What a Supreme Court Decision on Executive Action Could Mean for One Undocumented Immigrant

Today, in U.S. classrooms, you will find first, second, or third generation immigrant students. Most of these students are U.S. citizens.  However, among them, there exists an estimated 1.7 million undocumented young people under age 30 who are enrolled in high school, have graduated, obtained a GED, or are currently enrolled in elementary or middle school, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Each year, about 65,000 undocumented students graduate from American high schools. As undocumented, they are without basic access to the numerous opportunities available to their documented or U.S. citizen counterparts and face significant barriers to higher education. Undocumented students cannot receive federal education benefits, and in some states, may be ineligible for in-state tuition. These barriers add to the social and economic challenges undocumented students already face as a result of their status.

Jong-Min’s Story

Like so many of these students who have aspirations of higher education, I too, came from abroad—Seoul, South Korea—and arrived in the U.S. in 1981 under a student visa. I was only a one-year old baby back then, and when my visa expired in 1985, I became undocumented at the age of 5. I’ve now lived in the U.S. for the last 35 years. I attended public schools, graduating from Stuyvesant High School in New York City in 1998, and later graduating magna cum laude in 2003 from University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a BA in Sociology with a concentration in Criminal Justice and a Minor in Psychology.

Thirteen years later, I am still stuck in my invisible prison behind invisible bars and with invisible chains. This is a prison where my lack of Social Security number prevents me from working, driving, voting, and accessing certain basic human rights, like health care. I am too old for the temporary reprieve from deportation under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, as I missed the cut off by a year. If I were a DACA recipient, I would be eligible for a work permit and temporary protection from removal. However, that obstacle has never deterred me, and even though it been many years since college, I still aspire to go to law school, and ultimately become a federal judge.

As the Supreme Court decides the fate of President Obama’s executive actions in United States v. Texas, which includes two deferred action initiatives – an expanded DACA and a proposed Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) initiative –  I, along with an estimated 290,000 persons eligible for expanded DACA and over 3.7 million persons eligible for DAPA, eagerly await their decision. In the absence of congressional reform, this is our hope along with our dream to contribute more fully to the country we have long called home.

Additional Resources 

•  U.S. Children of Undocumented Immigrants Set Up for Failure by Current Policies (American Immigration Council) – This blog demonstrates the profound impact of current immigration policies on pre-K-12 U.S. students.

• What the U.S. Supreme Court Case on Executive Action Means for Schools (American Immigration Council) – This blog details some of the implications of United States v. Texas on schools.

Quick Digital Learning Day Lessons on Immigration by Students for Students

Officially, Digital Learning Day is February 17^th, but you can teach digital learning day and engage students (#DLDay) any day of the week on immigration with our mini-lessons! We pair historical political cartoons with short video clips produced by young adults on immigration themes and provide rigorous questions for student reflection and class discussion. No more than five minutes in length, these films inspire dialogue, critical thinking and creative teaching on immigration.  Additional activities are provided to extend learning and explore the themes covered in the films.

Our digital learning mini-lessons on immigration makes it easy to: insert and adapt short lessons, ask students to draw connections between historical and present immigration themes, engage students with multimedia, and underscore the power of young voices.  

Shadows of immigration past hangs behind the same Americans barring entry to new arrivals. Credit: The History Project, University of California, Davis

How to Use the Mini-Lessons

The mini-lessons include questions that can be used as warm-ups, homework, extra credit, in-between time during standardized testing days, or extended into full lessons in order to provide students with both historical context and real-world accounts on the impact of immigration today. Currently, we have three mini-lessons but plan to include more in the future. 

Teachers have to flexibility to adapt the guide to best meet classroom needs and extend learning with suggested activities.

Extend the Lessons

 

While we include suggested activities that build upon the themes discussed in the films, it is the perfect opportunity for students to cultivate their own voice through a digital storytelling project and/or service-learning. 

• Cross 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. Our most popular lesson plan for K-12 students makes it easy to implement in the classroom. 

 

•  Combine Digital Learning with Service Learning – Our current community grants recipients are using digital technologies to reach beyond the classroom walls to study immigration issues that matter to them. Read about our current inspiring teachers who use podcasts and digital immigration narratives to learn more about immigration and a previous project where students brought awareness and assistance to migrant farm workers in their local community. Use this lesson plan to create a similar service-learning initiative in your community – and of course, feel free to apply to our next round of community grants.

We’d Love to Hear What You Think! Let us know your thoughts by emailing us or by filling out a brief feedback form. We’re also on twitter – use the hashtag #DLDay, our handle @ThnkImmigration, and @OfficialDLDay.

