Immigration Stories - Classroom Law Project

CLASSROOM LAW PROJECT 2007 Youth Summit - Immigration
LESSON 3
Immigration Stories
Goal: Present the stories of immigrants through immigrant experiences.
Objective: Students will become aware of immigrant experiences and current
immigrant policy issues.
Materials, Handouts: Teachers may pick and choose from a variety of sources that
will tell the stories of immigrants. Take a moment to review them to determine what
will resonate with your students.
(1) Handout 1: You Have to Live in Somebody Else’s Country to Understand by Noy Chou,
PBS New Americans (poem);
(2) Handout 2: Home is Where the Heart Is … Or Is It? (REAL drama);
(3) Handout 3: Immigrant Activist Deported After Illegally Seeking Sanctuary in Church for a
Year, Constitution Center and Xinhua news service (article);
(4) Handout 4: Saul Arellano To Move To Mexico With Deported Mom, Boy Has Been Pressed
Into Service For Many Immigration Rallies(article);
(5) Handout 5: Guiding Questions for Oral History Interview;
(6) Handout 6: Stories from the Past and Present (short);
(7) Handout 7: Stories from Young Adults, Testimony before House Subcommittee (long).
A. Daily warm-up and current events alert! (daily activity)
What changes might you make to the language in “Give me your tired, your poor” in
2007?
Current events alert!
Use any of the following online resources: Google www.google.org;
Bender's Immigration Bulletin, www.bibdaily.com/;
Oregonian, www.oregonlive.com (keyword: immigration)
B. Activities (many choices!)
1. Poem: a read around. HO1 You Have to Live in Somebody Else’s Country to Understand.
Teacher strategy: Provide a very brief preview of the read aloud story; ask students to
listen for new information about immigrants and immigration. Distribute HO1; after
silent practice reading, read the entire poem out loud: student reads one line, then the
next student reads the next line, and so on until the poem has ended. Then share the
feelings of outsiders. Students write a word that was powerful in large letters on
whiteboard, overhead, chart pack.
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2. REAL Drama. HO2 Summary Home is Where the Heart Is...Or is it?
Teacher strategy: After telling the story, HO2, divide the class into groups for
discussion for the follow-up topics. Used with permission by Project R.E.A.L.,
www.relevantlaw.org/
3. Current events on Elvira Arellano and removal issue.
Handouts 3 and 4 are the two news articles about Arellano; the first focuses on her, an
illegal, and the second on her 8-year old son, a U.S. citizen.
Teacher strategy: Ask students, “what kinds of questions can we think about as we read
these current events?” Consider using these as follow up for REAL play summary.
Teachers are cautioned that some may find these articles to be inflammatory as well as
one-sided. Therefore, teachers should model non-judgmental language when asking
questions. For example, DO ask: “how did the mother decide what to do?”; do NOT
ask, “how could a good mother do such a thing?”
Alternatively (or additionally!), use HO6 (short) and HO7 (long) for very compelling,
very personal, and decidedly one-sided first-person accounts from immigrants.
4. Interview an immigrant.
Teacher strategy: Pairs or trios interview with an immigrant (recent or long ago).
Another option would be to do an entire class interview with an invited guest (guests).
Be sure to take time to rehearse these interviews in class so that the same questions are
answered. Emphasize sensitivity to circumstances of the immigrant, no matter how
many years ago the immigration took place.
Model is the 5 W's and H:
Who are you? Where are you from? When did you come to the USA?
Why did you come? (key question)
How did you come to this country (or to Oregon)?
What were your experiences?
Do you have an opinion on the immigration issues of 2007? (may choose not to ask
this; do ask if interview goes smoothly and parties are comfortable with each other.)
After the interview: Interviewers’ job is to make connections with the overall
immigration question: How does a “nation of immigrants” balance the benefits and the
challenges of immigration in 2007?
Provide a meaningful opportunity and a time specific to share interviews if conducted
outside of class, perhaps in the lesson prior to the in-class hearing. Photos, video,
reenactments using the language of the interview.
Teacher strategy: For a more in depth opportunity for older students, consider using
HO5, Guiding Questions for Oral History Interview.
5. Online biographies
Teacher strategy: Ask students to do online research to read immigrant biographies and
report back to the class.
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Immigration: Stories of Yesterday and Today. Find out what it means to come to the
U.S. as an immigrant from the early 20th century through today! Talk to recent
immigrants, take a tour …
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/index.htm (Susie’s fave!)
http://www.ailf.org/notable/famous.htm
http://www.ailf.org/notable/historical.htm
http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/bib_guid/immigrant/
Original sources from the Library of Congress (high school)
C. Vocabulary
naturalization
undocumented
removal
D. Extended Activities
List the variety of reasons why immigrants come to the USA.
Continue to follow the story of Elvira and Saul Arellano.
Explore the discussion of whether to continue “birthright citizenship,” backgrounder
article Bill Proposed in House to Restrict Birthright Citizenship for Illegal Immigrants.
For an Oregon point of view
Bios. See Backgrounders for profiles of these famous and very much alive Oregonians:
businesswoman Gert Boyle, former Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse, and Congressman
David Wu.
Statistics. See backgrounder Oregon Immigration Facts.
Homework / Journal Entry
The immigrant experience that I remember most is … because …
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CLASSROOM LAW PROJECT LESSON 3 - Handout 1 2007 Youth Summit - Immigration
You Have to Live in Somebody Else's Country to Understand
by Noy Chou
excerpted from www.pbs.org/newamericans
What is it like to be an outsider?
What is it like to sit in the class where everyone has blond hair and you have black
hair?
What is it like when the teacher says, "Whoever wasn't born here raise your hand."
And you are the only one.
Then, when you raise your hand, everybody looks at you and makes fun of you.
You have to live in somebody else's country to understand.
What is it like when the teacher treats you like you've been here all your life?
What is it like when the teacher speaks too fast and you are the only one who can't
understand what he or she is saving, and you try to tell him or her to slow down.
Then when you do, everybody says, "If you don't understand, go to a lower class or
get lost."
You have to live in somebody else's country to understand.
What is it like when you are an opposite?
When you wear the clothes of your country and they think you are crazy to wear
these clothes and you think they are pretty.
You have to live in somebody else's country to understand.
What is it like when you are always a loser.
What is it like when somebody bothers you when you do nothing to them?
You tell them to stop but they tell you that they didn't do anything to you.
Then, when they keep doing it until you can't stand it any longer, you go up to the
teacher and tell him or her to tell them to stop bothering you.
They say that they didn't do anything to bother you.
Then the teacher asks the person sitting next to you.
He says, "Yes, she didn't do anything to her" and you have no witness to turn to.
So the teacher thinks you are a liar.
You have to live in somebody else's country to understand.
What is it like when you try to talk and you don't pronounce the words right?
They don't understand you.
They laugh at you but you don't know that they are laughing at you, and you start
to laugh with them.
They say, "Are you crazy, laughing at yourself? Go get lost, girl."
You have to live in somebody else's country without a language to understand.
What is it like when you walk in the street and everybody turns around to look at
you and you don't know that they are looking at you.
Then, when you find out, you want to hide your face but you don't know where to
hide because they are everywhere.
You have to live in somebody else's country to feel it.
Published in 1986 by the Anti-Defamation League for the
"A World of Difference" project.
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CLASSROOM LAW PROJECT LESSON 3 - Handout 3 2007 Youth Summit - Immigration
Immigrant Activist Deported After Illegally
Seeking Sanctuary in Church for a Year
LOS ANGELES, Aug 20, 2007 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- U.S. immigration authorities in Los
Angeles have arrested a Mexican woman who championed the immigration reform movement while
illegally seeking sanctuary in a Chicago church in the past year.
Elvira Arellano, 32, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
agents on a street near a downtown Los Angeles church Sunday afternoon, according to an ICE
statement issued Monday.
The statement said Arellano had been deported to Mexico overnight.
Arellano became a lightning rod for pro-immigration activists as she kept living in the Chicago church
and for a year, making public calls for immigration reform that would allow her to be with her son,
who was born in the United States.
Arellano and her son Saul, 8, who is a U.S. citizen, were in Los Angeles to press for immigration
reform and were staying at a local church.
She visited three area churches to call for amnesty for illegal immigrants, but was arrested before she
could go to a fourth, activists said.
According to the ICE statement, Arellano's son was left in the custody of her traveling companions,
including Pastor William Coleman, the pastor of the Chicago church where she had received
sanctuary for the past year.
It was not immediately clear if Saul will stay in the U.S. or be returned to his mother in Mexico.
Estimates show that there are at least 3.1 million children in the U.S. who have one or more parents
in the country illegally.
Anti-illegal immigration groups alleged that Arellano was someone who had broken U.S. laws and
used her child as a human shield to ignore immigration laws.
Arellano defied an order to report to the Department of Homeland Security on Aug. 15, 2006, to be
deported by taking refuge in the Chicago church.
She argued that she sought to remain in the country so her son can get better medical care for his
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
She told reporters she came to the United States because the North American Free Trade Agreement
hurt the Mexican economy, making it harder for her to find a job there.
Arellano first came to the United States in 1997 and was deported to Mexico shortly afterward. She
returned and moved to Illinois in 2000, taking a job cleaning planes at Chicago's O'Hare International
Airport.
Copyright 2007 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY Source:
www.constitutioncenter.org/education/TeachingwithCurrentEvents/ConstitutionNewswire/17968
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CLASSROOM LAW PROJECT LESSON 3 - Handout 4 2007 Youth Summit - Immigration
Saul Arellano To Move To Mexico With Deported Mom
Boy Has Been Pressed Into Service For Many Immigration Rallies
Sep 13, 2007--(AP) CHICAGO Saul Arellano, the 8-year-old boy who became a symbol
for U.S. immigration reform after his mother was deported, will move to Mexico soon and
attend school there, his mother said Wednesday.
Saul's participation in immigration activism had raised questions because of his age and
his separation from his mother, who on Wednesday blamed Washington for splitting
them apart.
"He is a boy who has been suffering, because the U.S. government told his mother she
couldn't stay in their country anymore because she was undocumented," Elvira
Arellano said at a rally of about 40 people in Tijuana.
Saul had been living at the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago with his
mother, who took sanctuary there for about a year in defiance of a deportation order.
Elvira Arellano said Saul, who was born in the United States and is an American citizen,
would join her Thursday in Tijuana where she has mostly stayed since being deported
in August. The two will then travel to Michoacan, her native state, and he will start
school there as soon as next week.
Saul and other children led a chanting crowd of about 150 activists through the halls of
the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, carrying a banner that read, "Born in the USA. Don't
take our moms and dads away."
The boy has spent the last year appearing at rallies across the U.S., on television and at
meetings with lawmakers, but he has often seemed distracted and ill-at-ease in the media
spotlight.
Elvira Arellano had lived in the United States illegally for several years when she came
to the attention of immigration authorities. She took sanctuary at the Chicago church,
but left last month and was arrested after giving an immigration speech in Los Angeles.
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_256103204.html
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CLASSROOM LAW PROJECT LESSON 3 - Handout 5 2007 Youth Summit - Immigration
Guiding Questions for Oral History Interview
www.pbs.org/newamericans
1. What country are you originally from?
2. Why did you leave this country?
3. When did you leave? How old were at that time?
4. What were the conditions in the country when you left?
5. How did you prepare for your trip here?
6. Who came with you when you emigrated? Who did you leave behind? What
did you leave behind?
7. How did you get here? Did you stay somewhere else before arriving here?
8. Why did you choose the United States? Why not some other country?
9. Who decided you would come here? Did you want to leave?
10. How did others in your home country treat you when they knew you were
leaving?
11. What changes in lifestyle did you make when you came here?
12. What was your first impression of the United States? Has this initial impres-
sion changed over time?
13. What are some of the differences/similarities you’ve noticed in the cultures
here and in your home country?
14. What were your hopes for yourself (and/or your family) when you came
here? Have you realized these hopes?
15. How were you treated when you first arrived in the United States? How are
you treated now?
16. Were your expectations of America met? Was your idea of America the same
as the reality?
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CLASSROOM LAW PROJECT LESSON 3 - Handout 6 2007 Youth Summit - Immigration
Stories from the Past and Present
They also questioned people on literacy. My uncle called me aside when
he came to take us off. He said, “Your mother doesn’t know how to read.”
I said, “That’s all right.” For the reading you faced what they called the
commissioners, like judges on a bench. I was surrounded by my aunt and
uncle and another uncle, who’s a pharmacist. My mother was in the center.
They said she would have to take a test for reading. So one man said, “She
can’t speak English.” Another man said, “We know that. We will give her a
siddur.” You know what a siddur is? It’s a Jewish book. The night they said
this, I knew that she couldn’t do that and we would be in trouble. Well, they
opened the siddur. There was a certain passage they had you read. I looked
at it and I saw right away what it was. I quickly studied it—I knew the whole
paragraph. Then I got underneath the two of them there—I was very small—
and I told her the words in Yiddish very softly. I had memorized the lines
and I said them quietly and she said them louder so the commissioner could
hear it. She looked at it and it sounded as if she was reading it, but I was
doing the talking underneath. I was Charlie McCarthy! —Arnold Weiss,
Russian, at Ellis Island in 1921, age 13
Source: Their Stories: Stories from the Past
http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/Past.html
When I came to United States for the first time it was very hard for me to
cross the border. I spent two weeks in Tijuana trying to cross the border.
The INS caught me and put me in jail for one month. My family thought I
had died. They were very sad. When I left, I promised I had to cross the
border and that’s why I’m here. I never got back until I got my resident card
and I want to get my citizenship soon. When I was in Mexico before I came
to United States, I enjoyed the holidays in my Rancho. The fair was fantastic
and the food was very good. I recommend the beaches, the sand and the
beautiful ocean water isn’t that cold and you can ride motorboats. The
restaurants sell good seafood especially fresh fish and shrimps. Now my life
is very good. I have a job and I’m studying to get a better job to support my
family and help my children with their homework. My goal in the future is to
be a welder and make good money and to buy my own house. —Remigio
Source: Their Stories: Stories from the Present
http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/Present.html
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CLASSROOM LAW PROJECT LESSON 3 – Handout 7 2007 Youth Summit - Immigration
Stories from Young Adults
Testimony before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee
on Immigration, Citizenship,Refugees, Border Security and International Law
on the DREAM Act
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Find at:
http://www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/DREAM
Marie Nazareth Gonzalez
Student, Jefferson City Missouri
Hearing on Comprehensive Immigration Reform: The
Future of Undocumented Immigrant Students
May 18, 2007
Good morning. My name is Marie Nazareth Gonzalez. I am a 21 year old junior from Jefferson
City, Missouri currently attending Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. I'm majoring in
Political Science and International Business with a focus on communication and leadership.
My family is originally from Costa Rica. I was born in Alajuela, Costa Rica but have been living
in the United States since the age of five. My parents Marina and Marvin, brought me to the
United States in November of 1991. Having come over legally, their plan was to become US
citizens so we could one day all benefit from living in the land of the free. We sought to live the
“American Dream”-the promise of a better education, a better life, and all together a better future-
what any parent would for their child.
Strong values and good morals have been instilled in me from a very young age. As long as I can
remember my parents have worked very hard for every dollar they've earned, and in the process
have taught me that life is not easy and that I must work hard and honorably for what I want in
life. That is exactly what they did. When they came to the US they had no intention of breaking
the law, or of making an exception for themselves. Unfortunately, the law is very difficult and
complex. I am not making excuses for what happened, just trying to clear my family's name.
Throughout all our years in the United States we worked very hard for what we had, thinking
that one day soon we would be citizens.
On April of 2002 our family's dream of becoming citizens was halted by a phone call. My father
had been working for the state as a courier for the Governor's Office. The job was not prestigious
in any way, but my father was very devoted to his job and was loved and respected by his co-

