The book has clearly shown the societal class as one aspect that can be used to view the issues of the immigrants in the United States. People of a low class are associated with threats to society, such as theft and reducing the economy. For instance, Kyra and Delaney were worried due to lowering the values of the real estate prices, which was the source of income to Kyra. Kyra believed that her real estate business could not thrive if the immigrants stayed in the region. According to “Causes and Impacts Relating to Forced and Voluntary Migration – Revision 2 – Higher Geography – BBC Bitesize,” illegal immigrants were draining the economy of the United States. As a result, various laws were passed and actions taken against these immigrants. It was also reported that illegal immigrants were getting government services that they did not deserve. Hence, the immigrants from the Mexican were harmful to the economy of the U.S. since it is the economic status of their country that compels them to migrate.
However, it is reported that the low social class people were a great advantage to the economy of the U.S. Unlike the report in the novel, most workers in various industries such as hotels, residential care, agriculture, food service, and janitorial staffs. The peak of immigrations existed between the 1970s and today, which coincides with America’s economy significant transformation (Faye and Doris). Poor living standards is one of the factors that made Mexicans migrate to the U.S. since they could get better jobs that could improve their living standards. The difference in class between the rich and the needy causes more benefits to the economy. A case pointed out by West (1) shows that the low social class people work for the benefit of the economy of the U.S. Besides, if the people of such class have bad vices as Kyra urged, then they would not be stealing they would not be going to look for jobs. Lewis (49) reported that 93 percent of the hired people in California were illegal immigrants, people who had left their country due to poverty.
Notwithstanding the benefits resulting from the low-class individuals bring to the U.S. economy, gender remained a basis of mistreatments. America, a woman of low social class from Mexico, is assaulted sexually on several occasions. This indicates all the suffering that women from foreign countries faced in the United States. For instance, at the places of work, the employers told women that they could report them to the department of immigration in case they fail to comply with the instructions given. Due to the instilled fear of being fired and deported to their countries, women kept silent even when the employers assaulted them. In another study, (Orloff 49) reported that 4.8 million women faced rapes and physical assaults every year. The risk of women being abused in relationships was acute for women who had migrated to America. Hence, it can be seen that immigrant women were mistreated in the U.S.
However, the challenges faced by the illegally migrated people in the United States was being used as a remedy to mitigate illegal immigrant rather discrimination based on gender. All the immigrants in the United States faced challenges regardless of their gender. The sufferings were not based on women but on every illegal immigrant. The harassment to immigrants resulted from the potential dangers they caused to Americans. For instance, Kyra and Delaney were worried due to reducing the values of the real estate prices, which was was the source of income to Kyra. Besides, the immigrants were also associated with theft cases. The demolition of the house belonging to Cándido and his wife is evidence that it was not one gender being harassed but rather all the illegal immigrants.