Parker is Pro Immigration

Laura Parker wrote an article for USA Today called "USA just wouldn't work without immigration labor." She believes that immigrant workers are a positive attribute to the United State's economy. Because immigration is usually a negative subject, Parker would need to some logical and powerful reasons as to why immigration is positive. Phil has already posted on the logos of this article. He commented on how Parker's logos was not strong enough. Although I understand and agree with what he said, I found moments in the article where Parker's logos was pretty strong.

According to Gary Layne Hatch, "logos has a broader meaning than logic." Logos is "arguing through reasoning," it is "rational thought through language," and "appeals to our ability to think." So the information in an argument should make the reader really think about what was said and then formulate their own opinion.

One of the very first things Parker says in her article is that immigrants "fill low-income jobs scorned by American citizens." (Para. 2) That sentence should make the reader think about that jobs that they "scorn" and if those jobs are taken up by immigrants. For example, I don't like working fast food. When I am looking for a new job I will not apply to any fast food places. And if you look at places like McDonalds, Taco Bell and Wendy's, a good portion of their crew are hispanic immigrants.

To go along with the above paragraph, Parker quotes John Gay, a lobbyist for the American Hotel and Lodging Association, who is pro immigration. He says that as Americans we "push our own children into college to be rocket scientists or computer programmers." (Para. 6) With Americans getting better education degrees, they will be going after the higher jobs, leaving the lower jobs for the immigrants. I look at my own life as an example. My fiance and I are born U.S. citizen college students. We will graduate with a Bachelor's in our different areas and get pretty decent jobs. His parents, however, are legal immigrants from El Salvidor. They did not get past an elementary education, so they can only get a lower job. But it's very nice that they can still find one.

In paragraph 11, Parker says that immigration is part of America's history. The examples she gives are the European immigrants that built the Brooklyn Bridge and the Chinese immigrants that built the railroads connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific. This should make the reader think about other historical examples of immigrants helping out America. The one that came to my mind was the Irish factory workers during the industrial revolution.

Laura Parker's article on immigration gives enough information and good examples for the reader to really think about what she is saying. The reader should use what she says to think about their own life or information that they might already know. They should then put the two together and create their own opinion. In making this possible, Parker's article has great logos in it.