workers. On one occasion the governor even publicly stated his appreciation for my dad while he
was making opening remarks at an event for Missouri high school sophomores that I attended.
All of that ended after an anonymous person called the governor's office requesting that our
immigration status be confirmed. From that day forward, my life became a haze of meetings with
attorneys, hearings, and rallies.
When they heard that we were facing deportation, the community that knew us in Jefferson City
rallied behind my family and me to an overwhelming degree. They knew we were hardworking,
honorable, taxpaying people, and they fought to allow us to stay in the US. Members of our
Catholic Parish--where my mom worked as a volunteer Spanish teacher and after school care
director--joined with other community members to form the "The Gonzalez Group" to rally
support by collecting signatures for petitions and organizing phone calls. My classmates,
teachers and others also got involved because they considered me an important part of their
community.
I was in high school at the time, with graduation quickly approaching. I was in my class's
homecoming court. When it came out in the newspaper that I was being deported to a country I
had not known since the age of five, people all across the country responded. They started a
"We Are Marie" campaign, and tens of thousands called and wrote letters on my behalf. When I
was a high school senior and our family's deportation date was looming very close, they brought
me to Washington, DC.
I got involved in advocacy for the DREAM Act. Unlike thousands of others like me who would
benefit from the DREAM Act, I had little to fear from speaking out since I was already facing
deportation. When I gave the "valedictorian" speech at a mock graduation in front of the Capitol,
I became a national symbol of the DREAM Act.
Eventually all of the work of so many people on my behalf began to pay off. My
Representative, Ike Skelton, and both of my Senators, Jim Talent and Kit Bond, responded to the
support from the community and got involved in the effort to keep me here. Eventually, though,
all of our appeals were exhausted and a final date was set for our family to leave the US for good:
July 5, 2005.
I remember that the weeks before that date were surreal. I was overwhelmed by the support I
received. I appeared on national television, once with Senator Richard Durbin at my side, and
was contacted by the media so often that I got tired of it. I thought, "even if it is too late for me,
at least it might help the DREAM Act to pass so that others like me won't have to face this
ordeal." Then, on July 1, 2005, I got word that the Department of Homeland
Security had relented and would allow me to defer my departure for one year.
When I got that news I cried- simultaneously with happiness and grief. Even though I would be
able to stay, my parents would have to leave in just three days. The Gonzalez Group had made
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shirts and organized a float for the Fourth of July parade. So, the day before their departure, my
parents and I rode in the parade with other members of the group that had been such a huge part
of our family. Hundreds cheered us on and voiced their support and sorrow.
My life since April of 2002 can be easily compared to a roller coaster. There have been times
when I have felt like I was on top of the world, living out mine and my parent’s dream of being a
successful young woman in her college career, only to be brought down by the realization that at
any moment it can be taken away. The deferral of my deportation has been renewed twice, each
time for a year. Last month, when they gave me until June of 2008, they told me it would be the
last renewal. If the DREAM Act does not pass by then, I will have to leave.
I recognize that I am lucky to have been allowed to stay as long as I have. Others in my same
situation have not had nearly the support that I have. Even so, it is hard not knowing if I will be
able to remain in school at Westminster long enough to graduate.
I am only one student and one story. In the course of fighting to remain here, I have been lucky
to meet many other students who would benefit from the DREAM Act, and one of the reasons I
wanted to come here and testify is to speak to you on their behalf. Unlike them, I can speak
about this issue in public without risking deportation. I share with them in their pain, fear, and
uncertainty. Their stories are heartbreaking and similar. In my experiences and my travels I have
come to the realization that they would only be an asset to the country if only given the chance
to prove themselves. The DREAM Act has the potential to not only impact the thousands of
students who would qualify but also this great nation by allowing these students to pursue their
education and their dreams of success.
I can personally attest to how life in limbo is no way to live. Having been torn apart from my
parents for almost two years and struggling to make it on my own, I know what it is like to face
difficulty and how hard it is to fight for your dreams. No matter what, I will always consider the
United States of America my home. I love this country. Only in America would a person like me
have the opportunity to tell my story to people like you.
Many may argue that because I have a Costa Rican birth certificate I am Costa Rican and should
be sent back to that country. If I am sent back there, sure I'd be with my mom and dad, but I’d be
torn away from loved ones that are my family here, and from everything I have known since I
was a child.
I hope one day not only to be a US citizen, but to go to law school at Mizzou, to live in DC, and
to continue advocating for others who can't speak for themselves. Whether that will happen,
though, is up to you- our nations leaders - and to God.
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Martine Mwanj Kalaw
Hamilton College, Class of 2003
The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Class 2004
May 18, 2007
Oral Testimony for House Judiciary Subcommittee on Imm.
My name is Martine Mwanj Kalaw. I am a proud New Yorker employed as a financial analyst
with the New York Public Library and prior to that I was a budget analyst at the New York City
Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget.
Although I have lived in the United States for 22 years, I have an immigration nightmare I’d like
to share with you. In August 2004, I was ordered deported.
My mother brought me to the United States on a tourist visa from the Democratic Republic of
the Congo when I was 4 years old. She fell in love with and married my stepfather when I was 7
years old. When I was 12 my stepfather died and three years later when I was 15, my mother
died.
My mother had been granted a green card, and was in the process of applying for permanent U.S.
citizenship at the time of her death. However, neither she nor my stepfather ever filed papers for
me. Thus, when my mother and stepfather died eleven years ago, I was left not only without
parents, but also without a path to citizenship.
Although I had no home, I was able to excel through my academic performance and through self-
parenting. I attended prep school in Charlottesville, Virginia, with the assistance of a Judge, who
acted as my benefactor. After graduating from St. Anne’s Belfield School, I attended Hamilton
College, in upstate New York, on a scholarship and graduated in 2003 with a concentration in
political science.
All of this time, I knew that I had immigration problems, but it wasn't until I was in college that I
came to fully understand the extent of those problems. I needed a new social security card in
order to secure a part-time job on campus. But when I naively went to the Social Security
Administration for the card, they referred me to INS. The next thing I knew, I was in deportation
proceedings.
I persevered while my case was pending, despite the looming prospect of removal to a country in
Africa where I would not be fully accepted and do not know the language. Soon after college
graduation, I was a recipient of the Margaret Jane White full scholarship, which allowed me to
graduate with a Masters in Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse
University in 2004. Academia became my security blanket that allowed me to be something
other than that scarlet letter “I” for “illegal immigrant.”
Despite my academic record, I cannot escape the stifling nature of my immigration status, and
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have therefore been unable to fully explore my full potential. My experience foreshadows what
happens to immigrant students if legislation is not adopted to squarely address our status---we
will be left in limbo, with a lot to give back to America but without provisions that will allow us
to effectively do so. While I have been uplifted by the U.S. education system, I have also been
marginalized by the U.S. immigration system.
In 2006, I met other potential DREAM Act beneficiaries who, like me, were facing deportation.
They included: Dan-el Padilla, who graduated 2nd in his class from Princeton University last
year, and another young man who finished law school last year at Fordham. A third boy, a sweet
and bookish teen-ager and honors student, talked about how it felt when the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agents came to his home in a case of mistaken identity, but ended up
arresting him anyway. He said, "they made me feel like a criminal... and I am not a criminal."
I sensed the desire that many of these students share--to absorb all that there is to offer from the
U.S. academic system and then to give it back to their communities tenfold. Unfortunately,
instead of support they face a constant struggle to fight for legal representation, for a work
permit, and for a future.
My particular story has a happy ending, I think. In Summer 2005 I began to work closely with
Susan Douglas Taylor, my current counsel, beacon of hope and constant support. In the spring
of 2006, the board of immigration accepted my application for adjustment of status and
remanded my case back to the immigration judge for a background check. Unfortunately, the
immigration judge put me through a series of hearings and sent my case back to the Board of
Immigration Appeals to reconsider their decision—this nearly broke my faith. Just last week my
lawyer, Susan Taylor, informed me that the Board of Immigration granted me an adjustment of
status and my case is won. However, I am apprehensive and I do not know how to process this
information because I have been let down so many times with immigration law that my heart
fears any more disappointment. Furthermore, the timing of the decision also means that I may
not qualify for work authorization after May 24 and I may lose my job.
Although my immigration nightmare may almost be over, it is just beginning for countless others.
I was very apprehensive about coming to speak with you today in this very public forum. I
worry, perhaps irrationally, that it might, in some way, have a negative impact on my case. Lord
knows that I have gone to the depths of human frailty in trying to deal with my immigration
struggle. But it is my obligation to do what I can to prevent this anguish for other students. So, I
am here today on behalf of many talented and hardworking students who, like me, have grown up
in the United States, but who cannot tell their own stories because if they did so they would risk
deportation. I hope that hearing my testimony will help them by making it more likely that the
DREAM Act will become law this year.
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Tam Tran
University of California, Los Angeles, Class of 2006
May 18, 2007
Testimony before the House Judiciary
Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration,
Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security
and International Law
I hate filling out forms, especially the ones that limit me to checking off boxes for categories I
don’t even identity with. Place of birth? Germany. But I’m not German. Ethnicity? I’m
Vietnamese, but I’ve never been to Vietnam. However, these forms never ask me where I was
raised or educated. I was born in Germany, my parents are Vietnamese, but I have been
American raised and educated for the past 18 years.
My parents escaped the Vietnam War as boat people and were rescued by the German
Navy. In Vietnam, my mother had to drop out of middle school to help support her family as a
street vendor. My father was a bit luckier; he was college educated, but the value of his
education has diminished in this country due to his inability to speak English fluently.
They lived in Germany as refugees and during that time, I was born. My family came to the
United States when I was six to reunite with relatives who fled to California, because, after all,
this was America. It is extremely difficult to win a political asylum case, but my parents took
that chance because they truly believed they were asylees of a country they no longer considered
home and which also posed a threat to their livelihood. Despite this, they lost the case. The
immigration court ordered us deported to Germany. However, when we spoke to the German
consulate, they told us, “We don’t want you. You’re not German.” Germany does not grant
birthright citizenship, so on application forms when I come across the question that asks for my
citizenship, I rebelliously mark “other” and write in “the world.” But the truth is, I am culturally
an American, and more specifically, I consider myself a Southern Californian. I grew up watching
Speed Racer and Mighty Mouse every Saturday morning. But as of right now, my national
identity is not American and even though I can’t be removed from American soil, I cannot
become an American unless legislation changes.
In December, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in American Literature and Culture with Latin,
Departmental and College honors from UCLA. I thought, finally, after all these years of working
multiple jobs and applying to countless scholarships all while taking more than 15 units every
quarter, were going to pay off. And it did seem to be paying off. I found a job right away in my
field as a full-time film editor and videographer with a documentary project at UCLA. I also
applied to graduate school and was accepted to a Ph.D. program in Cultural Studies. I was
awarded a department fellowship and the minority fellowship, but the challenges I faced as an
undocumented college student began to surface once again.
Except the difference this time is I am 24 years old. I suppose this means I’m an adult. I also
3 - 16

