What the U.S. Supreme Court Case on Executive Action Means for Schools

On April 18, the eight sitting justices on the U.S. Supreme Court will consider United States v. Texas, a politically charged lawsuit about the legality of some of President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

The initiatives in dispute—expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA)—have been on hold since a district court in Texas issued a preliminary injunction (a temporary block) in the case in February 2015. A Supreme Court decision in favor of the United States could clear the way for the initiatives to go forward as early as June 2016. A decision against the United States, or a 4-4 split decision would affirm the lower court’s ruling and uphold the block on expanded DACA and DAPA.

Both DACA and DAPA are deferred action initiatives. To qualify to stay in this country, individuals must have lived here five years, register with the government, pay taxes, and pass a criminal background check. A grant of deferred action does not confer any type of lawful immigration status, enforceable legal rights, or an ability to remain permanently in the United States. Nonetheless, it allows families to remain together and to apply for work authorization.

Expanded DACA and DAPA have the potential to affect a substantial number of American families.  The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates that 3.7 million undocumented immigrants could qualify for protection from removal under the two initiatives.  Additionally, 86 percent of children of undocumented parents, or 4.4 million, have parents that would qualify for DAPA. Many of these children are U.S. citizens.

There are also, however, educational and socio-emotional health benefits. For example, as of December 31, 2015, over 700,000 young people have received the 2012 version of DACA (not challenged in the lawsuit), broadening their educational opportunities. Many recipients now have access to public universities, trade schools, and additional scholarship opportunities.

Many educational groups and advocates, including the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, have stated in a friend-of-the-court brief filed on the Obama administration’s side, that "DACA is unique among immigration policies because it makes educational attainment a condition for eligibility." They highlight that in order to be eligible for DACA, an individual must be “either in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, or are honorably discharged veterans of the U.S. Coast Guard or the U.S. Armed Forces.”

Additionally, they note that the DAPA program would extend significant stress relief to families with school-aged children. Not surprisingly, removing the threat of a parent’s deportation and the ability to improve economic prospects via work authorization may mitigate some of the statistically profound disadvantages facing children with at least one undocumented parent.

Executive Action Resources

• Defending DAPA and Expanded DACA Before the Supreme Court (American Immigration Council) – This guide provides brief answers to common questions about United States v. Texas, including what is at stake in the case, how the litigation began, what the contested issues are, and the impact the case may have on our country. 

• Shield From Deportation Threat to Get Day at High Court (Education Week) – This article details some of the implications of United States v. Texas on schools.

Lesson Plans

• Just What is Executive Action? A Lesson from the Principal’s Desk Students apply inductive reasoning skills about individual school policies set by the principal in order to understand what execution action is and what its limitations are.

• Writing a Way In: Multiple Perspectives on Executive Action Students write their way into understanding the multiple perspectives that surround this immigration issue after reading reactions in favor and against the expanded DACA and DAPA initiatives.

5 Engaging Ways to Teach about the Refugee Experience

In 2015, displaced people around the world faced incredible challenges. The well-being of refugees and the policy decisions affecting them are still at the forefront of many people’s minds. Throughout history, the U.S. has responded at times with generosity and at other times by shutting out those seeking refuge. 

We highlight these historical perspectives in our lesson plan, “A Land of Refuge or Refusal? Perspectives on the Refugee Experience in the United States” which we’ve recently updated to include the ways refugees have contributed to the U.S. Some—like Albert Einstein and Elie Weisel, who were Jewish refugees—have become well-known. Yet there are countless others whose stories may not be as familiar. Meet some of these notable figures now featured in our lesson plan and help students learn about their significant contributions through advancements in the fields of public service, science and technology, entrepreneurship, literature, and the arts. Undoubtedly, these stories will inspire youth to achievement. 

As the global refuge crisis continues to make headlines, we’re highlighting some of our favorite resources and methods to teach about this important topic in addition to or to extend our lesson plan:

•  Use Photo Journalism to Captivate Attention: These photo essays, Fleeing by the Millions: Migration Crises Around the World (Atlantic) and a Year in Twitter: Refugees Welcome, expand upon the tensions of refuge and refusal to a global perspective. Please exercise discretion as some of the images are graphic.

