Saturday, October 31, 2009

abUSed: The Postville Raid

On October 14th, I attended an experience event that discussed the current problems of immigration. Filmmaker, Luis Argueta came to talk about the raids in the United States involving immigrants. He showed us his documentary that featured the town of Postville and the people that lived there. He interviewed many families and people that were affected by this raid. Ultimately, this documentary and presentation is about how we should be questioning human rights and the treatment of others, especially immigrants.

This presentation made me think about what immigrants go through just to provide for their families and mostly, to survive. They come to the United States looking for success and happiness that the United States claims to have. I think that it is unfair the way the government handles the situation dealing with the immigrants.

What I found most shocking to me were the conditions in which some of the illegal immigrants had to work in. A lot of them worked in factories receiving little to no pay and forced to work long hours. It was especially hard for women because some were even raped. Children were also forced to work in these factories. The people that ran these factories would overlook the fact that some of the immigrants were young, children.

This documentary forces one to think about whether or not the way the government handles the issue of illegal immigrants fairly. I think that it is unfair the way the government treats illegal immigrants. I think that something should be done to try and help some of these immigrants. Because ultimately they are looking for a new beginning and a better opportunity in the United States. Many immigrants have jobs that people who live in the United States wouldn't normally want to have.

Overall, I thought this presentation was very interesting. Luis Argueta did an excellent job documenting real people who told their side of the story. This film will hopefully show the viewers that there is another view point to the immigration issue.

1 comment:

  1. October 14th i went to the asUSed experience event. i found this event to be very interesting. There was a documentary about the United States and immigrants.
    In the documentary, many families were interviewed about the work that they do. Many of the individuals interviewed in the video were very below the legal working age. These individuals are forced to work long hours with very little pay. Since they start at such a young age, they have to work for a majority of their life.
    This video really opened my eyes. I had no idea any of this was going on before i saw this video. It is so sad to see these individuals talk about their lives and the extent that they have to work. The conditions in the factory are terrible. They receive very little pay.
    I think that the government needs to do something about this problem. I cant see how this can be happening and hasn't been stopped yet. I think that nobody should have to be treated like this.
    i enjoyed the presentation and it really made me think. I think that the presenter did a great job.

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