have a college degree. I guess this also means I’m an educated adult. But for a fact, I know that
this means I do have responsibilities to the society I live in. I have the desire and also the ability
and skills to help my community by being an academic researcher and socially conscious video
documentarian, but I’ll have to wait before I can become an accountable member of society. I
recently declined the offer to the Ph.D. program because even with these two fellowships, I don’t
have the money to cover the $50,000 tuition and living expenses. I’ll have to wait before I can
really grow up. But that’s okay, because when you’re in my situation you have to, or learn to,
or are forced to make compromises.
With my adult job, I can save up for graduate school next year. Or at least that’s what I thought.
Three days ago, the day before I boarded my flight to DC, I was informed that it would be my
last day at work. My work permit has expired and I won’t be able to continue working until I
receive a new one. Every year, I must apply for a renewal but never have I received it on time.
This means every year around this month, I lose the job that I have. But that’s okay. Because
I’ve been used to this—to losing things I have worked hard for. Not just this job but also the
value of my college degree and the American identity I once possessed as a child.
This is my first time in Washington DC, and the privilege of being able to speak today truly
exemplifies the liminal state I always feel like I’m in. I am lucky because I do have a government
ID that allowed me to board the plane here to share my story and give voice to thousands of
other undocumented students who cannot. But I know that when I return home tonight, I’ll
become marginalized once again. At the moment, I can’t work legally even though I do have some
legal status. I also know that the job I’m going to look for when I get back isn’t the one I’ll want
to have. The job I’ll want because it makes use of my college degree will be out of my hands.
Without the D.R.E.A.M. Act, I have no prospect of overcoming my state of immigration limbo;
I’ll forever be a perpetual foreigner in a country where I’ve always considered myself an
American.
But for some of my friends who could only be here today through a blurred face in a video, they
have other fears too. They can’t be here because they are afraid of being deported from the
country they grew up in and call home. There is also the fear of the unknown after graduation
that is uniquely different from other students. Graduation for many of my friends isn’t a rite of
passage to becoming a responsible adult. Rather, it is the last phase in which they can feel a
sense of belonging as an American. As an American university student, my friends feel a part of
an American community—that they are living out the American dream among their peers. But
after graduation, they will be left behind by their American friends as my friends are without the
prospect of obtaining a job that will utilize the degree they’ve earned; my friends will become
just another undocumented immigrant.
3 - 17

Immigrants in Fiction: A bibliography of Multnomah County
Library resources
AUTHOR Auch, Mary Jane.
TITLE Ashes of roses / Mary Jane Auch.
PUB INFO New York : H. Holt, 2002.
AUTHOR Avi, 1937-
TITLE Silent movie / Avi, the author ; C.B. Mordan, the illustrator.
PUB INFO New York : An Anne Schwartz Book/Atheneum Books for Young
Readers, 2003.
CALL # jE AVI.
AUTHOR Bunting, Eve, 1928-
TITLE Dreaming of America : an Ellis Island story / by Eve Bunting ;
illustrated by Ben Stahl.
PUB INFO Mahwah, NJ : Bridge Water Books, c2000.
CALL # j.
AUTHOR Danticat, Edwidge, 1969-
TITLE Behind the mountains / Edwidge Danticat.
PUB INFO New York : Orchard Books, 2002.
CALL # y DANTICAT.
AUTHOR Durbin, William, 1951-
TITLE The journal of Otto Peltonen, a Finnish immigrant / by William
Durbin.
PUB INFO New York : Scholastic, 2000.
CALL # j.
AUTHOR Figueredo, D. H., 1951-
TITLE When this world was new / by D.H. Figueredo ; illustrated by
Enrique O. Sanchez.
PUB INFO New York : Lee & Low Books, c1999.
CALL # jE FIGUEREDO.
AUTHOR Giff, Patricia Reilly.
TITLE A house of tailors / Patricia Reilly Giff.
PUB INFO New York : Wendy Lamb Books, 2004.
CALL # j GIFF.
AUTHOR Glaser, Linda.
TITLE Bridge to America : based on a true story / Linda Glaser.
PUB INFO Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
CALL # j GLASER.

