Political Battle on Illegal Immigration Shifts to States

A recent article in the New York Times discusses the issue of illegal immigration and how several states are implementing measures this year to crack down on illegal immigration. Some of these measures include limiting access to public colleges and canceling automatic citizenship for U.S. born children of illegal immigrants.

Documentary of Interest: Immersion

This film takes a look at Moises, a ten year old student in a new school who struggles to communicate in his new school with limited access to his native language. The student portrayed in the film is exceedingly bright, but with his limited English skills and no access to English as a second language programs at his school, his educational experience is negatively affected.

I highly recommend this film to those who are interested in learning more about the educational experiences of students who are non-native speakers of English.

Documentary of Interest: Exiled in America

This nine minute short documentary details how a legal resident who is the mother of five children was deported to Mexico. The mother, who had resided in the U.S. for 25 years was a driver in a car accident with some of her friends. After being taken to the hospital, she was told that she was being charged with transporting illegal immigrants. She served 4 months in federal prison and was deported to her hometown in Mexico. Leaving behind 5 children who ranged in age from 24 years to 14 years old.

Due to an immigration law in 1996, immigration judges no longer had the power of discretion when it came to decisions on deportation. The result was the deportation of even legal residents for minor infractions.

Should citizenship be granted automatically at birth?

According to a recent New York Times article, Senator Lindsay Graham has proposed the idea of altering the 14th amendment to make sure that unauthorized immigration is discouraged. In an interview with Fox News, Graham said, " We can’t just have people swimming across the river having children here — that’s chaos." But, according to a Pew Hispanic Center study released last year, children of illegal immigrants are usually members of families that have resided in the U.S. for a number of years. The study also found that about four million American citizen children have at least one parent that is an illegal immigrant.