So, I’m in the middle of first period and my kids are silently reading. For once, I wanted to give them a break for doing such a good job in our mythology unit. The kids produced some very well written and extremely creative work that I’m looking forward to reading and grading this week.
But, close to 60% of my class is absent today. I didn’t think much about this: April and May are prime allergy months, so many kids many not come in because of allergies or just the general kinds of spring colds and illnesses that come with this season.
But, I know this isn’t the case. Many of my kids are recent immigrants from other countries, and many of them have parents who are in the process of becoming United States citizens or are having issues with the process. One of my students, a very bright Dominican boy from the neighborhood that surrounds the school (Central Bronx), told me last week that his mother isn’t a United States citizen and there have been constant worries about whether or not she will be deported. Another of my students is a Mexican boy whose mother is an illegal immigrant and a major issue he is facing is the very real possibility that his mother will be deported. I can only begin to imagine what these two students are facing, but what so many people are facing right now: the right to live in this country as US citizens.
It bothers me. As a teacher, I am privy to some of the most intense and saddening stories from my students about the hardships they face–whether its dealing with homelessness and working out ways of taking their work and checking on them during the periods where they are between shelters with their parents; dealing with kids who are struggling with body image issues and working with the school social worker on how to help said students with overcoming these issues, etc. I could go on and on. But, I feel so helpless when a student tells me that his mother or father may be deported because they aren’t legally living in the states. How do you address that? In the case of the Dominican boy, I asked him why he comes late or why he misses classes. He told me: “Well, my mother can’t speak English, so when we go to see about my mother becoming a citizen, I have to translate what the interviewer says to her. And, when the interview doesn’t go well or my mother is upset, I go home with her and try and tell her that things will be okay. She will get through this. But, I don’t know if she will get through this, so I stay home and worry about what life would be like if my mother wasn’t with me.”
I really didn’t know what to say. I still don’t. How can you tell someone things will be okay knowing full well that the possibility of deportation is so real, so close to them?
Honestly, I have to side with all of the immigrants who are protesting today. I was born and raised in this country and neither of my parents are immigrants. But, I am Black/of African descent, and my history is rife with the legacy of slavery and how my ancestors were among those “first” immigrants who helped to lay the foundation for this country. And, how my status as a citizen, according to the US Constitution, is still considered to be “three fifths of a human being”. Obviously, I am a citizen in this country. But, I am aware of the reality that Black people, in the eyes of some, are accorded a second class or “immigrant” status. I may be melodramatic, but I just feel that anyone in this country who works hard and wants to make a better life for himself should be allowed to do that with some kind of protection. I know that the government is trying to come up with some middle ground for immigrants who are illegal–I think I may even agree with Bush’s goal of wanting to give illegal immigrants some kind of status that enables them to work in this country while still being illegal. I don’t know if this will be passed as a law, but I think that might be a decent starting point to working on this very difficult and eye opening situation.
But, it still doesn’t change the fact that my students, and so many like them living in this city, are facing or have faced the realities of having parents who are illegal immigrants or they themselves as illegal immigrants and how they struggle to deal with this while being students. I’m at a loss on how to help the students who are facing this issue. All I can do is hope that laws will be passed that will at least work out a tentative means for illegal immigrants to stay in this country and work. And, all I can do is hope and pray that my students, who are dealing with the realities of immigration, will be okay.
6 Comments:
1 Chaz
· May 2, 2006 at 6:58 pm
My heart goes out for all the children of illegal immigrants. It’s not the child’s fault that the parents did the wrong thing. I certainly think the sins of the parents should not be the sins of the child. However, what can be done?
I believe if a child graduates high school amd is not guilty of a felony, that person should be given a chance to obtain US citizenship such as joining the armed forces, the peace corp, or other federally recongized programs. Once completed these students should be eligible for citizenship. If that means delaying college? So be it. Many Americans and resident aliens go into the armed forces to get funds to go to college once they complete their service obligations.
However, any ammesty for the parents who entered the country illegally should be based upon what Congress and the President finally decides on and they cannot backdoor their way in through the student.
By the way DOE stated that there was a 6% decrease in citywide attendance. In my high school it was 5% and mostly the Mexican students.
2 jd2718
· May 3, 2006 at 5:59 am
“However, any ammesty for the parents who entered the country illegally should be based upon what Congress and the President finally decides on…”
I’m not happy with that. This country has a long history of racist immigration policy. I think that needs to be challenged.
jonathan
3 Chaz
· May 3, 2006 at 7:15 pm
Jonathan:
Well, who should decide our immigration policy?
The United Nations?
Howard Dean?
Vicente Fox?
Jesse Jackson?
Jerry Farwell?
How about Leo Casey? He is good at commenting on non-education issues?
