the typical latino
TRANSCRIPT
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Kahlil M. Barrett
February 20, 2013
English 1102
Susan Laplant
The Typical Latino
In Celia C. Perez-Zeeb‟s essay “By the Time I Get to Cucaracha”, Perez-Zeeb clearly
voices her disapproval about the way the media handles situations when concerning the Latino
community. Using the sitcom Will Grace as an example, she quotes one of the characters, Karen,
saying “If it wasn't for this you'd be flying back to Cucaracha on Air Guacamole with live
chickens running up and down the aisle!" Perez-Zeeb is upset because the person Karen was
referring to was her maid who was of Latino descent. Perez-Zeeb‟s tone is very straight-forward
and at times, pessimistic towards the media and the country itself for it portrays Latinos.
There is not a lot of utilization of ethics in this particular article because of the credentials
Perez-Zeeb lacks. However, she does appear to appeal to the readers‟ emotions through the use
of Pathos. She states that there is more to being a Latino, a Latina woman in particular, saying
they were much more capable that being “some yuppie‟s housekeeper.” (513) She also goes on
to say that Americans should be grateful to Latina women who made their living off of being
housekeepers revealing that her own mother was a housekeeper when she first came to the
country.
Perez-Zeeb also argues that it is far more difficult to obtain citizenship than one might
actually think. She goes on to describe the process of an illegal immigrant marriage that has to
last at least two years, according to U.S. law and that it must have been entered to in good faith.
She informs the reader that during this two-year period the marriage can‟t be annulled nor
terminated under any circumstances unless the spouse is deceased.
Perez-Zeeb takes it a step further by using an argument taken from an article in the Yale
Journal of Law and Feminism, “The Gender Dimensions of U.S. Immigration Policy,” that
argues that female immigrants tend to be at a disadvantage because their reasons for entering the
country aren‟t really legitimate and more on family ties.
Perez-Zeeb voices her opinion that the U.S. does appreciate immigrants but only “on the
condition that they can do something for the economy.” (516) She argues that they have no
interest in hearing about the poverty and persecution Latinos endure unless they have money and
special skills.
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She then utilizes the logical fallacy to appeal to authority when she goes back to the two
year marriage period using the 1986 Immigration Marriage Fraud amendment. This piece of
legislation is actually what established the two year mandatory period before an immigrant could
even be considered for permanent resident status. She then refers back to the Yale Law article
which argues that due to the amendment being passed, “it gave the spouse who‟s a citizen, which
in most cases is often a male, excessive power over the immigrant spouse because at the end of
the two years, the citizen spouse can choose not to sign the petition for permanent resident status
and then immigrant spouse and children, if there are any can be removed from the United
States.” This claim again appeals to the readers‟ emotions through the use of Pathos. What kind
of person do you have to be to deport a wife and possibly mother, who dedicated two years of
their life to you, along with your own offspring? Where is the justice in that?
Perez-Zeeb then quotes Senator Alan K. Simpson, “United States citizens legitimately
petition for „mail order brides‟ advertised in the backs of magazines and tabloids sold at the
checkout lines of supermarkets. The alien admitted as a fiancé will go through the appearance of
wanting to marry and build a future life until the actual wedding ceremony. The alien then
promptly abandons his or her spouse.” She expresses anger at this statement and even goes as far
as insinuating that Senator Simpson doesn‟t seem to find the idea of “ordering” brides to be the
least bit disturbing.
She goes on to say that throughout Simpson‟s speech, he made it seem as if people who
enter marriages with immigrants do so out of pity or because somehow they‟ve been coerced to
do so. The immigrant is made out to be a sinister, scheming person while the United States
citizen is just a poor unfortunate soul. She also argues that Simpson made immigrants, who
married so they could obtain their citizenship, appear to be smooth-talking aliens who just
convinces the citizens, who they were to marry, that they loved them and then abandon their
spouse as soon as they got their resident status. This appeals to the readers‟ emotions, by
convincing them that most illegal immigrants care nothing more than getting their resident status
and will talk their way into getting it by any means.
Perez-Zeeb‟s closing argument is the fact that the media portray things as if thousands of
immigrants get married left and right in order to stay in the country. She also goes on to say that
many people tend to think that it‟s easy for any immigrant to obtain their citizenship as long as
they are married to a citizen because of the media. The media also leaves out the reasons behind
why most immigrants come to the country in the first place and why some women are so
desperate not to go back to their own countries that they will marry someone they don‟t know
and potentially be abused. She also states the United States tend to leave out that the countries
the immigrants flee from have been supported by, in the past, U.S. regimes to begin with.
Perez-Zeeb uses a lot of pathos in her article to help appeal to the readers‟ emotions.
While she does a somewhat good job of this, she lacks a lot of support to back up many of her
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claims. However, she does manage to gather some support to a degree and finish with a strong
closing.
Works Cited
Perez-Zeeb, Celia C. “By the Time I Get to Cucaracha.” Bad Subjects April 2002: n. pag. Rpt. In
The Informed Argument . Ed. Robert P. Yagelski, Robert K. Miller, and Amy J. Crouse
Powers. Belmont, MA: Wadsworth, 2012. 513-9. Print.
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