Week 7 - Armanjot Bhangu - A04

Armanjot Bhangu

Section: A04

Week #7

For this week, I chose to read “Refugees, Rights, and Race: How Legal Status Shapes Liberian
Immigrants' Relationship with the State”, written by Hana E. Brown. In this journal entry, Brown
describes how the recent rise in immigration has caused much scholarly interest in how immigrants
manage to preserve their unique identities once they transfer over to the United States from their home
country. She goes mostly into detail of immigrants from Liberia due to an observation she conducted of
a Liberian refugee community located in California. She relays information about how there is mass
chaos in their home country that caused them to try to relocate to the United States in search of a better
life for both themselves and their children. She describes the struggles that they face when coming
here, due to many of them not having a formal education and little to no money to be able to put a roof
over their heads or even receive basic necessities such as food, water, and clothes. I feel as if more
should be done to try and assist these refugees since the most basic principle of America is that we
should help the weak and needy in times of struggle, although historically the U.S. has not followed
through with this idea. I relate to this because although my parents also received an education in their
home country, none of it transferred over to the United States and they had to start from square one
and redo everything. What can the government do to better treat its immigrant and refugee population?

QUESTION:

How can the government step in and assist refugees from other countries and live up to the principles
that the United States holds itself up to?

REFERENCES:

Brown, H. (2011). Refugees, Rights, and Race: How Legal Status Shapes Liberian Immigrants'
Relationship with the State. Social Problems, 58(1), 144-163.