• Incorporate Global Perspectives to Broaden Understanding: The Global Refugee Crisis, Region by Region (New York Times) uses maps, photos, and short narratives to highlight some of the major geographic pressure points and the reasons people are migrating.

• Engage with Interactive Maps: Use National Geographic’s MapMaker to explore how and why people are forcibly displaced. The interactive layers on Mapping Displaced Persons Around the World can be used to teach about push immigration factors and introduce key terms. The Teaching Channel has a terrific lesson on Sudanese refugee migration “Exploring Emigration: Cultural Identity” that demonstrates how students use MapMaker in class.

• Target an Area of Study: Students will learn well from a close-study of any one of the global migration crises. With teacher guidance, students can break into groups to investigate and educate their classmates. To extend on the Syrian refugee crisis which has dominated headlines and is included in our lesson plan, consider using the Pulitzer Center’s Flight From Syria: Refugee Stories.

• Listen to Youth Voice: Harness the power of youth voice to educate peers and adults.This short video “Teens Talk About the Hardest Part of Being a Refugee” (Mashable, 3:17) is comprised of students in Atlanta, GA talking about what they imagine life would be like in the U.S. before they arrived and what their lives are like now. Additionally, to lighten what can be a challenging topic in the classroom and to learn how a community can make a huge difference in welcoming refugees, listen and learn from the inspiring Pihcintu Multicultural Chorus, a nationally recognized immigrant youth choir based in Portland, ME.

We hope you find plenty of ways to incorporate these resources into your classroom.  If you find this information helpful, please tell a friend about our work, and give them this link http://bit.ly/1KdE5Zz to sign up to receive updates and free resources.

We offer free lesson plans, resources, book/film reviews, and grants to teach immigration. We also welcome teacher and student book reviews and contributions to our blog. Email us at teacher@immcouncil.org and follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration #teachimmigration

A Land of Refuge or Refusal? A New Resource to Teach About the Refugee Experience in the U.S.

In response to domestic and overseas tragedies, some politicians have proposed shutting our doors to refugees, particularly those from Syria and Iraq. This “knee-jerk” reaction obscured logical thinking based on evidence, history, and analysis. More recently, a growing number of national leaders from a variety of fields—ranging from the military to faith—have spoken out in favor of welcoming of refugees from Syria, Iraq and other nations, often relying on historical examples to make their case.

This tension between refusal and refuge is not unknown in the history of U.S. immigration. In fact, this historical analysis is the basis of our latest classroom-ready resource, “A Land of Refuge or Refusal? Perspectives on the Refugee Experience in the United States.” The source text for this high school lesson plan is an article written by David W Haines, Ph.D. professor of anthropology at George Mason University. What this study of America’s past and present friction offers is a real learning opportunity for students to understand the construction of logical arguments, closely read and analyze the development of an author’s argument in a non-fiction text, and make connections to our present moment. It is the kind of critical and creative thinking about immigration so often missing from a national debate that we hope to inspire in your classroom and offer you a tool to do so. An extension for this lesson can also be made from this photo essay, Year in Twitter: Refugees Welcome, which expands upon the tension of refuge and refusal to a global perspective. Please exercise discretion as some of the images are graphic.

Please click here to view the lesson plan.

Please click here to view additional educational resources related to this topic.

German Steamer MS St. Louis in 1939 (Photo Courtesy: U.S. Department of State)

Syrian Refugees aboard a plastic dinghy (Photo Courtesy: Ben White/ CAFOD, October 2015)

A Land of Refuge or Refusal? Lesson Plan Overview

In this immigration lesson plan, students analyze key ideas in an academic article that provides background on the refugee experience in the United States, including examples of welcoming and exclusionary responses, as well as the impacts of these disparate reactions. After analyzing the author’s claims and evidence, students then apply one of those claims to the current refugee crisis in order to answer the question: how is America a land of refuge, refusal, or both?