AUTHOR Gundisch, Karin, 1948-
TITLE Paradies liegt in Amerika. English.
TITLE How I became an American / by Karin Gundisch ; translated from
the German by James Skofield.
PUB INFO Chicago : Cricket Books, 2001.
CALL # j.
AUTHOR Hazen, Barbara Shook.
TITLE Katie's wish / Barbara Shook Hazen ; illustrated by Emily Arnold
McCully.
PUB INFO New York : Dial Books for Young Readers, 2002.
CALL # jE HAZEN.
AUTHOR Herold, Maggie Rugg.
TITLE A very important day / by Maggie Rugg Herold ; illustrated by
Catherine Stock.
PUB INFO New York : Morrow Junior Books, 1995.
CALL # jE.
AUTHOR Himelblau, Linda.
TITLE The trouble begins / Linda Himelblau.
PUB INFO New York : Delacorte Press, 2005.
CALL # j HIMELBLAU.
AUTHOR Hoffman, Mary, 1945-
TITLE The color of home / Mary Hoffman ; pictures by Karin Littlewood.
PUB INFO New York : Phyllis Fogelman Books, c2002.
CALL # jE HOFFMAN.
AUTHOR Jaramillo, Ann.
TITLE La línea / Ann E. Jaramillo.
PUB INFO New Milford, Conn. : Roaring Brook Press, 2006.
CALL # y JARAMILLO.
AUTHOR Lombard, Jenny.
TITLE Drita, my homegirl / by Jenny Lombard.
PUB INFO New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2006.
CALL # j LOMBARD.
AUTHOR Mak, Kam.
TITLE My Chinatown : one year in poems / by Kam Mak.
PUB INFO New York : HarperCollins, 2002.
CALL # jE.
AUTHOR Mikaelsen, Ben, 1952-
TITLE Red midnight / Ben Mikaelsen.
PUB INFO New York : HarperCollins Publishers, c2002.
CALL # y MIKAELSEN.
AUTHOR Moss, Marissa.
TITLE Hannah's journal : the story of an immigrant girl / Marissa Moss.
PUB INFO San Diego : Silver Whistle/Harcourt, c2000.
CALL # j.

AUTHOR Na, An, 1972-
TITLE A step from heaven / An Na.
PUB INFO Asheville, NC : Front Street, 2000.
CALL # y NA.
AUTHOR Napoli, Donna Jo, 1948-
TITLE The king of Mulberry Street / Donna Jo Napoli.
PUB INFO New York : Wendy Lamb Books, c2005.
CALL # j NAPOLI.
AUTHOR Pak, Soyung.
TITLE A place to grow / by Soyung Pak ; illustrated by Marcelino
Truong.
PUB INFO New York : Arthur A. Levine Books, 2002.
CALL # jE PAK.
AUTHOR Partridge, Elizabeth.
TITLE Oranges on Golden Mountain / by Elizabeth Partridge ; illustrated
by Aki Sogabe.
PUB INFO New York : Dutton Children's Books, c2001.
CALL # jE.
AUTHOR Pastore, Clare.
TITLE Chantrea Conway's story : a voyage from Cambodia in 1975 / Clare
Pastore.
PUB INFO New York : Berkley Jam Books, 2001.
CALL # y PASTORE.
AUTHOR Paterson, Katherine.
TITLE Bread and roses, too / by Katherine Paterson.
PUB INFO New York : Clarion Books, 2006.
CALL # j PATERSON.
AUTHOR Pomeranc, Marion Hess.
TITLE The American Wei / by Marion Hess Pomeranc ; illustrated by
DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan.
PUB INFO Morton Grove, Ill. : A. Whitman, c1998.
CALL # jE.
AUTHOR Pushker, Gloria Teles.
TITLE Toby Belfer visits Ellis Island / Gloria Teles Pushker ;
illustrated by Judith Hierstein.
PUB INFO Gretna, La. : Pelican, 2003.
CALL # jE PUSHKER.
AUTHOR Recorvits, Helen.
TITLE My name is Yoon / Helen Recorvits ; pictures by Gabi Swiatkowska.
PUB INFO New York : Frances Foster Books, 2003.
CALL # jE RECORVITS.
AUTHOR Tal, Eve, 1947-
TITLE Double crossing / Eve Tal.
PUB INFO El Paso, TX : Cinco Puntos Press, c2005.
CALL # y TAL.

AUTHOR Veciana-Suarez, Ana.
TITLE The flight to freedom / Ana Veciana-Suarez.
PUB INFO New York : Orchard Books, 2002.
CALL # y VECIANASU.
AUTHOR Whelan, Gloria.
TITLE Goodbye, Vietnam / by Gloria Whelan.
PUB INFO New York : Dell Yearling, 2000.
CALL # y WHELAN.
AUTHOR Woodruff, Elvira.
TITLE Small beauties : the journey of Darcy Heart O'Hara / by Elvira
Woodruff ; pictures by Adam Rex.
PUB INFO New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
CALL # jE WOODRUFF.
AUTHOR Woodruff, Elvira.
TITLE The memory coat / story by Elvira Woodruff ; illustrations by
Michael Dooling.
PUB INFO New York : Scholastic Press, 1999.
CALL # jE.
AUTHOR Yee, Paul.
TITLE The bone collector's son / Paul Yee.
PUB INFO New York : Marshall Cavendish, c2004.
CALL # y YEE.
TITLE First crossing : stories about teen immigrants / edited by Donald
R. Gallo.
PUB INFO Cambridge, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2004.
CALL # y FIRST.
School Corps bibliographies, updated annually, are limited to 30 items. To find additional items on this topic, go to
the online library catalog (http://catalog.multcolib.org). Then choose the KEYWORD option and type “Immigrants”
or “Immigration” and “Fiction” in the search box. Limit your search to “Children’s Materials.” Click on Search.
Created by CC, 503.988.6012, for Arleta Elementary, 7/16/2007
Provided by the School Corps

CLASSROOM LAW PROJECT BACKGROUNDER 2007 Youth Summit - Immigration
Decided: Thursday, June 28, 2001
Facts of the Case
Zadvydas v. Davis
533 U.S. 678 (2001)
After a final removal order is entered, an alien ordered removed is held in
custody during a 90-day removal period. If the alien is not removed in those 90
days, the post-removal-period detention statute authorizes further detention or
supervised release. After being ordered deported based on is criminal record,
efforts to deport Kestutis Zadvydas failed. When he remained in custody after
the removal period expired, Zadvydas filed a habeas action. In granting the writ,
the District Court reasoned that his confinement would be permanent and thus
violate the Constitution. In reversing, the Court of Appeals concluded that
Zadvydas' detention did not violate the Constitution because eventual
deportation was not impossible. Conversely, in ordering Kim Ho Ma's release,
the District Court held that the Constitution forbids post-removal-period
detention unless there is a realistic chance that an alien will be removed, and
that no such chance existed here because Cambodia has no repatriation treaty
with the United States. In affirming, the Court of Appeals concluded that
detention was not authorized for more than a reasonable time beyond the 90day
period.
Question
Does the post-removal-period statute authorize the Attorney General to detain a
removable alien indefinitely beyond the 90-day removal period?
Conclusion
No. In a 5-4 opinion delivered by Justice Stephen G. Breyer, the Court held that
"the statute, read in light of the Constitution's demands, limits an alien's postremoval-period
detention to a period reasonably necessary to bring about that
alien's removal from the United States" and "does not permit indefinite
detention." "Based on our conclusion that indefinite detention of aliens in the
former category would raise serious constitutional concerns, we construe the
statute to contain an implicit 'reasonable time' limitation, the application of which
is subject to federal court review," wrote Justice Breyer.
1

CLASSROOM LAW PROJECT BACKGROUNDER 2007 Youth Summit - Immigration
Texas Town to Vote on Landlord Issue
by ANABELLE GARAY, The Associated Press , Tuesday, January 9, 2007
FARMERS BRANCH, Texas -- Voters will get the chance to decide whether this city should keep a new
rule requiring apartment landlords to verify the citizenship or immigration status of their tenants.
During a meeting Monday, the City Council voted to put a rental ordinance they approved late last year
on the ballot May 12. But in the meantime, the council plans to let the new rule take effect Friday.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund plans to ask the courts for an injunction to
immediately suspend the ordinance from being enforced, fund staff attorney Marisol Perez said by phone
Monday night.
"I don't know why they're doing this. There's no upside on this. They're going to lose hundreds of
thousands of dollars," said Elizabeth Villafranca, president of the Farmers Branch chapter of the League
of United Latin American Citizens.
More than 1,200 registered voters from Farmers Branch have signed a petition in hopes of forcing a
vote on the measures, far exceeding the number required to force a vote, attorney William Brewer said.
In November, the City Council unanimously approved requiring property managers or owners verify the
immigration or citizenship status of apartment renters. Those who break the rule face a misdemeanor
charge punishable by a fine of up to $500. Council members also approved resolutions making English
the city's official language and allowing local authorities to become part of a federal program so they can
enforce immigration laws.
Farmers Branch, north of Dallas, has changed since 1970 from a small, mostly white bedroom
community to a city of almost 28,000 that is 37 percent Hispanic, according to the census.
Nationwide, more than 60 municipalities have considered, passed or rejected similar laws, but Farmers
Branch became the first city to match the trend in immigrant-heavy Texas.
Since then, judges in California and Pennsylvania have blocked similar ordinances.
© 2007 The Associated Press http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/01/08/AR2007010801819_pf.html
1

James L. Maher
Nguyen v. B.I. Inc.
435 F.Supp. 2d 1109 (D. Or., 2006)
FACTS
Immigration Law
Handout
This is a case about two men who are not U.S. citizens and are illegally in the United
States, i.e., “illegal aliens.” They are both involved in this case because they are
identically situated from a legal standpoint. The case title is shortened as a matter of
common practice. The long form of the case name contains both men’s names. The two
men are Son Nguyen and Roberto De Oca Martinez.
Both men have serious criminal histories. They both received a “final order” of
deportation. This means they are subject to immediate deportation from the U.S. They
were both under supervision by the government because their countries of origin,
Vietnam and Cuba respectively, refuse to accept them back, should the U.S. attempt to
deport them. Supervision generally consists of periodic appearances in immigration
courts and before government deportation officers. Serious violations of supervision
orders can result in a return to prison or in new criminal charges.
Son Nguyen, a citizen of Vietnam, became subject to removal from the United States in
1998. Nguyen has a lengthy criminal history, which includes convictions for Conspiracy
to Commit Murder and at least one major weapons charge. Nguyen was detained by the
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and was then released under an order of
supervision in 2000.
In 2003, Nguyen was convicted of another felony in an Oregon court. Upon release from
his thirteen-month sentence, Nguyen was transferred to government custody. Rather than
detaining Nguyen, which the government had legal authority to do because his criminal
conviction violated his order of supervision, the government released Nguyen to the
Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) on March 17, 2005.
The ISAP program is just as it sounds---more intensive. ISAP has three distinct phases.
The intense phase lasts for a minimum of thirty days, requires participants to be in their
homes for twelve hours each day and uses electronic monitoring bracelets, among other
conditions. The intermediate phase drops the electronic monitoring and involves fewer
conditions. The regular phase drops reporting requirements to two times per month,
residency verification to once per month and a curfew of eight to ten hours per day. There
is no contractual minimum or maximum amount of time an illegal alien will be in the
ISAP program. If there are no serious violations while in the program, the government

