Literary Analysis Essay on The Weight of Shadows

Introduction

Jose Orduna's "Passport to the New West" talks about immigrants perceived to be rapists, terrorists, and murderers in the US. According to Orduna, most Mexican immigrants are demonized for the atrocities above. However, the book also tells us of their humanity and what they undergo in search of greener pastures. In this regard, this paper will talk about the experiences immigrants undergo at the borders and the cruelty they experience from border patrol officers in the deserts. Additionally, the context will highlight various questions concerning immigration systems and the American perception of Mexican immigrants. The questions include why there is American apathy at the borders and why there are a lot of deaths at the desert immigration borders.

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Why there is American apathy at the borders?

In the article "Passport to the New West," there is American apathy at the borders because there is lack of concern to the immigrants. Border patrol officers have no sense of humanity at all. They take away gallons of water from the immigrants as they remain dehydrated (Orduna 700). The officers claim that they do not know what the gallons hold and so they refuse to give back water to the immigrants. Also, they have no interest at all on whether the immigrants understand English or not (Orduna 699). The agents coerce the immigrants depicting the nature of American apathy at the border. The ideological situation, in this case, is that these agents are ignorant and that they have no empathy for immigrants. As described earlier by Orduna, Mexican immigrants experience cruelty at the borders, and that border police officers consider them terrorists. According to the article, it seems that the American government also has no interest at all to immigrants travelling across the desert border. The government tends to believe that they are fugitives making officers use cruel approached to them.

Why are there a lot of deaths at the desert immigration borders?

Mexican immigrants are known to be murders and rapists, which gives a clear picture of why border agents use harsh approaches to immigrants. In this case, cruelty sometimes begets violence leading to the death of immigrants. A foundation of violence, therefore, forms in American soil(Orduna 700).Rejection at the desert borders is always legal according to the officers. There is no justice at these desert borders. Rejected Mexican immigrants feel that it is unfair for them to be shoved by officers at the border, thus leading to violence and death. Consequently, in the paper, there are points derived from the questions answered that reflect the whole article. The point that stems out is the rage against immigration systems. Orduna writes of his experience as a Mexican immigrant on immigration systems in the US and how it affected his family and friends. Most undocumented Mexican immigrants undergo such experiences, as seen in the article. Orduna describes his rage against the American government borders that have incompetent border patrol officers who believe all immigrants are evil.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the statistics derived from this article is the art of bureaucracy and immigration policy implementation in American soil. The US government believes immigrants are terrorists and would cause harm to the American people. Policy evaluation, therefore, is applied at all costs to get rid of Mexican immigrants at the border. These officers tend to follow orders from above, which brings out the art of bureaucracy. In doing so, Americans believe that they can curb vices such as terrorism, xenophobia, murder, and rape cases. Upon such vices, American border patrol and police go on citizen arrest, mainly Mexican immigrants that appear guilty get arrested. Policies are then enhanced to facilitate deportation and rejection at the desert borders.

Works Cited

Orduna, Jose. The Weight of Shadows: A Memoir of Immigration & Displacement. Beacon Press, 2016.