Final Paper Research Revision
The plight of refugees in the USA is now a well-documented fact. Refugees usually endure various problems while at the host countries. It, therefore, implies that the US society is not just exceptional. Even though concerted efforts have been made to improve the refugees’ experiences in host countries, the plight through which they undergo cannot be ignored. No other book details the refugees’ problems in the United States than Cristina Henriquez’s ‘The Book of Unknown Americans.’ In this book, Henriquez uses fictitious characters to bring the readers the plight of Central American refugees in the United States. Readers are introduced to the sad story of Arturo Rivera, who decides to leave his plum job in Mexico to come to the USA to seek proper medical care for her daughter, Maribel, who is suffering from a brain injury. If only Arturo could know that he was looking after his death, probably he would not have braced for the long tiresome journey to the Newark, Delaware (Henriquez 30). Garrett sexually abuses her daughter Maribel Rivera under Alma’s witness, who happens to be Maribel’s mother. It is ironic that Garrett refers to Maribel as a retarded girl in reference to her mental problems caused by accident but at the same time angles to befriend her. Micho Alvarez indicates the hatred and real problems that refugees have to endure, especially from the natives. “We’re the unknown Americans, the ones no one even wants to know, because they’ve been told they’re supposed to be scared of us and because maybe if they did take the time to get to know us, they might realize that we’re not that bad, maybe even that we’re a lot like them. And who would they hate then?” (Henriquez 237). Immigrants are not only despised as Micho Alvarez alleges, but they are also subjected to far-serious problems fundamental among them is sexual harassment.
This does not mean that other problems such as heavy labor with little pay, bullying of immigrant students in US schools, hate crimes directed at immigrants, and poor wages have been overlooked. These are serious problems that face refugees in the US, and they must be mentioned in the introduction phase of this article. These are problems that are deeply covered in Henriquez’s book. It is not lost on the readers that Arturo Rivera endured many problems while working at the mushroom company. He had to work for longer hours with little pay. However, in this paper, I will be discussing the experts’ opinions on how sexual harassment endured by Mexican refugee women in the country can be mitigated. In Henriquez’s book, the sexual harassment that Maribel endured is just a tip of the iceberg of what women immigrants from Mexico usually undergo. So this paper will be answering various questions that are not limited to:
How can their parents protect little girls against being sexually harassed at school?
How can Mexican women report cases of sexual abuse to law enforcement agencies?
How can the obstacles preventing Mexican women, immigrants from reporting sexual harassment against them be removed?
How can the US federal government create a legal framework for the protection of the Mexican women refugees working in various companies?
This paper looks to answer some other key questions by drawing from the experts’ opinions and recommendations. I have chosen to look for solutions on how sexual harassment meted against Mexican women immigrants in the US can be mitigated. It corroborates with what female characters in the Henriquez’s book undergo. It is a fact that Mexican women immigrants usually experience sexual harassment mainly at learning institutions and in working environments, agricultural farms. However, the solutions provided by this paper will zero down on only one area, agricultural farms.
Some of the problems that have been encountered by Mexican women immigrants concerning sexual harassment, as reported by most women rights organizations in the US, include unwanted touching, stalking, rape, exhibitionism, sexual harassment, vulgar and obscene language both used by their employers and supervisors. These are the experiences of the Mexican women immigrants working in farmyards. Once these women report these cases to the respective law enforcement agencies, the claims are either refuted, or the process of seeking justice is curtailed by the employers owing to their deep pockets. It is a pity that some supervisors would continue to sexually harass their women farmworkers even after the latter have complained. So how can this be mitigated? According to the few Mexican women who have been interviewed by various attorneys, and who have reported these cases, the legal process has been made lengthy and expensive. To ensure that these Mexican women working in these farms are protected against any kind of sexual abuse from either their supervisors or employers, there must be a deliberate effort to cut short the time taken by the US courts to hear and determine cases emanating from sexual abuse by the farm owners against Mexican women refugees. There should be a decree by the chief justice of the US judiciary system to the effect that these cases should not take more than three months (Hudson, Valerie, and Patricia 60). If these cases take less than three months for a judgment to be made, and if a severe conviction is made, the other potentially sexually abusive employers would be reluctant to abuse these women immigrants working in their farms sexually. At the moment, these farm employers are conscious of the fact that the lengthy legal processes make it easier for them to win these cases on technicalities. This is because many of these Mexican women immigrants are low-income earners and therefore, cannot afford to hire astute lawyers who can help them to win these cases. With respective to this, the government should provide these victims with free legal services through civil attorneys. Most of the women farmworkers are low income earners and are desperate for job opportunities the pay notwithstanding. This is why their employers are taking advantage of them. They are afraid of losing their jobs at the farm. In fact those women immigrants who have tried to report the cases to the police have been threatened with outright dismissal.
