A couple weeks ago on November 20, Obama gave a speech explaining his action towards the issue of immigration. He announced that illegal immigrants will be relived from deportation if they have lived in the United States for at least five years, pass a background check, and have a child who is a citizen of the United States (Cardenas). This new plan that Obama is putting into action will let about 5 million illegal immigrants stay in the United States and not get deported (Planas). Although most illegal immigrants are praising Obama for doing this, many Americans disagree with the new plan. They don't agree with what Obama is doing because they think the illegal immigrants should be deported to where they came from. The citizens fear that "immigrants from countries South of the border, not only Mexico, take American jobs and threaten American culture" (Donnelly).

The single fear the American citizens have is the illegal immigrants taking their jobs. A survey in 2013 found that "70% of Americans thought allowing more immigrants would make it harder to find jobs" (Zacharia). The government wants to help the illegal immigrants, but they are being yelled at by the citizens to kick them out of the country. This fear of illegal immigrants that the citizens have is called Xenophobia. These citizens are afraid of losing their jobs but these illegal immigrants "are labor intensive jobs which most Americans would be too proud to work, and working them for lower wages than most Americans would accept" (Donnelly).

In The Crucible a theme that is relevant to this example of immigration is convincing people into believing something that is wrong, and in this case it is that the illegal immigrants will steal the Americans' jobs. They are naming names and accusing people for the shortage of jobs. "I want to open myself! I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil" (Miller 1048)! Here Abigail is confessing and naming names and accusing people of being with the devil. This is related to the problem on immigration because the American citizens are also accusing the illegal immigrants for the shortage of jobs in the U.S.

The Americans are also spreading lies about how the immigrants are the ones destroying American culture. "Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters. And that is all" (Miller 1034). Here Abigail is forcing the girls in the room to believe that they did nothing in the forest which is a lie. This relates to the issue of immigration because the Americans are spreading lies such as the illegal immigrants are taking their jobs and destroying their culture which isn't true. Then the Americans are afraid of the illegal immigrants of them stealing their jobs. "I--I heard the other girls screaming, and you, Your Honor, you seemed to believe them, and I--It were only sport in the beginning sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits, ans I--I promise you, Mr. Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not" (Miller 1087). Here Mary Warren shows fear in lying to Danforth about what happened in the forest. The Americans feel the same way towards the illegal immigrants about stealing their jobs.

There are many parallels between The Crucible and the issue of immigration in the United States. In both situations there are accusers. In The Crucible it's the whole village of Salem, and today it's the Americans. There are also people accused in both situations and fear toward those people. In The Crucible it's the village accusing each other of being witches because they are scared of witchcraft, and today it's the illegal immigrants whom the Americans are afraid of.

Beast, The Daily. "Obama’s New Immigration Policy Explained: 7 Key Facts."The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.

Cárdenas, Vanessa. "5 Facts to Know About President Obama's Immigration Announcement." American Progress. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.

Donnelly, Jezelle. "Xenophobia in America." — Voices of Youth. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts. New York: Viking, 1953. Print.

Planas, Roque. "Here's Every Argument You'll Need For Your Immigration Debate This Thanksgiving." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 Nov. 2014. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.

Zacharia, Janine. "Neil Malhotra: Are Americans' Fears of Immigration Overstated?" Stanford Graduate School of Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.