Young Writers Society

When two children, Erick, 5 and Ashlin, 3 were abandoned by their mother in Mexico, their father decided to step in and help them by bringing them across the border to their aunt, in Oakland. When they attempted to go across the border without proper documents, they were stopped and the father was deported, which broke their hearts and hopes. (Scheerr, 2014) These unfortunate people came to America because they were told it was the “Land of the Free” but when they came to the border they were stopped. Is this the message that should be shown to other countries? Wasn’t this country made to welcome people in? Today, government officials are now offering to seal the border in an attempt to end disputes. In reality, sealing the border between the United States and Mexico shouldn’t be permitted because it destroys the message of America being the “Land of the Free”.

Any fence can be climbed but the meaning of it is always there. As Secretary of Homeland Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff (2007) put it, "I think the fence has come to assume a certain kind of symbolic significance which should not obscure the fact that it is a much more complicated problem than putting up a fence which someone can climb over with a ladder or tunnel under with a shovel." The wall would serve no purpose other than to show to people from Central America that they aren’t welcome in America. Such a message does not truly represent what the land of opportunity is supposed to be about. The States shouldn’t stand for a message such as this. Instead, America should show a message in which everyone is welcome.

The idea of this message is why many Mexicans would want to move to the United States. According to Pew Research (2009), 1/3 Mexicans would want to migrate to the United States with 18% of them willing to do it illegally. They want the chances of the State’s economic opportunity, so they can provide for themselves and their families. Since Mexico is a stage 2 country the death rates are decreasing and so it is harder for their economy to provide for them with the massive amounts of people. The wall that could be build would just make more families go into poverty and it would show to the children of these families that they aren’t welcome into the land of opportunity. These children will never get to have the benefits of more fortunate children in the United States.

Overall, the 2000 mile border between the United States and Mexico shouldn’t be build. It creates not so much a physical border but a symbolic border on what could be the “land of opportunity” for the people of Mexico, giving them the wrong idea about America. Mexico has not been doing well with their economy and they need the United States to help support themselves. These people may go to America to seek economic opportunity for themselves and families. If they are forced to stay in Mexico because of the border, they might have a lot of trouble with finding a way to stay out of poverty. The message on what America is that is given to these family is not “The Land of the Free” or “The Land of Opportunity”. With that border blocking the way, the Mexican families think of the States as “the land that is blocked from them”. Should this wall really need to be installed? Does this message really need to be shown to the poor people who just want a better life?

*I have some things that I would like edited specifically on this such as:

• Grammar(tenses, my use of personal pronouns, subject-verb agreement, pronoun agreement, a passive voice and sentence structure)
• Good Transitions
• Good Topic Sentences
• Correct use of commas(be as picky as you want)
• Tone(I am aiming to be serious)
• Should my title be in quotation marks or not?
• Overall, my focus on the subject!* Thanks! :D