Other than reducing the duration within which sexual harassment cases at the courts should last, there should be the use of language interpreters in US courts, especially for cases involving sexual abuse of immigrants not proficient in English. Most Mexican women immigrants are not proficient in English something which makes it difficult to not only report the sexual abuse meted on them at their place of work but also impossible chances of them participating in the court proceedings, especially during the time of testifying (Hudson, Valerie and Patricia 50). This has been alluded to in the Henriquez’s book. Alma’s testimony regarding the sexual abuse of her daughter was dismissed mainly because she did not have a good command of English to give a vivid account of events that took place as was witnessed by her. This should not be the case as it is an impediment to the search for justice by the immigrant women in case they are sexually abused. The court should have a translator to help these Mexican women immigrants to give their testimony is a language that they are comfortable in. the same should apply to the police department. Any time a case is reported by an immigrant women regarding sexual abuse, a woman not proficient in English and in circumstances that the police believe that lack of proper English oratory skills will curtail the course of justice it should be upon the police to procure the services of a translator. Most of these Mexican women immigrants are only able to speak Spanish so it should be upon the police to look for somebody who can comfortably translate from Spanish to English for the purposes of evidence for use of courts. The cardinal responsibility of the police is to protect the right of every person be it a native or an immigrant. So in as much as the rights of native US women matters, so must the rights of Mexican immigrant women at different work places. According to the report by the Human Rights Watch Organization, the US government provides some form of protection to the women immigrants working in different farms and those who have undergone some kind of sexual abuse. However, some experts argue that this is a knee-jerk reaction. The government can undertake to protect these women farmworkers who are at risk of being sexually assaulted even before the actual act is meted against them. To achieve this there should be an increase in the involvement of the local law enforcement agencies in enforcing immigration programs, this can help in ensuring that the US rural communities in which these immigrant farmworkers are based are made secure. As of now, there are state laws which have been enacted to protect women immigrant farmworkers such as the Arizona SB 1070 (Antony, Grace, and Thomas 20). This law has seen the police increase its involvement in protecting the rights of women immigrants working in rural farms against being sexually abused by their employers.
Owing to the fact that women immigrants are working in virtually every state, the ball in now on the US Senate to protect this vulnerable group of immigrants working in the rural farms. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1952 should be amended to curter for the protection of the immigrant women. Accordingly, the new amended act should provide for funding and protection of immigrant women working in different rural farms against sexual abuse by their employers. With the availability of ore funds, there would be stronger protection for immigrant farmworker women and girls (Mattera et al 615). The funds can even be used in providing for better legal services in case a legal process is undertaken as a result of sexual abuse from meted on the immigrant farmworker women, especially from Mexico. The US Senate should also enact an immigration legislation with a broad-based rights-coverage for immigrant women working as farm employees. The legislation should protect the rights of the immigrant farmworkers in different farms even if they are unauthorized, as long as they are already working in the US. As it stands, some laws are selectively protecting the rights of the US women and leaving out those that are undocumented. As long as these women immigrants are not a threat to the national security and are genuinely delivering labor services in these farms, their rights should be protected against sexual violation by their employers. Currently, this is the problem that most women immigrant farmworkers have to endure because of being undocumented. Their employers are quite conscious of this and that is why these employers continue to sexually-molest these Mexican immigrant farmworkers. If only the law could be extended to protect these women even if they are undocumented, the perpetrators of the sexual abuse would be brought to book and the cases of sexual molestation against Mexican women farmworkers would sharply decline as illustrated by Covert (12). The National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Relations Act should be reformed not only to include the right of the farmworkers, but also those of women immigrants working there. These pieces of legislation is reformed would ensure that the rights of all women immigrants who are farmworkers are protected against sexual abuse by their bosses. The perpetrators should be severely punished by the law.
Since most of these women working in rural farms are unskilled laborers, illiterate and desperate for an employment opportunity, the pay notwithstanding, the US government should step in. Goodman et al (320) opine that one of the viable way through which the government can ensure that these immigrant Mexican women are protected against being sexually abused is being empowered. There should be a vocational programs by either the federal, state or local governments geared towards equipping these immigrant women with skills necessary to work in more established companies where the labor laws can protect them or in a company is which the rights of the workers are protected through a collective bargaining initiative. I am one of those people who strongly advocates for the training of women immigrants so that they can work in a handsomely-paying company establishments other than in farms. In fact, some Mexican immigrant farmworkers are vulnerable to sexual abuse because of their economic condition, something that has been precipitated by their lack of training to work in better-paying work places. On top of all these the undertakings, the police should thoroughly investigate cases of sexual abuse that involve women immigrant farmworkers.
In conclusion, the Mexican women immigrant farmworkers have continued to be sexually-abused but this paper provides the solution to this incessant problem. It should be upon all levels of government to empower these women so they can stop to be vulnerable to sexual abuse. The law should reform courts to ensure that the reported cases of alleged sexual abuse meted against these women immigrants are fast-tracked. Either the existing programs such as secure communities that encourage the police to harass immigrants should be repealed forthwith. The police should be at the forefront in protecting the rights of women immigrants working in these rural farms.
Works Cited
COVERT, BRYCE. “WHEN HARASSMENT IS THE PRICE OF A JOB. (Cover Story).” Nation, vol. 306, no. 6, Mar. 2018, p. 12. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ulh&AN=127864447&site=ehost-live.
Goodman, Rachael D., et al. “Trauma and Resilience Among Refugee and Undocumented Immigrant Women.” Journal of Counseling & Development, vol. 95, no. 3, July 2017, pp. 309–321. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/jcad.12145.
Mattera, Brian, et al. “Long-Term Health Outcomes of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Peer Sexual Contact among an Urban Sample of Behaviourally Bisexual Latino Men.” Culture, Health & Sexuality, vol. 20, no. 6, June 2018, pp. 607–624. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/13691058.2017.1367420.
Antony, Mary Grace, and Ryan J. Thomas. “‘Stop Sending Your Kids across Our Border:’ Discursively Constructing the Unaccompanied Youth Migrant.” Journal of International & Intercultural Communication, vol. 10, no. 1, Feb. 2017, pp. 4–24. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/17513057.2016.1214282.
Hudson, Valerie M., and Patricia Leidl. The Hillary Doctrine : Sex and American Foreign Policy. Columbia University Press, 2015. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1015222&site=ehost-live.
Henriquez, Cristina. “The Book of Unknown Americans.” Teen Ink, vol. 27, no. 9, May 2016, p. 200-250. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=115016130&site=ehost-live.