This lesson encourages critical thinking from students in a very public discussion, both in the United States and abroad, about the worldwide refugee crisis. In recent years, the United States has welcomed 70,000 refugees per year. The President has indicated he intends to admit 85,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2016, including 10,000 from Syria.  This increase has been criticized by some who believe the United States should do much more to protect those fleeing dire situations and by some who fear that welcoming Syrian refugees may compromise our national security. In considering the appropriate U.S. response to the refugee crisis, it is important to remember the central role of refugees in the American experience.

Adaptations are made for English Language Learners and readers at multiple levels.

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Support Us

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Follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration #teachimmigration.

Our Most Popular Resources of 2015

As we look back at 2015 and spotlight our most popular education blogs, newsletters, and lessons, it is abundantly clear; the need to teach about immigration critically and factually is in high demand.

As you may know, the American Immigration Council is a non-profit organization and we rely greatly on the support of our constituents to fund the work we do.

Please consider a $5/month donation today and help us keep ourcritical work flowing next year.

We look forward to empowering teachers like you to help students think critically and creatively about immigration through lesson plans, professional development, creative writing contest, and teacher grants and we hope the value you see in our work is worth your monthly support or one-time gift.

Now, without further ado, our most popular resources of 2015!

Top 5 Blogs

• Building Diverse and Inclusive School Communities – Our most popular blog is a book review of Eileen Gale Kugler’s Innovative Voices in Education: Engaging Diverse Communities, which stands out for its honest and multi-layered approach to creating a pluralistic school environment for students and families.

• How Immigrant Students Strengthen American Schools – As a guest blogger, Eileen Gale Kugler writes about the benefits and values immigrant students bring to American schools.

• The Power of Poetry and the Immigration Experience – We developed and curated some poetry activities and resources to read, write, and learn about immigration experiences through the transformative and empathetic lens of poetry.

•  Interpreting César Chávez’s Legacy with Students – We offer several ways educators of all levels can teach about César Chávez’s life and legacy with students including with our bilingual lesson plan which encourages students to read Chavez’s own recollections of his adolescence as a migrant farm worker and interpret how that influenced his later achievements.

• Announcing the Winners of the 18th Annual Celebrate America Fifth Grade Creative Writing Contest – We honor our fifth grade winner, Anya Frazer, and runners-up of our nationwide Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest who wrote on the theme “Why I’m Glad America is a Nation of Immigrants.” We receive on average 4,500 entries per year – and it’s not too late to participate in the 2016 contest!

Top 5 Newsletters

• Addressing Concerns for Some Immigrant Students – We highlight resources, tips, legal and mental health concerns for educators working with recently immigrated students.

•  Welcoming Immigrant Students into the Classroom – This article also published on Edutopia offers some streamlined tips and best practices for creating an inclusive, positive environment for these students.

• Teaching Freedom, Fairness and Equality – This social justice article and lesson draws on connections between the power of youth civic engagement and principals of the civil rights movement.

• Digital Learning on Immigration: Quick Lessons for Students by Students – This article introduces our digital learning guide, which matches historical political cartoons with short films produced by students on current immigration topics and then asks student-viewers to analyze and draw connections.

• A New Resource for Addressing Some Concerns of Immigrant Students – The U.S. Department of Education published a comprehensive resource guide this year to support undocumented youth with a focus on secondary student access to higher education which you can learn about in the newsletter.

Top 5 Lesson Plans

•  Crossing Borders with Digital Storytelling – Using digital storytelling to capture immigration stories is a powerful way for teachers to create opportunities for “empathetic moments” among students and shape classroom environments.

• Immigration Status Privilege Walk ­– Students engage in an interactive activity and learn the ‘benefits’ and ‘limitations’ conferred by a fictional immigration status.

• Migrant Workers Social Justice Project – In a service-learning project, students brought awareness and assistance to migrant farm workers as a result of our community grant awarded to Delia Lancaster, a teacher at St. Joseph Catholic School in Palm Bay, Florida. Use this lesson plan to create a similar service-learning initiative in your community.

• Interpreting the Legacy of César Chávez – In this immigration lesson plan, students will understand how Cesar Chavez’s adolescence as a migrant farm worker influenced his later achievements. 

