Latinos: the new plague in America’s restaurants
Abuse and mistreatment against Latinos in the United States are increasing since Donald Trump became president. And it is not that the differences between the native population and that one that in search of hope arrive to the country ceased to exist. No, those differences have always been latent, but now racists feel more emboldened than before, and complaints are greater. The owner of a Minneapolis restaurant was accused of forcing a young Dominican man to work overtime in exchange for a low salary, a fact that many Latinos accept, because with the new restrictions being undocumented exposes them to abuse and work under almost any kind of agreement no matter how sinful it may be.
Pisanu "Pat" Suktipyaroge, a resident of Maplewood and owner of the Royal Orchid Thai restaurant pleaded guilty to fraudulent visas and related charges. Pat, 72, will have to go to prison and pay $ 75,000 in fines for breaking the law, besides the labor traffic charges. This senior man will have two years in prison to reflect on his actions that included as well the sexual assault on a young Dominican man and expose him to night shifts with excessive workload.
Pat Sukhtipyaroge’s is one of the many cases that occur daily in the United States, where Latino immigrants receive a discharge of hatred from other citizens. So much so that a lawyer in New York, Aaron Schlossberg, had to apologize after he hurled expletives against Spanish speakers at a restaurant in that city. The video that went social-network viral motivated the positive reflection of the aggressor, who commented it was "unacceptable" what had happened.
The most curious thing is that Mr. Schlossberg was justly exasperated when he heard the employees speaking Spanish and immediately called ICE to pick the "illegal" workers up. According to the report, Aaron wanted to expel emigrants from his country.
These reactions are not entirely unexpected. The fear of Latinos instilled by Donald Trump, and even the expressions that he has recently used to call emigrants are increasing the fear of the migrant among Americans, a dread that was extinguishing since decades ago. Even in some states such as California, Arizona and others of Hispanic origin Latinos are part of the development of cities and cultural life. But in just over a year, Trump has reversed the situation. The acceptance of emigration has suffered a complete setback. Several factors have played a role.
There are subjective and objective factors that at the social level are weighing on the acceptance of emigrants.
First of all, let’s remember that Donald Trump even with his presidential campaign speech began attacking Latino population. The starting idea is to match those who come from other nations with the ills of American society. That is to say "they all are thieves, drug dealers and rapists", three of the evils that most of Americans consider break the tranquility in the nation every day.
Media have stopped focusing on African Americans as the social danger. Now there are more Latino murderers, rapists and traffickers on the news than before. The false idea is gradually settling in the Americans minds.
Another strong belief is that Latinos are undermining the values of the American nation, idiomatically and culturally speaking. Spanish continues to be a symbol of marginalization within the American society. In the last period, the number of people who hate Spanish speakers has increased. Not in vain, some descendants of Hispanics prefer not to speak their mother tongue or their parents’ fearing bullying or the rejection of their peers.
Among the objective ideas that affect the subjectivity of Americans is that Latinos steal jobs. However, the reality is different. The truth is that Latinos are the only ones who accept abusive and unpaid jobs because of their legal status. Most restaurant owners take advantage of it. It has a domino effect, since Latinos sometimes remain silent because to avoid being caught by ICE, and that's when crimes such as sexual abuse, overtime and low salaries happen. But the conception that Latinos "steal" jobs is not the only one that is handled. Also, at the governmental level, the idea that emigrants weigh down the economy of the United States has been sold. The subsidies and financial aid provided to them, such as DACA and Obama Care, have been the government's flanks of attack to demonstrate how unsustainable is for the economy, one of the strongest globally, to maintain them.
However, in order for Donald Trump to maintain his nationalist plans and build his wall, as well as execute other anti-immigrant measures, he must continue to foment false ideas about emigration. And although from the political point of view he has performed an accurate movement, at the social level it is destroying a nation where migrants bear a large part of the economic burdens.