It started with a sore throat and quickly progressed to stomachaches and muscle pain. The next morning it manifested itself into sniffles and a fever. Before long I couldn't deny it: I had a cold.
I can take a common cold, I told myself. Armed with chicken noodle soup and orange juice, I sent out the obligatory "I'll be missing your class because I'm sick, and I'm not faking it this time" e-mails to professors and lodged myself firmly under the covers, propped up by countless pillows.
But three days later, with a manly voice due to coughing and a mountain of crumpled tissues by my bed, I finally broke down. I did what any suffering college student would do: I called my mommy.
Of course, Mom couldn't do much more than tell me to get some rest and feel better, but just hearing her voice helped. For this reason, I have always felt terrible for anyone who can't fall back on their family in times of crisis.
The stereotypical undocumented immigrant, for example, is a Mexican male who comes to the U.S. in search of a job so he can send money back home to his family. Alone and without support, he is often looked down on by his American peers and possibly taken advantage of by his American employers.
However, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, the traditional undocumented immigrant has changed. A recent Arizona Republic article cited Pew as saying that out of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, 2.3 million are men that have come alone without family. The remaining 8.7 million have family members in the U.S.
Whether your preferred solution involves sending all the undocumented immigrants home, or making legal immigration easier so that illegal border crossing is not the only method of making it into the country, the fact remains the same: The face of illegal immigration is changing.
Legal immigration foes can no longer fall back on stereotypes of single, irresponsible young men coming into the country. With the majority of undocumented immigrants having families to support on the very little wages they make washing dishes, cutting your lawn and being abused while constructing your buildings, it is unfair to stereotype undocumented immigrants as being lazy or unintelligent.
I understand the argument that the U.S. cannot take care of every person who, unhappy in their home country, illegally comes into ours. But I can't help but imagine what I would do if faced with a similar situation.
If I didn't have enough money to support my own family and there was the potential for success if I was willing to risk our lives on a perilous journey, I'm unsure of whether or not I would choose to take my chances.
What I am sure of, however, is that the people who do take that chance and succeed in making it to the U.S. deserve our respect. I'm not saying anyone should be happy about America's immigration problem, but we cannot blame the people for the circumstances they flee.
It is time that we start looking at these immigrants for who they really are and stop looking at the problem in terms of numbers alone. Without getting to know the people behind the problem, a solution will never materialize.
In the meantime, I am glad I was able to dial my mother in my time of personal distress, and despite the serious epidemic of illegal immigration in our country, I sincerely hope that undocumented immigrants are able to find some support in the community, as well.
Stephanie Berger is a journalism junior. Send her promises of more chicken noodle soup at stephanie.m.berger@asu.edu.
