The Cost of Homeland Security

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The Cost of Homeland Security

            The first immigration and naturalization laws were first created in 1868 where it stated that all persons born regardless of the parent’s citizenship were deemed American citizens. It was revised in the 1882 after the Chinese had immigrated to America to work-in the railway lines. This was the first immigration law that targeted an ethnic group (Anderson 47). At present, the homeland security has continued to take people without there own will and detained them in the name of security, that is, against terrorist’s threats. US born Esam and Jose have been detained in such manner for three years without even going to trial due to there racial profile.

During World War II, the Japanese were put in internment camps despite the fact that necessary agents found them not to pose any risks and majority of those who were interned were American citizens (Sakurai 101). This has also happened to the Arabs and Muslims after the September 11. This is usually not the same in case for white terrorists. In the case of Timothy McVeigh, where he bombed MurrahFederalBuilding in Oklahoma, he received an open hearing full of constitution rights and no white group was racially subjected to the internment camps. However, there has not been even one law passed to prevent this internment camps or even close them down.

The government has created an act, USA PATRIOTIC Act, and its main aim is to unite and strengthen America by providing the necessary tools to intercept and destroy any terrorist’s acts (Mathew 10). They target those groups that are political protestors; this is referred to as un-American and when such a group is found guilty, the members are stripped of there citizenship and then deported. After the September 11 bombings, many groups were found guilty of this especially those of the Muslim and Arabs decent. There citizenships were revoked and later they were deported. Some people were taken to detention camps.

A question has been asked on who owns America. Many have answered that the whites are the real owners despite the fact that, in the early days of its discovery, it was made up immigrants. In spite of this, the whites commanded it and since they were rich and powerful, they became the owners. Therefore, this has led to them being superior and racist towards the ethnic groups found in America. For example, the Africans are not even considered as Americans by the whites.

In conclusion, it has been seen that many of the constitution rights have been violated in the name of security. Many innocent people have suffered due to racism, both citizens and non-citizens of America. Racism has continued to affect America very much. It is evidently noted that if there is a threat by a white terrorist, the story tends to disappear quickly but if it is a Muslim or Arab, the story is usually different (Graham 117). This is because the group associated is usually harassed by the different agencies.

 

Works Cited

Anderson, Stuart. Immigration. Broomfield, CO: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Print.

Graham, Otis. L. Jr. Unguarded Gates: A History of America’s Immigration Crisis. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. Print.

Mathew, Philip. Implication of US Patriotic Act on Human Rights: analysis.München, Germany: Green Verlag, 2008. Print.

Sakurai, Gail. Japanese American Internment Camps. New York, NY: Scholastic Library Pub, 2007. Print.

Wishart, David. Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska press, 2010. Print.