Immigration
Student Resources
Student Resources
Short Stories for discussions: Laurie Hernandez, Frank McCourt, from Angela’s Ashes, Vu Tran, “A Refugee Again” & Uzo Aduba
Historical Sources (presentations, websites used in class & related sources)
- U.S. Immigration Policy, Past and Present - an interactive timeline, and the 2018-19 group should add TPS story from October and February
- Immigration & Citizenship Terminology (presentation)
- Angel Island history - http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/angel/about.htm
- US-Mexico border (US War with Mexico & aftermath)
- ICE - Immigration & Customs Enforcement: Who we are
- "Transcultural Identity" article, featuring reflections by Jhumpa Lahiri
Immigration Laws
- Migration Policy Institute Timeline of Major US immigration Laws 1790-2006 and a detailed update of laws 1986-2013
- "Immigration and Citizenship: the Role of Whiteness, Race and Ethnicity" (handout that has List of Immigration Laws & a framework to understand them by David Roediger)
Historical Eras & Trends
- US Immigration Trends - many categories to explore (Migration Policy Institute)
- Immigrant Labor during industrialization - "The Wedge" excerpt, sweatshops & tenements
- Mexican Deportation during the Depression "Remembering California's Repatriation Program" (NPR), Illinois law that mandates the teaching of this in schools, and explanation and photos of the Bracero Program
- "How the Immigrant Dream Died in an Automotive Shantytown" (Dec. 2019)
Current Events
- "Obama Effect Triggers More Nuanced Conversations on Race" (NPR story)
- White House Framework on Immigration Reform and Border Security (2018)
- "Without A Special Visa, Foreign Startup Founders Turn To A Workaround" (NPR Story)
- Temporary Protected Status (TPS) - "Trump Administration Weighing Future Of 50,000 Haitians In U.S." (NPR Story), Salvadoran mom who has to leave due to expiration of TPS - update: court order suspended the expiration order; current status is upheld until Jan. 4, 2021 (see updates)
- "Remain in Mexico" - Trump policy on asylum seekers
- Jan 2019 - Trump Administration begins Remain in Mexico policy for asylum seekers A year later, 800 Asylum seekers wait in Mexico under dangerous conditions
- PBS Newshour Asylum Seekers face violence Dec 2019 (8 mins)
- NYTimes Consequences of Trumps’ Remain in Mexico plan (July 2019) & film on the impact on Mexico's enforcements of its own southern border (Jan 2020)
- why people flee the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras)
- Jan 2019 - Trump Administration begins Remain in Mexico policy for asylum seekers A year later, 800 Asylum seekers wait in Mexico under dangerous conditions
- US-Mexico Border
- "What It Costs To Be Smuggled Across the U.S. Border" (NYTimes July 2018)
- Family Separation at the border: (see Films section below for more)
- ABC News from June 2018 showing detention centers
- June 2018 “No clear plan yet on how to reunite parents with children”
- PRI report on why the US was/is separating families (dated Feb. 2019)
- 4/26/19 - Judge orders Trump Administration to reunite families w/i 6 mos
- Dec. 2019 - CBS report on a father separated from his 5-yr-old son
- "Border Theater" - an article about armed civilians at the border who took migrants into custody & filmed the incident until border agents arrived
- See-Saw installed as protest on the border wall
- Invisible Walls - stories from Guatemala, Mexico, California of people affected by Trump immigration policies
- Iranian students turned away at airports - updated Jan 2020
- Iraq War Veteran faces deportation - NPR story (April 2019)
- Jan. 27, 2020 - Supreme Court ruling- allows Trump rule to continue for now limiting immigration for those who might be a “public charge”
Films/Documentaries/Podcasts (some linked in the pictures to the right)
- I Learn America website - where you can find out how to stream the film, read about the featured students, and see video clips or stories of other kids talking about experiences
- Separated: Children at the Border (PBS Frontline series)
- The Faces of Family Separation (CBS)
- American Creed - a more general look at American identity
- Coming to America: student podcasts about immigration (NPR)
- Houston rapper of Nigerian descent 15 min concert (~12 mins, relates to Uzo's story)
Undocumented Americans & "DREAMers"
Undocumented Americans & "DREAMers"
- "What is DACA? Who are the Dreamers?" (New York Times Jan 2018)
- Senator Dick Durbin's "Dreamers' Stories" webpage
- the essay Jose Antonio Vargas published in the New York Times revealing that he is an undocumented American (2011) and his 2013 article "My Family's Papers," in which he previews the testimony he later gave to the Senate
- States which issue drivers licenses (or state ID) to "unauthorized immigrants" (includes Illinois) - but there is a national law called the REAL ID act that will prohibit the use of these IDs to fly in the US
- 2017 Letter to Families in District 113 (some connections)
- Public Schools & undocumented youth: "Schools must balance two sometimes dueling obligations: ensuring student safety and privacy and cooperation with federal officials as required by law." In its 1982 decision in the case Plyler v. Doe, the Supreme Court asserted that "states cannot constitutionally deny students a free public education on account of their immigration status" (source).
- guide to the laws related to and process for undocumented youth to apply for college (by Chicago Public Schools)
- President Trump on allowing Dreamers to stay & their reaction
- DACA elegibility requirements/application (try answering the Qs) & proposed BRIDGE Act provisions to extend DACA protections
- Illinois DREAM Act information
- More on DACA from Yes! Magazine:
- The Atlantic magazine's features on undocumented doctors & an undocumented teacher with her students (some of who have seen parents deported)
- Code Switch podcast "What Does It Mean To Be A 'Nation of Immigrants'?" (to the right) on the Gonzalez family, which has two daughters with DACA, one without, and a US-born son with citizenship. You can also listen to the "Status Update" episode published Nov. 13, 2019, when the Supreme Court heard a case related to the future of DACA.
Refugees
Refugees
- Text of the poem "Home" and some background on the poet Warsan Shire.
- US State Department "Refugee Processing and Screening System" and overview/evaluation of refugee processing by the New York Times
- "The Somalis of Lewistown" story we saw in class (youtube story)
- "Where have refugees settled in the US?" map from Pew Research Center
- Fact Sheet on Refugees
- UN describing difference between "refugee" and "migrant"
- Where refugees settle in Illinois & where they are from (2017)
"Sanctuary Cities" and "Inclusive" Communities
"Sanctuary Cities" and "Inclusive" Communities
- What & where sanctuary cities/states are as of April 2019 & Vox explainer video
- Fox News report comparing CA and TX on the issue of "sanctuary cities" also helps to explain what they are
- Deerfield Village
- announcement endorsing Lake County Welcoming and Inclusive Community Pledge
- Resolution No. 17-9 "A Resolution to Support the Welcoming and Inclusive Community Pledge"
- March 2017 - "How Chicago Sanctuary Status Fends Off ICE Agents as Trump Pushes Deportations"
- By April 2018, judges across the country have blocked attempts by the Trump administration to withhold funding to declared "sanctuary cities"