Anxious and Alert: Recognizing Symptoms in Children of Undocumented Parents

At the beginning of 2016, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducted immigration raids, primarily in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina. According to DHS, they rounded up 121 individuals, mostly Central American women and children who were slated for deportation. Given the epidemic levels of gang violence and human rights abuses these families sought to escape, many argue the deportations are inhumane. The raids and deportations also have instilled fear and anxiety in immigrant communities nationwide and these rippling effects are being observed in schools throughout the country. Considering the sheer size of the population of U.S. children with at least one undocumented parent, and the legitimate fear of being separated from one’s parents, many U.S. students are understandably anxious and on alert, fearful and chronically stressed.

By The Numbers

Regardless of their own immigration status, children who have an undocumented parent often feel fear and stress about immigration. In a recent report, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) released statistics on the populations of U.S. children with undocumented parents.  This data demonstrates the large number of children impacted by what is as much an education issue as an immigration issue.  

·        The population of U.S. children under age 18 with one undocumented parent represents 30 percent of all children of immigrants and 7 percent of all U.S. children (4.1 million).

·        Compared to all children of immigrants and all U.S. children, both U.S. citizen and non-citizen children with an undocumented parent are more likely to experience poverty, lower levels of preschool enrollment, linguistic isolation, limited English proficiency, and reduced chances of socioeconomic mobility.

The socioeconomic and educational disadvantage experienced by children of undocumented immigrants today will have an impact in these children’s lives for years to come – and on all of us, living and working besides and with them.

While most children with undocumented parents are U.S. citizens (79 percent), an estimated 959,000 (19 percent) are undocumented themselves and 113,000 are legally present including lawful permanent residents (LPRs) and those with temporary visas. In The Atlantic article “How Fears of Deportation Harms Kids’ Education,” Melinda D. Andersen addresses how the fear of deportation (that of their own deportation or that of a parent) causes mental, physical and emotional toils on children. The practical manifestations of such legitimatized fears may be most apparent to educators and administrators in the amount of missed schools days.

But there are other signs as well.

By The Symptoms

Between the morning bell and when the last paper is graded for the day, there is a lot that teachers must manage. What follows is a list of symptoms to be aware of. This list was prepared by María Elisa Cuadra-Fernández, a licensed social worker and Executive Director/CEO of COPAY Inc., a bilingual professional youth prevention and leadership development agency. With her permission, we are publishing an excerpt of her article, “Anxiety and PTSD in Latino Children of Immigrants: The ICE Raid Connection to the Development of These Disorders.” To read the full piece, which we recommend, please click here and share broadly.

The real fear and stress over potential family loss may manifest itself in these symptoms of Anxiety Disorders:

• Constant thoughts and intense fears about the safety of parents and caregivers. 
• Refusing to go to school. 
• Stomach aches and other physical complaints.
• Being overly clingy. 
• Panic or tantrums related to having to separate from parents. 
• Trouble sleeping or nightmares. 
• Fear about a specific thing. 
• Fear that causes significant distress.
• Fear of meeting or having to talk to particular people. 
• Avoidance.
• Having few friends. 
• Worries over things before they actually happen. 
• Constant worries or concerns about family. 
• Repetitive or unwanted thoughts (obsessions) or actions (compulsions). 
• Fears of embarrassment. 
• Low self-esteem or lack of self-confidence.

Latino children, like all children, need the freedom and safety to just be children and grow. The energy the child must invest in managing and coping with their fear and stress is energy that is lost to them relative to their cognitive, emotional, psychological, social and academic development. If you identify a child suffering from these symptoms, we encourage you to seek assistance as appropriate from licensed counselors. 

Additional Resources:

• Welcoming Immigrant Students Into the Classroom (American Immigration Council) - The 1982 Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe determined that all students, regardless of their immigration status, are entitled to access K-12 public education. This article provides a brief list of Do’s and Don’ts for building relationships with immigrant students and families.

• What Undocumented Students Bring to the Classroom (The Atlantic) – This article written by San Francisco Bay Area teacher and writer, Andrew Simmons, demonstrates the benefits of having undocumented students in the classroom and how they have enhanced the learning experiences for all the country's children.

• U.S. Children of Undocumented Immigrants Set Up for Failure by Current Policies (American Immigration Council) – This brief blog post demonstrates the profound impact of current immigration policies on pre-K-12 U.S. students.

We seek to connect teachers and students with the most relevant, fact-based information to teach immigration critically and creatively – at no cost.  If you like our work, please share this email, tell 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.