TOW #2, "It's Only Illegal When Illegal Immigrants Break the Law"

This politcal cartoon, illustrated by Lalo Alcaraz, shows the hypocracy of the American government towards regugees and immigrants currently coming to the United States to seek the same freedoms and rights that Americans take for granted. Alcaraz is an American cartoonist. He is most well-known for being the author of the comic La Cucaracha, the first nationally syndicated, politically themed Latino daily comic strip. Having a primarily Hispanic audience, Alcaraz embraces his Latino heritage and fights against the racist stereotypes against his people. For instance, in light of current events, such as Donald Trump's anti-Latino slurrs, Alcaraz uses his art to show Americans how flawed their beliefs really are. Spatially speaking, the Native Americans were the first ones to occupy the continent, therefore, Westerners are the true "immigrants". Like all political cartoons, Alcaraz uses the rhetoric device of allegory to illustrate who his characters represent. Unlike works of literature, he does not have the option to build up description of his characters, instead he uses traditional garb so readers can infer who he is talking about. One can tell through the feather head wrap, popular among tribes of Native Americans, who Alcaraz is portraying. The Western suit, typical to the white man, signifies white Americans who illegally immigrated to America. Instead of flat-out telling the reader who each character portrayed is, Alcaraz instead uses clothing popular among each ethnicities in order for the reader to themselves infer who he is referencing. Alacaraz also uses irony in this image to depict to the reader how the expression of the meaning of "immigrant" signifies the opposite for emphatic effect. When Donald Trump told the American people that he would rid America of illegal immirgants, he did not mean Westerners, even though the Natives occupied North America first. Therefore, Alcaraz deliberately illustrates immigrants contrary to what one would expect. Thus, Alcaraz achieves his purpose of calling out white Americans for their hypocracy in their belief that they are first settlers in America.