James L. Maher
will generally terminate the individual’s participation in the program within one year.
Nguyen complied with the ISAP program and was scheduled to be terminated from the
ISAP program on March 5, 2006. Nguyen was then placed back on regular supervision.
Roberto De Oca Martinez, a Cuban citizen, was convicted in Oregon State Court in
September of 2000 of delivery of a controlled substance (methamphetamine). Martinez
spent over two years in state prison, received a final order of removal and was transferred
to INS custody in December of 2002. He spent ninety days in custody and, like Nguyen,
was released under an order of supervision.
In April of 2005, Martinez was convicted in an Oregon court on drug and weapon
charges. He spent three months in state prison and was released to government custody
on August 1, 2005. The government placed him in the ISAP program and he complied
with ISAP rules. Martinez was scheduled to be terminated from ISAP and placed back on
regular supervision on August 1, 2006.
Attorneys for Nguyen and Martinez filed a Habeas Corpus action, i.e., a lawsuit, against
the government. The attorneys alleged their clients were being kept in a form of
“detention” by their supervision. They further claimed this detention could become
permanent, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

James L. Maher
HANDOUT QUESTIONS
1) If you were the federal government, what arguments would you make to support
the position that the conditions of the ISAP program do not constitute detention?
2) If you were Nguyen’s and Martinez’s lawyer, what arguments would you make to
support the position that the conditions of the ISAP program constitute detention?
3) If you were the federal government, what arguments would you use to argue for a
balancing of “liberty interests” and “legitimate governmental interests?”
4) If you were the lawyer for Nguyen and Martinez, how would you argue that
liberty interest are more important than security or protection from crime?
5) If you were the federal court, how would you decide this issue?

James L. Maher
Nguyen v. B.I. Inc.
435 F.Supp. 2d 1109 (D. Or., 2006)
What are the facts? See page 1.
What happened in the lower court? The petitioners’ request for a writ of habeas
corpus, challenging the validity of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS)
Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), was denied by the Hon. Owen
Panner, federal District Court judge. “Habeas Corpus” literally means “produce the
body.” The writ of habeas corpus is a civil, not criminal, proceeding, in which a court
inquires as to the legitimacy of a prisoner’s custody. Essentially, the lawyers for Nguyen
and Martinez argue that their clients’ continued involuntary participation in the ISAP
program was illegal. The remedy sought was the release of both men.
Why as the decision not reviewed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals? The
petitioners did not appeal Judge Panner’s decision.
ARGUMENTS
Petitioners’ Arguments: (1) The regulations in the government’s ISAP program,
requiring participating aliens to remain in their residences eight to twelve hours per day,
adhere to curfews and wear monitoring devices, constitute “detention,” in violation of
what the government is legally allowed to do. That is, the government is only allowed to
keep illegal aliens in custody for up to 180 days. As the ISAP program IS detention, the
result is permanent detention. This not only violates the 180 day rule, it also results in
liberty being taken without due process of law, in violation of the 5 th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution. This is a due process violation because petitioners did not have the
right to a hearing or a trial before being placed in the ISAP program.
Government’s Arguments: (1) The government has authority, given by Congress, to
impose reasonable restrictions on an alien’s conduct. Placement in the ISAP program is
not “detention,” but is a form of supervision. Since this is not detention, the government
is not holding people in detention for over 180 days, nor is there the possibility of
permanent detention.
(2) The liberty interest at stake here is not fundamental, as Congress regularly makes
rules that would be unacceptable to its citizens, but are applicable to “final order” aliens.
(3) The court needs to us e a “balancing test,” balancing the liberty interests of the
petitioners against the “legitimate governmental interest” served by the ISAP program.
Two of these legitimate interests are reducing the number of absconding aliens and
protecting the community from aliens with criminal propensities. As the liberty interest
of illegal aliens is not fundamental, for example, not a right to counsel issue or right to a
jury trial issue, and the ISAP program is rationally related to a legitimate governmental
interest, the government’s action is subject only to a rational basis review. The ISAP
program clearly passes the rational basis test.

James L. Maher
APPLICATION
This case addresses competing values in a democracy. Specifically, this case involves
the issue of what rights an illegal alien has regarding indefinite, potentially permanent
“supervision/detention.” The competing value is the right of the people to be secure in
their persons and homes from convicted felons. The specific issue addressed in this
case involves illegal aliens, subject to a final order of removal, who commit new
felony crimes, while under supervision from the government. Because their home
countries refused repatriation, the aliens were placed in the ISAP program. The ISAP
program includes intense, intermediate and regular supervision for up to one year.
The first issue is whether this supervision amounts to detention. The second issue is,
if the supervision does amount to detention, is the supervision potentially “permanent
detention,” in violation of the men’s liberty interests, and contrary to the 5 th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
The judge determined the supervision was not detention. This is consistent with a host
of cases, which stand for the proposition that aliens, both legal and illegal, have fewer
rights than native-born citizens. Indeed, even native-born Americans whose ethnic
history or skin color is non-white have been accorded fewer rights than white
Americans in, for example, the Japanese internment camps of World War II. How
would you compare and contrast the main case with the Japanese internment cases?
Are there similar facts? Are there important distinguishing facts?

James L. Maher
HANDOUT RESPONSE
1.) Neither Nguyen nor Martinez are actually locked up. Under both the ISAP
program and regular supervision, both men can hold regular jobs. In
addition, any form of supervision is a lesser restriction on movement and
personal freedom than being locked up in a federal prison. Electronic
monitoring and required office visits are clearly less restrictive than being
behind bars, which is where both men would be if they were charged with
and convicted of a new federal crime for violating their conditions of
release.
2.) Requiring participants to be involved in a supervision program equals
detention. Requiring participants to be in their residence for eight to
twelve hours a day equals detention. The ISAP program has a curfew.
Monitoring leg bracelets are also required. Both curfews and electronic
monitoring are significant restrictions on personal freedom that equal
detention.
3.) Our government is a system of ordered liberty. We have liberties and
along with those liberties goes a corresponding responsibility. For
example, we have freedom of speech, but we do not have the right to yell
“Fire” in a crowded theatre. Thus, liberties must always be balanced
against legitimate governmental interests. In the Nguyen and Martinez
case, we are balancing the liberty interests of illegal aliens who have
committed serious felony crimes while under supervision, with the
legitimate governmental interests of the people to be safe and secure in
their homes and protected from crime. A second legitimate governmental
interest is decreasing the number of absconding illegal aliens, which the
ISAP program has been successful in doing.
4.) Liberty is our heritage as Americans. There are always threats to our
liberty and temptations to settle for security. Our country is based on
majority rule, with minority rights. We protect minority rights because, in
doing so, we protect ourselves. We are all in danger of being wrongly
Accused of a crime. Liberty and minority rights should not be subject to
political expediency and the latest scare tactic, such as the supposed threat
posed by illegal aliens. In protecting your rights, I protect my own.
5) Judge Panner decided the conditions of supervision under the ISAP
program did not constitute detention. Judge Panner further held that no 5 th
Amendment liberty interest was violated by ISAP supervision program. In
addition, Judge Panner ruled that even if the ISAP program were
considered detention, it was certainly less restrictive than being locked up
in a federal detention center.

James L. Maher
SUMMARY
The Federal District Court denied petitioners’ request for a Writ of Habeas Corpus,
holding that the government’s regulations under the ISAP program were not detention.
Because the illegal aliens were not in detention, all claims made by the petitioners were
dismissed.
WHO WON?
The government won. The court found placement in ISAP did not constitute detention.
The Habeas Corpus Petition was dismissed.
HOW THE COURT EXPLAINED ITS DECISION
1.) The court determined the ISAP program was not detention. The program uses no
physical restraints or surveillance, as is common in detention. Even if ISAP were
detention, it is certainly less restrictive than living in a federal detention center.
The court held ISAP was a lesser intrusion on people’s lives, as the government
could have placed both petitioners in federal prison for obtaining new felony
convictions while on supervision.
2.) Petitioners’ due process rights were not violated. Petitioners have no right to be
heard regarding whether they required intensive supervision. This is because they
were placed in ISAP after serious felony convictions.
3.) The court recognized the almost insurmountable problems faced by the
government. Only about 13% of final order aliens are successfully deported. This
is largely because the aliens’ countries of origin refuse to accept them, i.e., refuse
repatriation. The government’s task is to administer and supervise thousands of
illegal aliens who cannot be deported and who cannot be detained indefinitely
while waiting for removal.
4.) The petitioners’ Habeas Corpus petition is denied.

