Tow #12: Article: "Shameful Profiling of the Mentally Ill" by Andrew Solomon

Since the Progressive Era, the mentally ill have been discriminated against less and less due to reforms created by the government. However one problem still remains: border control of the mentally ill. Currently there is a law against allowing mentally ill people into America called the Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 212. It states that anyone with a mental or physical disorder that threatens the safety of Americans will be denied entry into the country. However, this law is too strict because people with a disorder as common and harmless as depression are getting denied entry into America. Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, used the story of a woman who was hospitalized after attempting suicide in June of 2012 to argue against Section 212. Ellen Richardson, a Canadian, was not allowed to go to America because of her hospitalization from the year before. Because of this her Christmas vacation was ruined. Solomon mainly uses irrefutable facts and comparisons to prove to the American people that mentally ill people are still being discriminated against today. Solomon appeals to logos when he states the fact that people with a mental illness do not have have a higher rate of violence than people without a mental illness. This fact proves that Ms. Richardson should not have been denied entry. Also, this fact and many others Solomon included cannot be argued with because they are easily verifiable, therefore Solomon was able to successfully show that Section 212 may not be completely just. Solomon also compares this incident to when the United States denied entry into the country to people who were HIV positive. During the twenty years HIV positive people weren't allowed into America, potentially HIV positive people were not getting tested, so the country actually became sicker. Solomon claims that the same thing will happen if the President does not speak out against the Immigration and Nationality Act now. By comparing the current issue to an older one, Solomon attempted to show Americans that they cannot allow the country to make the same mistake again, therefore he successfully achieved his purpose.