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           A large portion of the population is made of immigrants who move to the United States for various reasons. Many individuals are escaping from the violence and havoc that has enveloped their home country while others may be seeking employment or better opportunities. There is a multitude of parents who move across borders with their children. It is a constant topic discussed in the news and other media platforms. However, sometimes what is hidden is the negative implications that many child immigrants face. Most of these children (some with their parents and some without) move to the United States because there is violence erupting in their home country. Therefore, separating children forcibly from their parents is adding to their trauma. Moreover, this “toxic stress puts the brain into continuous fight-or-flight mode” (Hub staff). Therefore, it is imperative that society in its entirety shed light on this significant issue that is affecting numerous individuals who deserve better. Many child immigrants face struggles that can lead to emotional and physical trauma which negatively affects them throughout their entire lives. 
          For the expression entitled Hindrance, the message conveys the different struggles that young child immigrants face. These include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the fear of deportation for themselves and/or their parents (Hub staff). Thus, a young child will depict this in the medium by having a hanging weight on them that includes depression and PTSD in it. A sharp black line communicates the separation between children and their parents. In order to add texture, there is a black border and a light gray background. The color black represents fear which helps demonstrate the fear that many youths carry with them throughout their development. The black and white help to portray that this issue is significant and deep. When one first comes across the events happening at the border, it may just appear as individuals who are crossing the border illegally. However, once one starts to look more deeply into it, one clearly understands that these individuals have a valid reason for wanting to come to the United States. Furthermore, a cage symbolizes feeling trapped, both literally in a cage, but also in a metaphorical sense. The cage represents feeling buried in constant fear and depression that many of these children are forced to go through because of being forcibly separated from their parents. Therefore, the separation is captured by two hands reaching out to each other on either side of the black line. Many of these children contain a fear that may not always be expressed. This fear is entitled the cultural script of silence. Most children feel that the worst thing possible would be an encounter with immigration enforcement. Therefore, a script develops that is “held among family members that prohibited the discussion of legal status both within and outside the household” (Gulbas 8).  Therefore, in order to express the cultural script of silence, there will be a speaker with an x. The cage underscores the events happening at the border. The hashtag #nokidsincages has gained widespread attention and has helped spread awareness about this issue. The book “A Nation of Immigrants” was written by John F. Kennedy and it is incorporated because Kennedy vastly contributed to less restrictive measures that would help immigrants crossing the border. The 70,000 represents how many unaccompanied minors were traveling at the U.S.-Mexico border (Cheatham). The 2,300 represents how many children were separated from their parents in 2018 (Hub staff). 
          The influences for this project were the Statue of Liberty and John F. Kennedy. The Statue of Liberty represents freedom which is what these immigrants seek upon arrival to the U.S. The Statue conveys a life “filled with the promise of economic opportunity and freedom from persecution” (Holtz 1). However, oftentimes they face many obstacles, including the fear of being deported. Therefore, there is a sense of irony because these immigrants want to escape the feeling of being trapped in their home country in which they could have experienced violence or poverty, however, once they get to the United States, they feel targeted by the Immigration policies. Moreover, John F. Kennedy was a vast influence on the Immigration Act of 1965 which removed the national origins quota system and instead focused on reuniting families and skilled labor. Kennedy proved to support immigrants because he understood the reasons as to why they were seeking refuge. He was inspired by his grandfather who “believed that fair and just immigration policies, for the people of all nations, were very important to our country” (Kennedy 3). Therefore, the inclusion of former president Kennedy provides acknowledgment of what leaders of the country should place significance on. Kennedy inspired the piece because he held some of the same beliefs and he took the initiative to begin reform for immigration policies that were hurting many immigrants. Kennedy was a big influence as he asserted that “immigration policies should conform more fully to the principles of equal justice” (Lee 11). 
          When this piece is published, the audience should feel sympathy and understanding for the struggles that many child immigrants face today. The piece should encourage the audience to become more knowledgeable about the immigration crisis and to show support for those children who live in constant fear and who do not have their parents by their side. By becoming more informed as a society, there will be a more pressing force on the harsh immigration policies and the crisis at the border. I desire for my audience to comprehend that these are just children who are suffering from the harsh consequences of immigration at an early age. When one sees a post or a news article about the immigration crisis at the border, it should become evident that those young children are undergoing a detrimental process to their development. Thus, the piece should reflect the harsh realities behind separating children from their parents. 

Bibliography

Cheatham, Amelia. “U.S. Detention of Child Migrants.” Council on Foreign Relations,  www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-detention-child-migrants (Links to an external site.). 
Holtz, Debra, et al. [ STATUE OF LIBERTY & ELLIS ISLAND ]: Protecting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from Rising Tides. Union of Concerned
          Scientists, 2014, pp. 7–9, National Landmarks at Risk: How Rising Seas, Floods, and Wildfires Are Threatening the United States’ Most Cherished Historic
          Sites, www.jstor.org/stable/resrep00036.8. (Links to an external site.)Accessed 12 November 2020.
Hub staff. The Mental Health Impact of Separating Immigrant Children from Their Parents. 21 June 2018, hub.jhu.edu/2018/06/21/child-separation-
          immigration-policy-spiegel/. 
Kennedy, Edward M. “The Immigration Act of 1965.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 367, 1966, pp. 137–
          149. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1034851. (Links to an external site.) 
Lauren E. Gulbas, and Luis H. Zayas. “Exploring the Effects of U.S. Immigration Enforcement on The Well-Being of Citizen Children in Mexican
          Immigrant Families.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, vol. 3, no. 4, 2017, pp. 53–69. JSTOR, DOI:
          10.7758/rsf.2017.3.4.04. Accessed 12 Nov. 2020. 
Lee, Catherine. “Family Reunification and the Limits of Immigration Reform: Impact and Legacy of the 1965 Immigration Act.” Sociological Forum, vol.
          30, no. S1, 2015, pp. 528–548., www.jstor.org/stable/43654405. (Links to an external site.)Accessed 13 November 2020. 
"Statue of Liberty." The Reader's Companion to American History, edited by Eric Foner, and John Arthur Garraty, Houghton Mifflin, 1st edition,
          2014. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/rcah/statue_of_liberty/0 (Links to an external site.)?institutionId=4585. Accessed 12 Nov. 2020.