Web resources on immigration
http://www.bibdaily.com/
Bender's Immigration Bulletin: A daily bulletin featuring the most recent
immigration-related news in the country.
www.ailf.org
The American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) website is dedicated to
increasing public understanding of immigration law and policy and the
value of immigration to American society, and to advancing fundamental
fairness and due process under the law for immigrants
www.aila.com
The AILA website was created by the profession bar association for
attorneys who specialize in general immigration law or its many
subspecialty practice areas.
http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/index.html
Includes recent court decisions and resources for protecting immigrant
rights.
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/vocabulary.html
Features several vocabulary games which aim to teach how immigrant
groups have contributed to the language of the U.S.
http://www.besthistorysites.net/USHistory_Immigration.shtml
This site aims to provide quick, convenient, and reliable access to the
best immigration history -oriented resources online in a wide range of
categories.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/newamericans/foreducators_index.html#r
esources
Includes several lesson plans on immigration intended for 7-12 grade students.
http://www.uscis.gov
The official website on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/factsheets/040505ice.htm
Features a fact sheet on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=LWVUSImmigrationStudy

This website is part of the League of Women Voters’ two-year
Immigration Study, which aims to help communities understand the
implications of immigration at the local, state, and federal level.
http://www.migrationinformation.org
The Migration Information Source provides fresh thought, authoritative
data from numerous global organizations and governments, and global
analysis of international migration and refugee trends.
http://www.migrationinformation.org/USFocus
Provides data and analysis of the US immigration policy debate.
http://www.nilc.org/
The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) website is dedicated to
protecting and promoting the rights of low income immigrants and their
family members.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17707643/
Two approaches to illegal immigration – Whose America? MSNBC.com
http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/debate.cfm?issue_type=immigration
A non-partisan website which explores the issue of immigration in
the United States.
www.nifi.org
National Issues Forums (NIF) website is founded by a non-partisan
organization which seeks to promote local dialogue about national
issues.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/newamericans/newamericans.html
Features different stories about the experiences of immigrants in their journey toward
becoming new Americans.
www.lawanddemocracy.org/pdffiles/A%20Fence%20or%20a%20Pathway.p
df
A pdf lesson plan titled: A Fence or a Pathway? A Legislative Hearing on
Immigration.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/06/20070622-5.html
An Immigration Fact Check: Responding to Key Myths

http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=23081
Statement on DHS "No-Match" Rule
http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=23089
Summary of the ICE No-Match Regulation
http://www.deliberating.org/lessons.htm
Deliberating in a Democracy website is a teacher-focused initiative designed to
improve teaching and learning of democratic principles and the skills of civic
deliberation.
http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/debate.cfm?issue_type=immigration
Public Agenda is a nonpartisan opinion research organization helping
Americans explore and understand critical issues since 1975.
www.abanet.org/publiced/noys.
Information about the National Online Youth Summit (NOYS) program.
www.crf-usa.org/immigration/issues_of_immigration_2007.htm
Current Issues of Immigration, 2007 Constitutional Rights Foundation. This Constitutional
Rights Foundation document contains six lessons designed
to put the current controversies about illegal immigration into historical
and political context.
http://www.crf-usa.org/immigration/issues_of_immigration_2006.htm
Current Issues of Immigration, 2006. This Constitutional Rights
Foundation document contains six lessons designed
to put the current controversies about illegal immigration into historical
and political context.
http://www.crfforum.org/topics/?topicid=35&catid=8&view=document&id=76
A bibliography of Major U.S. Immigration Laws.
http://www.lacoe.edu/index.cfm?ModuleId=5&mode=ndetail&news_id=2
225
Immigration Reform Resource Directory. This is a 90 page print resource
on Immigration Reform developed and assembled for schools by Los
Angeles County Office of Education.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.4437:

This Library of Congress site has a summary, related laws (including Bill
Frist’s S 2454), amendments, sponsors and Congressional actions on the
immigration reform bill H.R.4437
http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/statistics/
The Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS) of the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) is responsible for developing, analyzing, and
disseminating statistical information needed to assess the effects of
immigration in the United States.
http://www.facsnet.org/tools/nbgs/a_thru_h/e/ecnimmigr.php3
The Economics of Immigration by Philip Martin explains core principles
that can help evaluate the arguments that fuel the political debate over
immigration.
http://immigration.about.com/od/usimmigrationhistory/
This About.com site has articles and timelines about those who
immigrated, historical immigration trends and laws, Ellis Island, historical
sites and individual stories.
http://www.vote-smart.org/resource_govt101_02.php
This Project Vote Smart site describes the process for federal legislation
to be enacted into law.
http://www.crf-usa.org/immigration/immigration_links.htm
A set of resources on the current immigration debate reviewed and
annotated by the Constitutional Rights Foundation.
http://www.closeup.org/immigrat.htm
Examines current immigration policies in the United States, at both the
state and federal levels.
http://rims.k12.ca.us/activity/immigration/
Reviews immigration history since the late 1800's, as well as recent
trends and their consequences.
http://education.educ.indiana.edu/cas/tt/v2i2/they.html
This exercise helps students understand that xenophobic attitudes have
existed throughout United States history and that our culture has
survived and been enriched by each new wave of immigrants.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/19990315monday.h
tml?searchpv=learning_lessons
Explores the personal experiences of a variety of immigrants.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20060517wednesda
y.html?searchpv=learning_lessons
In this lesson, students learn about President Bush's "middle ground"
approach to issues of immigration reform presently under congressional
consideration.
http://www.prb.org/Template.cfm?Section=LessonPlans&template=/
ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=12944
Looks at the ways in which the racial and ethnic composition of the
country has begun to change as immigrants have arrived from different
areas than those in the past.
http://www.choices.edu/twtn.cfm?id=66
An interactive lesson plan on Immigration Policy by Brown University’s
Choice for the 21st Century program.
www.fairus.org
This website was created by the Federation for American Immigration
Reform, an organization that hopes to reduce U.S. immigration levels. It
provides numerous statistics and position papers by a group.
http://immigration.about.com
An esoteric guide to immigration issues.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20030501_flowers.html
The Difficulties Immigrants Face in the Post-9/11 World: How the War on
Terrorism Has Changed Their Legal Status, by Christine Flowers.
http://immigration.about.com/cs/famousimmigrants/
A list of famous and notable American immigrants.
NGOs
National Immigration NGOs (Non-governmental organizations) and think
tanks:
http://www.freetrade.org/issues/immigration.html
This site was created by Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies,
and looks at the impact of immigration on trade.

http://www.cis.org/
The Center for Immigration Studies website: A think tank devoted
exclusively to research and policy analysis of the economic, social,
demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United
States.
http://www.fairus.org/site/
This website was created by the Federation for American Immigration
Reform, an organization that hopes to reduce U.S. immigration levels. It
provides numerous statistics and position papers by a group.
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cre.htm
The website for Manhattan Institute's Center for Race and Ethnicity. It
includes several works developed by the Center’s scholars.
http://www.migrationinformation.org/integration/
The website for Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant
Integration Policy. It includes information about the center, and its
resources.
http://www.immigrationforum.org/
Created by the National Immigration Forum, this website advocates and
builds public support for public policies that welcome immigrants and
refugees.
http://pewhispanic.org/
This is the website for the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research
organization which conducts research and public surveys that aim to
improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle
Latinos' growing impact on the entire nation.
California & Bay Area Immigration NGOs and think tanks:
http://www.immigrantrights.org/about.asp
BAIRC is a broad-based coalition of individuals and organizations
working to build a unified voice for immigrant rights that transforms and
improves the lives of immigrants.
http://www.ccsce.com/
Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy does research
on the California economy for public and private sector clients.

http://www.independent.org/issues/
The Independent Institute website aims to redefine the debate over public
issues, and foster new and effective directions for government reform.
http://www.ppic.org/main/home.asp
Created by the Public Policy Institute of California, this website features
selected publications and news/events concerning California
immigration.
http://www.siren-bayarea.org/
Created by the Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN),
an organization that includes policy analysis and advocacy, community
education, citizenship application assistance, and community and service
provider trainings.
Governmental agencies:
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services home page.
http://travel.state.gov/visa/visa_1750.html
U.S. Department of State Visa home page.
http://www.usa.gov/visitors/work.shtml
"A federal web page with information for those interested in working in
the United States.
Other organizations and resources:
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/
Economic Policy Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that seeks
to broaden the public debate about strategies to achieve a prosperous
and fair economy.
http://immigrationvoice.org/
Founded by Immigration Voice (an organization that advocates on behalf
of H-1B visa holders)
http://www.labor.ca.gov/panel/ (PDF)

"The Impact of Immigration on the California Economy" (a 2005 report
prepared by the Center for the Continuing Study of the California
Economy)
http://www.unitefamilies.org/
Unite Families (an organization that advocates on behalf of legal
permanent residents separated from their families because of
immigration laws)
http://www.sfgate.com/
College or H-1B Visas: Educate tomorrow's workers or import them,
report says. Story no longer online.

CLASSROOM LAW PROJECT BACKGROUNDER 2007 Youth Summit - Immigration
Bibliography - Immigration
Many different lists are provided for you here. If you see duplicates, that is a good thing
– more than one authority thought the source was worth mentioning to you.
Compiled by educator Doni Stewart. At the end of the annotation there is an
abbreviation stating what level the books are for. If it has a YA label it is appropriate
for 6th-12th grade.
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents – Alvarez, Julia
It's a long way from Santo Domingo to the Bronx, but if anyone can go the distance, it's
the Garcia girls. Four lively Latinas plunged from a pampered life of privilege on an
island compound into the big-city chaos of New York, they rebel against Mami and
Papi's old-world discipline and embrace all that America has to offer. YA
A Picnic In October – Bunting, Eve
A boy finally comes to understand why his grandmother insists that the family come to
Ellis Island each year to celebrate Lady Liberty's birthday. Picture Book
Journey of the Sparrows* – Buss, Fran Leeper
Maria and her brother and sister, Salvadoran refugees, are smuggled into the United
States in crates and try to eke out a living in Chicago with the help of a sympathetic
family. 9-12
An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio – Coffer, Judith
Twelve stories about young people caught between their Puerto Rican heritage and
their American surroundings. YA
Children of the River – Crew, Linda
Having fled Cambodia four years earlier to escape the Khmer Rouge army, seventeenyear-old
Sundara is torn between remaining faithful to her own people and enjoying life
in her Oregon high school as a "regular" American. YA
Behind the Mountains – Danticat, Edwidge
Writing in the notebook which her teacher gave her, thirteen-year-old Celiane describes
life with her mother and brother in Haiti as well as her experiences in Brooklyn after the
family finally immigrates there to be reunited with her father.YA
Fresh Off The Boat – De La Cruz, Melissa
When her family emigrates from the Philippines to San Francisco, California, fourteenyear-old
Vicenza Arambullo struggles to fit in at her exclusive, all-girl private school.
Shadow of the Dragon – Garland, Sherry

