Rhetorical Analysis of Jeremy Adam Smith’s “Our Fear of Immigrants”
In 2014, the argument “Our Fear of Immigrants” was first published in Pacific Standard magazine, which focuses on justice, education, economics, and the environment articles. Written by Jeremy Adam Smith, the founder of Daddy Dialectic, editor of Sharable.net, and publisher of Dollars and Sense magazine. The article introduces us to fourth grader Rodrigo Guzman, a student from Berkeley, California. In January 2014 Rodrigo and his family were returning from a Christmas vacation in Mexico, but little did he know that he would not be able to return to his home. Rodrigo and his family was detained in Texas and sent back to Mexico. When Rodrigo was 16 months old he and his family came to the US on a tourist visa which was long expired. Smith’ purpose is to inform Americans about prejudice, discrimination, and the fear and revulsion Americans have of immigrants coming into The United States. In his argument, Jeremy Adam Smith, uses logos, pathos, and ethos to show that “when shaping immigration policy, we should be holding in the front of our minds that we’re talking about real families, real kids, who have hopes and incredible stories.”1 (757)
Smith opens his argument by acknowledging “Rodrigo Guzman’s desk was empty.” (750). Before moving on to explain why, Smith uses the rhetoric strategy, logos to illustrate that “57,000 unaccompanied minors are caught trying to cross the border” (750-751) from Mexico to the United States. Which according to Smith that number has doubled what it was one year prior. This fact is an urgent humanitarian situation and the children continue to come across the border. “Many Native born Americans have reacted with Fear and revulsion.” (751) is an example of the rhetoric strategy pathos. With this reaction Smith also addresses ethos, when he mentions the “Angry Protesters” in Murrieta, California, “blocking buses of undocumented women and children on their way to a...