I disagree with you on this issue. Our president and Congress were elected by the people and represent this country. If they screw up you don’t reelect them. I would not want to see an unelected judge determine our nation’s policy.
4 jd2718
· May 3, 2006 at 8:33 pm
“Well, who should decide our immigration policy? The United Nations? Howard Dean? Vicente Fox? Jesse Jackson? Jerry Farwell? How about Leo Casey?”
None of them.
The right to migrate should be considered a fundamental human right. Think. What would we say if we needed permission to move to New Jersey. If we had to show that we had an employer with a job for us before we could move to Boston. That we had significant savings before we were allowed entry to Florida.
And on the international level? Americans get pissy if they have to get a visa. We are outraged that some countries restrict the time we can say, or whether we can own land, etc. We know in our heart of hearts that going wherever we want to is a basic right.
We have in recent years passed all sorts of trade agreements and trade reforms that lets Capital march around the world like a lord touring grand cities. And with Capital, raw materials, credit, and even worse, jobs can freely move from country to country. Our leaders have negotiated rights for money that we deny to people?
With our acute sense of the right to travel and the right to migrate, we should not deny it to others.
But if our president and our congress decide, that is exactly what they will do. This country’s government has a 200 year history of immigration policy, most of it bad. We will skip the involuntary African migrations. But Chinese exclusion? How did we do taking European refugees from 1933 –> ?
And more recently, refugees from regimes, no matter how nasty, that we supported, these were economic refugees and were sent back home. But refugees, no matter how unsavory, from countries we disliked, these were political refugees and we let them in. Even more recently we systematically kept haitians out while allowing wtc bombers in. This government’s racist attitudes to immigration policy do not protect our borders.
So, who should decide? The immigrants themselves. If I (in whatever flight of insanity) decide to move to Florida, I will move. I would not ask the gov’t's permission because it would be an affront to freedom and because this gov’t is not competent to decide. Same should go for when a guy wants to move to NY from Toronto.
Let the immigrants decide.
Jonathan
5 phyllis c. murray
· May 4, 2006 at 6:09 pm
I Too Sing America
By Phyllis C. Murray
“The large influx of immigrants from Mexico—articulately to the U.S. Southwest—differs in important ways from the traditional immigration model this country has experienced. In addition to the sheer size and longevity of this wave of immigration, the United States has no historic precedent of large numbers of people coming to this country who could argue that they were returning to a country that was once theirs. The assimilation process is likely to work (or not work) very differently among people who believe they are coming home, rather than moving to a new country where they will have to earn acceptance.”The Federation for American Immigration Reform
Who owns America? Our map still bares the Spanish names of old plains, rivers, lakes, and streams. Native Americans too, have their names forever etched on old roads, woods, and waters throughout America. Africans, lest we forget, who were in America before the Mayflower and even lived among the Native Americans can still find remnants of their ancestor’s paths on old maps where their burial grounds once existed. And there is more.
Some call it gentrification…as an older area in America may have been converted from an open agricultural land for urban uses in the 19th century or early 20th century. But the tragic fact remains, that our earliest American inhabitants were forced off their land. Therefore, one cannot be surprised today, as more and more of the descendants of the earliest Americans are returning to reclaim their sacred lands. Many have been successful as we read about The Native Americans of Connecticut and Delaware; The African American’s investment in claiming Lower Manhattan’s African Burial Ground; and Mexicans in California.
And we see the same phenomenon happening in Europe and Asia as descendants cross the Atlantic and Pacific to reclaim their birthright: The land, material wealth, and artifacts of their ancestors.
Therefore, as indicated by The Federation for American Immigration Reform: “While it is important not to overestimate the potential consequences of mass migration from Mexico, it would be imprudent to dismiss them out of hand.”
What we must do is “look to the past to understand the present and inform the future.” The history is already documented…often in the skeletal remains of our ancestors. Sankofa.
Phyllis C. Murray
6 Chaz
· May 4, 2006 at 6:53 pm
Jonathan:
I can say I totally disagree with you on this issue. To allow the immigrant to determine where he/she can go is not a human right! Nor should it be. I agree that our history of immigration policy is not one of our shinning achievements. However, the unregulated flow of illegal immigrants into this country is a real negative.
The illegal immigrants lower the pay scale for the high school dropouts and teenagers. In fact, many teenagers find it harder to get jobs because of their school responsibilities.
The use of fraudulent documentation and failure to pay taxes is a real problem when it comes to economic progress and results in precious health & welfare benefits going to the undeserving.
The failure to supervise entry into our country allows criminals to slip in and commit crimes. Lest we forget about terrorists who would just love to bomb our country.
Is it unfair that any Cuban that reaches America is welcomed while the Hatians are sent back? Sure it is. However, if you don’t like the laws then vote in people who agree with you. Until then the President & Congress make and enforce the laws and that is the way it should be.