High school sophomore Danny Vo tries to resolve the conflict between the values of his
Vietnamese refugee family and his new American way of
life. YA
First Crossing: Stories About Teen Immigrants – Gallo, Donald
Stories of recent Mexican, Venezuelan, Kazakh, Chinese, Romanian, Palestinian,
Swedish, Korean, Haitian, and Cambodian immigrants reveal what it is like to face
prejudice, language barriers, and homesickness along with common teenage feelings
and needs.
Letter’s from Rifka – Hesse, Karen
In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family's flight from Russia in
1919 and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while when the
others emigrate to America. 6+
Born Confused - Hidier, Tanuja Desai
Seventeen-year-old Dimple, whose family is from India, discovers that she is not Indian
enough for the Indians and not American enough for the Americans, as she sees her
hypnotically beautiful, manipulative best friend taking possession of both her heritage
and the boy she likes.
Himelblau, Linda
Du Nguyen is finally home. Except he’s never even met his family. And home is an
ocean away from everything he’s ever known. Du’s mother, father, brother, and two
sisters immigrated to California when he was just a baby. Du and his grandmother had
to stay behind in the Philippines. But now, 10 years later, Du has finally joined his
family. And the trouble begins.What’s so great about this place, anyway? Du wonders.
Kids at school call him Doo-doo, and it’s hard to muster a good comeback when he
can’t think of the right words in English. Only his grandmother understands who Du
really is. “You are a dragon,” she says. But for Du to feel like a dragon, he must
untangle the trouble he finds himself in and call upon the strength he knows he’s
always carried inside.
Crossing The Wire – Hobbs, Will
In the mountains of central Mexico, fifteen-year-old Victor Flores has been scratching
out a living for his family by farming ever since his father died. Days after Victor's best
friend, Rico, runs away from home to seek a better life in the U.S., Victor learns that he
may not be able to sell his corn this year. As his family teeters on the brink of disaster,
Victor heads north in an attempt to "cross the wire" into the States, find work, and send
money home. Unlike Rico, Victor has no experienced men to travel with and no coyote
money to pay the smugglers who sneak illegal workers across the border. He resorts to
jumping trains. For a while Victor travels with Julio from Honduras, then the
mysterious Miguel, and finally with his childhood friend, Rico.
Victor's journey is fraught with danger as he faces freezing cold, the scorching heat of
the Arizona desert, hunger, and dead ends. It's a gauntlet run by millions attempting to
cross the border.
2

The Color of Home - Hoffman, Mary
Hassan, newly-arrived in the United States and feeling homesick, paints a picture at
school that shows his old home in Somalia as well as the reason his family had to leave.
(K-2)
La Linea - Jaramillo, Ann
Miguel's life is just beginning. Or so he thinks. Fifteen-year-old Miguel leaves his rancho
deep in Mexico to migrate to California across la linea, the border, in a debut novel of
life-changing, cliff-hanging moments. But Miguel's carefully laid plans change suddenly
when his younger sister Elena stows away and follows him. Together, Miguel and Elena
endure hardships and danger on their journey of desperation and desire, loyalty and
betrayal.
Drita, My Homegirl – Lombard, Jenny
Drita and her family come to New York as refugees from war-tornKosovo. Even though
she barely speaks English, Drita can’t wait to start school and make a new best friend.
But her new classmates don’t make it easy, teasing her about virtually everything.The
worst is Maxie, a tough African-American girl whose sassy attitude hides a painful
secret. When Maxie takes things too far, their teacher assigns Maxie a paper on Drita
and her journey to America from Kosovo. Suddenly, Maxie realizes she and Drita have
more in common than she thought. And when Drita’s mother gets sick, there’s only one
person who can help—Drita’s new homegirl.
Parrot in the Oven: MiVida – Martinez, Victor
Dad believed people were like money. You could be a thousand-dollar person or a
hundred-dollar person -- even a ten-, five-, or one-dollar person. Below that, everybody
was just nickels and dimes. To my dad, we were pennies. Fourteen-year-old Manny
Hernandez wants to be more than just a penny. He wants to be a vato firme, the kind of
guy people respect. But that's not easy when your father is abusive, your brother can't
hold a job, and your mother scrubs the house as if she can wash her troubles away.
In Manny's neighborhood, the way to get respect is to be in a gang. But Manny's not
sure that joining a gang is the solution. Because, after all, it's his life -- and he wants to
be the one to decide what happens to it. YA (High School)
Red Midnight – Mikaelsen, Ben
After soldiers kill his family, twelve-year-old Santiago and his four-year-old sister flee
Guatemala in a kayak and try to reach the United States.
A Step From Heaven – Na, An
A young Korean girl and her family find it difficult to learn English and adjust to life in
America.
April and the Dragon Lady – Namioka, Lensey
April Chen is happily planning to go away to college, and she has a great new
boyfriend, Steve. But April, the only girl in the family, must take care of Grandma, and
Grandma--the Dragon Lady--hates Steve and has other plans for April. Caught between
two cultures, the teenager finally realizes she must find a way to define herself on her
3

own terms. YA
The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child* – Jimenez, Francisco
"'La frontera'...I heard it for the first time back in the late 1940s when Papa and Mama
told me and Roberto, my older brother, that someday we would take a long trip north,
cross la frontera, enter California, and leave our poverty behind." So begins this honest
and powerful account of a family's journey to the fields of California -- to a life of
constant moving, from strawberry fields to cotton fields, from tent cities to one-room
shacks, from picking grapes to topping carrots and thinning lettuce. Seen through the
eyes of a boy who longs for an education and the right to call one place home, this is a
story of survival, faith, and hope. YA (sequel – The Circuit)
Esperanza Rising* – Ryan, Pam Munoz
Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in
Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to
the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great
Depression. (8-12)
A Place To Grow – Pak, Soyung
A family is like a seed. It needs a place to set down roots. But sometimes the land where
it rests is hard and cold, without welcome or nourishment. Then the family must flee to
a new place, where it can finally blossom. As a father and daughter are working
together in their garden, he explains what a seed needs to flourish and the reasons their
family immigrated to a new country - looking for hope, like sunlight, and peace, like
good earth. Looking for a place to grow. K-4
Oranges on Golden Mountain – Partridge, Elizabeth
When the orange trees that are the family's livelihood stop growing, Jo Lee's mother
makes a difficult decision. Jo Lee must leave China and go to work with his uncle as a
fisherman on Golden Mountain-California. "At least in the fishing village your belly
will always be full," she says. A tender, lyrical story and evocative cut-paper
illustrations tell a story that will linger in readers' minds long after the book is closed.
(K-3)
Tangled Threads – Shea, Pegi Deitz
After ten years in a refugee camp in Thailand, thirteen-year-old Mai Yang travels to
Providence, Rhode Island, where her Americanized cousins introduce her to pizza,
shopping, and beer, while her grandmother and new friends keep her connected to her
Hmong heritage. 12 and up
Goodbye, Vietnam – Whelan, Gloria
Thirteen-year-old Mai and her family embark on a dangerous sea voyage from Vietnam
to Hong Kong to escape the unpredictable and often brutal Vietnamese
government.(Gr.4-8)
*Doni’s read aloud suggestions
---
4

http://publicprograms.ala.org/newimmigration/materials/readinglist
Middle Readers
Escaping to America: A True Story by Rosalyn Schanzer. HarperCollins, 2000.
Vivid illustrations and compelling narrative recount the story of how and why the
author's grandparents left Poland to come to America in 1921. War was on the horizon
in their town, the persecution of Jews had started. In this timeless tale, hope and
happiness were possible in America,
Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say. Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
The narrator describes his grandfather's journey from Japan to America and back again
and the duality it creates. Luminous watercolors and understated text create powerful
images of being a part of two cultures noting that “ the moment I am in one country, I
am homesick for the other." In Tea With Milk (Houghton, 1999), May or Masako, a
young Japanese American woman, experiences similar cultural conflicts when she
moves to Osaka from San Francisco.
Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech. HarperCollins, 2003.
Wisdom and insight emerge from Granny Torrelli's kitchen to nourish her
granddaughter Rosie and Rosie's best friend Bailey. The stories Granny tells are as
important as the ingredients in her traditional Italian recipes to cook up a flavorful story
about family, friendship and growing up.
Jakarta Missing by Jane Kurtz. Greenwillow, 2001.
Twelve-year old Dakar, born and raised in Africa, misses her sister, Jakarta, who
decides to stay in Kenya when the family moves “home” to North Dakota. Dakar's love
of books somewhat eases the difficulty of adjusting to a new country though the same is
not true for Jakarta.
Hannah's Journal: The Story of an Immigrant Girl by Marissa Moss. Silver Whistle Books,
2000.
Hannah chronicles her 1901 journey from Lithuania with her older cousin aboard a ship
bound for New York. Though. Lithuania has become increasingly dangerous for
Russian Jews; the girls' detention on Ellis Island is equally frightening. The story was
inspired by the author's family stories and made to look like a 10-year old child's
journal.
House of Tailors by Patricia Giff Reilly. Wendy Lamb/Random House, 2004.
Dina, a 13-year old girl who immigrated to Brooklyn from Germany, has entered
another house of tailors, the work her uncle and his family does to go beyond their
tenement life. Characters and life in New York in the late 19 th century are vividly
realized in this moving novel.
How Tia Lola Came to Visit Stay by Julia Alvarez. Knopf, 2001.
After his parent's divorce, Miguel must adjust to life away from New York City in
Vermont and to his flamboyant aunt who comes from the Dominican Republic. He
comes to appreciate Tia Lola's outlook and his own background.
5

