ETHN 3120: CHICANO/A/XS IN THE UNITES STATES – FALL 2023
TITLE:
Immigration & Refugee Services/Catholic Social Services
MEET THE DOCUMENT:
It is a PSA letter to undocumented immigrants who came to America to work. It includes a Spanish text at the top and an English translation at the bottom. It offers help to those needing assistance in becoming legal citizens of the US if they are here illegally, most likely providing services to them. In the top right, we see where it is from, including the title of the letter, the organization’s name, and the organization’s address. It also includes a phone number to call at the end of the message so that the people offering help can understand Spanish.
OBSERVE ITS PARTS:
Sister Mary Ann Buston wrote it, and undocumented immigrants received it. It was a PSA received from June 5, 1979 – November 20, 1980. It was created in Toledo, Ohio, by a Catholic Diocese Group.
TRY TO MAKE SENSE OF IT:
The author is talking about helping Latinos who have made it here undocumented and trying to help them become citizens of the country. The author wrote it to be a positive force in the world, helping others in need. At this time, when it comes to immigration, we had a very conservative president, Ronald Reagan, whose ideas of cutting public revenues and forcing those who were in the country undocumented to learn English to become citizens of the US. One of the important parts of this document is that the letter shows the Spanish version of the letter to show that they can help those who can only speak Spanish.
USE IT AS HISTORICAL EVIDENCE:
To me, I would assume that since many of the religious people in this country today hate immigrants due to religious people often having conservative leanings, it would not make sense for a religious place to help those who are undocumented immigrants. Things such as the Trump border wall which many conservative people dislike have made me believe that most religious people are anti-immigrant. Still, as this document shows, there are plenty of pro-immigrant religious people. This will help me understand some of the reasons that religiousness is so high in immigrant circles such as Chicanos, other than the fact that Mexico has a high rate of religious people anyway.