Why Latino Tourists are Disappointed with the United States

Glitz, glamour, parties, and magic: that's what the land of the free promised many of its tourists and even immigrants.

However, Latino tourists are quick to get reality checks once they set foot in the United States: Disneyland, Baywatch, and Sex and the City are not exactly the pictures they see in the real world.

As We Are Mitu noted, not everything is glitzy, glamorous, and gorgeous in America. In fact, there are not-so-pretty things, like the dangers of fast food, not-so-pretty neighborhoods, and people who have had too much botox.

However, there are bigger problems that Latinos face, especially when it comes to immigration. What happens then when they cross the border and promises of greener pastures are broken?

Al Jazeera noted that in Allentown, Pennsylvania, environmental racism came into play, resulting in the lead poisoning of a community that is more than 40 percent Latino -- low-income Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, at that.

Donald Trump's bias against Latinos is not helping matters either. The fight against immigration has put other Latino problems on the back-burner. Angelo Falcon, the president of the National Institute for Latino Policy told NBC, "Although immigration reform affects about 15 percent of the total Latino population, as a public policy issue it now occupies almost all the Latino policy agenda, sucking up, as one colleague recently put it, all the oxygen on Latino issues."

Lack of Latino leaders also makes it hard to address issues about the Latino community, as nobody can properly present their qualms to higher legislation.

The Pew Research said that in December 2013, the main issues for Hispanics in America include education, jobs and the economy, and health care. Immigration ranks fifth. Clarissa Martinez De Castro of the National Council of La Raza said, "Immigration continues to be wielded as a wedge issue. When we are talking about health care or voting rights, there are those who keep inserting immigration into the mix, whether it pertains to a particular issue or not - and normally in a detrimental way."

Cristina Beltran, an associate at the New York University, added that instead of using immigration as a step in understanding the Latinos in the United states, it has become an "end-all."

The widening social inequality in the world's melting pot is something to look into. As Al Jazeera said, Americans have a "collective state" in ensuring the success of the youth -- and marginalization is not the way to progress.