Immigration Abstract

No matter what side of the immigration issue people are on, most have a tendency to stress the importants of symbols and history to back their arguments with. As the Boston Globe put it "the immigration debate rely on such rhetoric and on symbols from our history as the quintessential nation of immigrants." Progressives point out that the immigration made up for the building blocks of the United States and that we are all immigrants. They often call America "the melting pot." People who are for strictly enforcing anti-illegal immigration laws such as Santorum, say that immigrants in the past worked hard to asymilate into American society whereas modern illegal immigrants do not bother to even learn English.
Both sides of the arugement agree that the symbolism and meanings of words play a huge role in the debate. They stress how it is important to be weary of calling people "illegals" and "legals" rather than legal immigrants and illegal immigrants. With elections coming up, these issues revolving immigration are very important and studying what each side is saying is also nessecary. No matter who is speaking or what side they support, they all have bring up the same points, points that they know will get people going. Politicians want to get people riled up and passionate so that they will vote in their favor. Based on the stir that these debates and new laws have caused, it shows that they know what they are doing.