Systems Down: Powerlessness of the Undocumented

Oppression is a tool that monarchs, dictators, and tyrants abuse to make a clear and distinct difference between people. No Matter where people are, people are bound to encounter oppression in one variety or another. Even in a country like United States of America that strongly believes in equality and justice, yet many people face oppression, one such being undocumented immigrants. Historically speaking, America was built upon immigrants, and to label certain people as “aliens” takes away from its foundation as a country. Iris Marion Young in the article five faces of oppression states five basic concepts: marginalization, exploitation, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence (Young, 398). In particular, I will discuss the impact of powerlessness on a population of people like undocumented immigrants. As subjects of legal refutation and economic oppression, the powerlessness of undocumented immigrant suppresses them from gaining the basic necessities of life such as liberty and property in an economic stand point.

Powerlessness is neither the lack of ability of a certain population nor their failure to accomplish, but rather a face of oppression that arises from chaining that population in a way that they are shackled from doing what they can potentially do. “The powerless are those who lack authority or power even in this mediated sense, those over whom power is exercised without their exercising it; the powerless are situated so that they must take orders and rarely have the right to give them” (Young, 398). This represents the insufficiency in individual power a person can own, especially non-professional workers. Without the power to speak up, or money to back ones opinions and experiences, it is extremely hard to economically gain stability in a capitalistic society. Young states, “the powerless status is best described negatively: the powerless lack the authority, status, and sense of self that professionals tend to have” (Young, 399). In the case of undocumented immigrants, this equivocates to lacking the power to fight for equality and rights in the workplace due to the status of being illegal. Undocumented Immigrants do not have the self respect that many professionals half and when they lack authority and status as professionals they tend to do what is being told. Professionals in relation to undocumented immigrants have different skills and rights. Many undocumented immigrants do not have a college education, work autonomy, and respectability in the work place; unlike ordinary professionals in a workplace have all of these rights and skills. Young states that the powerless have little opportunity to develop and exercise skills (Young, 399). Most undocumented immigrants cannot get an education because they cannot afford it. They cannot afford education because they are working to support themselves here and family back home. Undocumented immigrants are working to survive, because they get no benefits from the society. They do not get wealth fare, social security checks or even unemployment. They are barred from taking on any profession legally due to the inability to provide a social security number that members of the legal population have. From this legal oppression, a sense of powerlessness arises within the undocumented immigrant population that forces them to take on whatever is available in order to survive. They settle for jobs that pay very little compared to minimum wage to make ends meet, and this exploitation is just another face of oppression that Young talks about. Undocumented immigrants are the modern slaves of America. As young says, “Some people have their power and wealth because they profit from the labor of others” (Young, 398). A country like America needs some population to do the cheap labor, whether in sewers or janitorial work or farm work or factory labor, in order to run smoothly. When professionals are profiting largely and unfairly from cheap undocumented immigrant labor; this is the oppression of not only exploitation, but also powerlessness. Ultimately, undocumented immigrants have no say based on their status in this country, and have no choice but to comply with orders in their powerless state.

An objection that someone can raise is that undocumented immigrants resulting in their powerlessness is that undocumented immigrants are illegally in America; thus, do not deserve the rights that citizens have. Consequently, people feel they are justified to label undocumented immigrants as “aliens”. Undocumented immigrants are usually not educated and take any job they can to survive. Some feel that they are giving undocumented immigrants a job even if they are paying them little to nothing and additionally giving them no respect because without that job they would not survive. So the means of the job is the necessity for the person to live and that person who needs the job for the necessity of buying food for his or her family, that person is a desperate for surviving. Illegally entering this country is a crime, people feel justified in oppressing the population and leaving them with no power in any sort of decision making. Some also justify their belief in leaving undocumented immigrants powerless because they believe that it brings harm to the population that does have citizenship. Undocumented immigration also plays a negative role in the great population growth overwhelming communities in America—taking up already limited reasonably priced housing, packing school classrooms, and putting a strain on natural resources like water and energy that are becoming scarce to begin with. To add on, job competition created by the massive amount of undocumented immigrants willing to work for extremely low wages and unbearable working conditions that depresses the wages of workers who are citizens. Based on such facts, many feel justified in oppressing undocumented immigrants and leaving them powerless.
Even though undocumented immigrants by definition mean that a person who illegal enters a country, does not necessarily mean that they do not deserve the rights as any other working class citizen or as any other working class human being. Undocumented immigrants are humans and they are capable of improving just like everyone else to some extent. That extent is not measurable in terms of a quantitative result, because it does not seem plausible, yet I believe that every human being can learn through experience and gain knowledge to become better at a certain thing. Yet, when that capacity of improvement is barred, then we are moving backwards in a society of growth. It is counterintuitive that many would leave their native land to work in harsh environments with little or no respect; therefore, one must look more closely to why they are in this country. If we give them a chance to improve on education, then that would lead to the intuition of realization of respectability and the sense of work autonomy. Moreover “in the United States, as in other advanced capitalist countries, most workplaces are not organized democratically, direct participation in public policy decisions is rare, and policy implementation is for the most part hierarchical, imposing rules on bureaucrats and citizen. This most people in these societies do not regularly participate in making decisions that affect the conditions of their lives and actions, and in this sense most people lack significant power” (Young, 398). As mediating agents continue to make decisions for an unrepresented population such as undocumented immigrants, they will remain powerless in this system. With education comes power and undocumented immigrants would get better jobs that come with more respect and work autonomy. It is unjust to label any immigrant illegal, because ultimately we all are people, people who seek a better life with more opportunity to a better life.

As a nation that is derived from immigrants, America should not label any immigrant group as “aliens” and continually oppress them from achieving the American Dream or the basic necessities of life. Immigration is an intrinsic part of the history of the United States, and we would lose our stature around the world if we were to destroy on the foundation we were built upon. Excuses such as taking up resources and opportunities lost should not be used, because ultimately, we are all homo sapiens that have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in any country in the world. Until the world realizes such an elemental fact, undocumented immigrants will continue to suffer in a powerless state under economic oppression where the division of labor draws a thicker line between those who plan and those who execute.