• The First American Settlers and the First Thanksgiving – Bookmark this lesson for next year as students learn and discuss the myths and facts surrounding the first Thanksgiving and the first immigrants and identify dominant and resistant readings of this national holiday.

We’d love to hear how you’ve used our resources (you can send us an email) and we hope many of you are inspired to use them in 2016!  We will continue to push out new materials so you can teach about immigration past and present with students of all ages.

If you like our work, please pass this email to a friend and include us in your year-end donations so we can continue to be a free resource for teachers. Thank you in advance for your support! Follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration #teachimmigration.

A Message of Inclusion and Understanding

In an open letter addressed to Donald Trump, Rais Bhuiyan, founder of World Without Hate, hate-crime survivor, and advocate for radical forgiveness, delivers a message of inclusion and understanding that is of such importance, we wanted to send it directly to you with his permission. If you are interested in learning more about Bhuiyan’s story, please read our book review of The True American and corresponding lesson plan.

Dear Mr. Trump,

I am an American Muslim. I deplore the acts of violence and hatred that are wrongly performed in the name of my religion. I denounce the actions of ISIS, Al Qaeda, and all terrorist organizations. They do not represent me or my beliefs, and they do not reflect the lessons taught in the Qur’an. I also denounce all manifestations of hateful thoughts, acts, writings and deeds.

While I respect you for attaining your leading position in the Republican Party’s run for President, as such a leader, I urge you to learn about and get to know the minorities and immigrants who call the United States home. American Muslims are an integral part of our society. They are doctors, lawyers, teachers, first-responders and firefighters, business owners, police officers, and peace activists, like me. Over 10,000 American Muslims currently serve in the U.S. military and are ready to put their lives on the line to protect our freedom and liberties. American Muslims, like their fellow citizens, are patriotic Americans, who have been living and working in this country for centuries. It not only devastates American Muslims like me for this country’s leaders to question our allegiance, it sends an extraordinarily distressing message worldwide. You have a unique position in American society, people take your words seriously, they listen to and believe you. It is imperative that you properly represent all Americans, and that includes Muslims who are voters, citizens, professionals, family members and loyal Americans. As citizens of this nation, we should be doing things to strengthen and empower one another, not discouraging or demonizing some among us, and not casting doubt upon their loyalties and love for our country.

I have spent my life preaching the value of radical forgiveness ever since I was shot in the face ten days after 9/11 by an American espousing values similar to the ones you voiced yesterday. I know how tempting it was to BLAME the whites, the Christians, or all the Americans’ because of the white supremacist who shot me in the face and killed two innocent South East Asians and voluntarily told the media, after his arrest, that what he did, most Americans wanted to do, but they did not have the guts to do it. He BLAMED me and “my kind” for 9/11.  He thought that America was no place for Muslims until I started a campaign to save him from death row. He was ultimately executed, but not before he called me “brother” and he said that he loved me.

America needs to understand, to repair, and to heal.  America does deserve better.  We deserve better treatment from ourselves.  We deserve a country that lives up to its original creed – that ALL men (and women) are created equal.  At a time when most Americans were uninformed, misinformed, or simply afraid of Islam, Thomas Jefferson imagined Muslims as future citizens of his new nation. His engagement with the faith began with the purchase of a Qur’an eleven years before he wrote the Declaration of Independence. “Neither Pagan nor Mahamedan [Muslim] nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion.”
 — Thomas Jefferson, quoting John Locke, 1776

Your recent comments against Muslims are spreading fear, hate, and causing destruction in our society, and it’s not healthy. Your recent speech reminds me of the famous quote of Abraham Lincoln – “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” I would welcome the opportunity to sit down with you, as one American Muslim, to talk with you further about the contributions that American Muslims can make to improving our national security and helping this nation to be the best it can be. Muslims have value, Mr. Trump, and all Muslims are not violent. I would like to demonstrate these truths to you. 

Sincerely,

Rais Bhuiyan

Founder

World WithoutHate

If you like this letter, please send it to a friend and give them this link http://bit.ly/1KdE5Zz to receive updates and free resources such as lesson plans, books reviews, and community grants. Follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration #teachimmigration.