Molly's Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen. Illustrated by Daniel Duffy. HarperCollins, 1998 (rev.
ed.).
Not only is Molly a new student, she speaks with a Yiddish accent and so is teased by
the other kids in class. In spite of Molly's fears when her mother makes a doll that looks
like a Russian immigrant, her classmates learn that it takes all kinds of “Pilgrims to
make a Thanksgiving.” This moving story is based on one from the author's own
family.
My Chinatown: One Year In Poems by Kam Mak. HarperCollins, 2001.
Poems in free verse and photo-realistic paintings are arranged by season to document a
child's gradual adjustment to life in a new life in New York's Chinatown. Though he
continues to miss Hong Kong, the child comes to appreciate his new home.
Ruby Lu, Brave & True by Lenore Look. Illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf. Atheneum/Anne
Schwartz, 2004.
Eight-year old Ruby Lu loves her baby brother, Oscar, but hates Chinese school on
Saturdays. Each short, humorous, episodic chapter lets readers empathize with the
downs -- but mostly ups -- in Ruby Lu's life on 20 th Avenue South. This contemporary
novel is animated and engaging just like Ruby Lu.
When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest. Illustrated by P.J. Lynch. Candlewick,
1997.
At the turn of the 20 th century, thirteen year old Jessie leaves her beloved grandmother
and her Eastern European shtetel to travel to “the promised land,” befriending Lou, a
young shoemaker, on the voyage. Dramatic paintings depict the voyage, Jessie's work
in New York, a chance meeting with Lou and the ultimate reunion with her
grandmother.
Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear by Lensey Namioka. Illustrated by Kees deKeifter.
Doubleday, 1992.
The Yang family has recently moved from Shanghai to Seattle. Yingtao, the youngest of
the four Yang children, is the only one with no musical talent, placing the Yang family
string quartet in danger. With verve and perception, cultural and familial expectations
are explored in this humorous, engaging story.
Older Readers
Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Scholastic, 2004.
Naomi Leon and her little brother live with their much-loved grandmother. In order to
avoid moving in with their deadbeat mother, the children and Gram travel to Mexico to
find the children's father and discover their rich cultural and artistic background.
Child of the Owl: Golden Mountain Chronicles, 1965 by Laurence Yep. HarperCollins, 1977.
Casey moves to San Francisco's Chinatown to live with her grandmother when her
gambler father is down on his luck. Likeable and streetwise, Casey comes to know and
appreciate her grandmother, her own heritage, and life in this vibrant (though initially
foreign to Casey) place. The nature of feeling like an outsider is explored again in Yep's
Traitor: Golden Mountain Chronicles, 1885 (HarperCollins, 2003) in which two boys in
19 th century Wyoming confront vicious prejudice though both are American; one with
a Chinese heritage, the other an Irish background.
6

The Circuit: Stories from the life of a Migrant Child by Francisco Jimenez. Houghton
Mifflin, 1999.
Based on the author's life, this series of simply but poignantly told short stories
chronicle a family's journey from a small Mexican village to California. As the family
grows, they follow the backbreaking harvesting circuit.
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Blue Sky Press/Scholastic, 2000.
Esperanza's privileged life on her family's ranch in Mexico is shattered by sudden
tragedy. She must deal with a new life in a camp for Mexican farm workers in
California, strongly affected by the Great Depression of the early 20 th century.
Esperanza grows into her new life but retains essential elements from her past.
Kira Kira by Cynthia Kadohata. Atheneum, 2004.
Set in the 1950s, life is difficult for Katie and her family in rural Georgia where her
parents work in the chicken processing plant. It’s tough not only because of lingering
prejudice toward Japanese, but because Katie's much-loved sister, Lynn, is dying from
cancer. Characters and setting combine to create a memorable, sophisticated novel.
Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye. Simon & Schuster, 1997.
Liyana is 14 years old when she and her family return to Jerusalem, her father's home
country. American born but of Palestinian descent, Liyana witnesses the conflict
between Arabs and Israelis and feels it firsthand when she falls in love with Owen, a
Jewish boy.
Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse. Holt, 1992.
Letters to a cousin reveal Rifka's difficult journey to escape the brutal treatment of Jews
in the Russia of 1919, her separation from her family, detainment on Ellis Island and
ultimate reunion. Inspired by a family member's story, the characters and their
experiences create a compelling novel.
Maya Running by Anjali Banerjee. Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, 2005.
While dealing with typical adolescent issues, Maya comes to appreciate her heritage
when a cousin visits from India. And with a little help from the Hindu god, Ganesh, she
is prepared for the next move from Canada to the west coast of California. Fantasy is
interwoven into this contemporary feeling novel (though it takes place in the 1970s).
Memories of Sun by Jane Kurtz. HarperCollins, 2004.
How it feels to be part of two countries, two cultures, two mindsets is revealed in
poetry and short stories by a range of writers. This sensitive collection set in countries
across Africa and various places in the United States, reveals that regardless of the
continent, each of us live under the same sun.
The Old African by Julius Lester. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. Dial, 2005.
Elements of folklore and fantasy combine in this stunning novella of forced
immigration. Realistic watercolors and lyrical text combine to chronicle the life and
power of the Old African who survives the passage, the oppression of slavery and
ultimately leads his people back across the “water-that-stretches-forever” to their native
land.
7

Seedfolk by Paul Fleischman. HarperCollins, 1997.
The attempt by one young Vietnamese girl to beautify her blighted urban neighborhood
results in a community coming together to build something more lasting. Unique voices
of immigrants from many countries effectively reveal how an individual can set in
motion a change of events to bring about positive change.
Step from Heaven by An Na. Front Street, 2001.
When Oh is four, she leaves her home and her beloved grandmother in Korea to come
to America. Her voice matures as she grows into a mature young woman, poignantly
chronicling her experiences in her new home in California in a difficult family situation.
--
Journey of the Sparrows by Fran Leeper Buss
Young adult literature: the story of a teenager fleeing from El Salvador to the United
States
Lupita Mañana by Patricia Beatty
Young adult literature: the story of a thirteen-year-old Mexican girl and her brother,
who must sneak into the United States to work
Journey to Topaz by Yochiko Uchida
All ages: an eleven-year-old Japanese American's experience of interment after Pearl
Harbor; based on the author's life
Nonfiction
Arguing Immigration: The Debate over the Changing Face of America Edited by Nicolaus
Mills
Essays written for adults: An anthology of wide-ranging opinions on the topic of
immigration, including pieces by Toni Morrison and Francis Fukuyama
The Lost Garden by Laurence Yep
Young adult literature: A book about the Chinese American author's youth in San
Francisco
Our Beckoning Borders: Illegal Immigration to America by Brent Ashabranner
Young adult literature: A survey of illegal immigration, including interviews with
immigrants; considered balanced and factual; focuses on the Mexican border
--
“IMMIGRATIONS CALCULATIONS” BIBILOGRAPHY
BOOKS:
George J. Borjas, Heaven's Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy
(Princeton University Press, 1999)
8

Michael Fix, ed., Securing the Future: US Immigrant Integration Policy, A Reader
(Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, 2007)
Victor Davis Hanson, Mexifornia: A State of Becoming (Encounter Books, 2003)
Tamar Jacoby, ed., Reinventing the Melting Pot: The New Immigrants and What it
Means to be American (Basic Books, 2004).
Kevin F. McCarthy and Georges Vernez, Immigration in a Changing Economy:
California's Experience (Rand Corporation, 1997)
James P. Smith and Barry Edmonston, eds., The Immigration Debate: Studies on the
Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration (Panel on the Demographic
and Economic Impacts of Immigration, National Research Council, 1998)
James P. Smith and Barry Edmonston, eds., The New Americans: Economic,
Demographic and Economic Impacts of Immigration (Panel on the Demographic and
Economic Impacts of Immigration, National Research Council, 1997)
STUDIES:
Card, David. 2005. "Is the New Immigration Really So Bad?" NBER Working Papers,
11547. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research
Goldman, Dana P., James P. Smith and Neeraj Sood. "Immigrants and the Cost of
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--
New Immigration Stories
By Hazel Rochman and Bill Ott
Leaving home is not what it used to be. It’s no longer a one-way trip across borders to a
self-confident, optimistic America; rather, the immigrant journey today is a more
ambiguous process involving constant travel back and forth, physical and emotional.
Thanks to cell phones and air travel, national boundaries are less rigid today, and the
break with the Old Country is not as final. Writing in 1968, in an introductory note to
When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw, Isaac Bashevis Singer lamented that “in our time,
literature is losing its address.” His concern was that our stories had lost their sense of
home and, with that, their identity. Today, the issue is a little different. Literature has
multiple addresses. Today’s immigrant narratives reflect their creators’ belief in what
Héctor Tobar, author of Translation Nation, calls “a transnational identity,” the notion
that “bodies and souls can live between two countries, that the physical border need not
exist in the mind.”
But if the authors of the new immigration narratives welcome the ability to cross and
recross borders, holding onto the old while embracing the new, they also recognize that
balancing multiple worlds and multiple selves takes a psychic toll. Whether they are
writing for adults or youth, many of today’s writers on the immigrant experience
dramatize the conflicts they feel about “becoming American.” In “Staying On Past
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Canal Street,” an essay by Linda Sue Park published in the January 2002 issue of
Booklist, the Newbery Medal–winning author of A Single Shard discusses the
implications of the hyphen in Korean-American. Instead of being a connector, that
hyphen somehow implies for Park that she is less American, her background alien, her
loyalties perhaps divided. And she says that most hyphenated writers of color resent
the implication: “Our ethnicity is assumed to be our only valid subject,” she says,
“when like all writers, we have countless interests.”
Questions of ethnicity, race, and prejudice have always been central to immigration
narratives, and they remain so today, as do many other themes familiar from such
classic immigration novels as Henry Roth’s Call It Sleep: the break from the old country,
the journey itself, the shame children feel over their parents’ failure to learn the
language or accept a new culture, the longing for “back home,” and the search for roots.
Today’s authors are also reinterpreting or expanding the familiar stories of past
immigration, both forced and otherwise, telling the old stories in new ways and finding
new stories that earlier writers were unable to tell. In this list, we limit our focus to the
new immigration story, but there is another list waiting to be compiled of contemporary
retellings of old stories. Such a list would include, for example, Julius Lester’s The Old
African, in which the tragic story of Africans sold into slavery is vivified through a
combination of brutal history and stirring magic realism; Frank McCourt’s best-selling
Angela’s Ashes, which strips the sentimentality away from the story of an Irish family’s
travails in both old and new worlds; Graham Salisbury’s YA novel Eyes of the Emperor,
which tells a rarely told World War II story about a 16-year-old Japanese American who
overcame virulent racism to serve in the U.S. Army; and Louise Erdrich’s recent
children’s book The Game of Silence, which re-imagines the story of displaced Native
Americans forced to “migrate.”
But that list will have to wait. The annotated bibliography below, a core list including
books for adults, young adults, and children, is limited to titles published since 1990
whose subject is immigration today—in a world in conflict with itself, a world where
straight lines, whether mapping a journey or connecting cause and effect, have all but
disappeared. We make no claim for completeness; a core list, by definition, is only a
starting point. To extend our range, we have listed numerous anthologies, collecting
excerpts from novels, stories, and memoirs; all of the works included in these
anthologies could be placed in the next tier of any immigration reading list. Original
publication dates are listed for all titles, but publisher and price information is limited
to in-print editions.
Copyright © 2006 American Library Association
http://publicprograms.ala.org/newimmigration/readers_adult/intro_essay.htmlIntroductory
Essay
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