Students can research and debate four policy options commonly proposed: mass deportations, pathways

This isn t a new problem. Go back in history to the Chinese travel guides orlando Exclusion Act (1882), the National Origins Act (1924) and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and it s easy to see that we re a nation that has been wrestling with immigration issues for a very long time.
In this lesson we offer three different teaching ideas. First, travel guides orlando we let students research and debate different policy options addressing the issue of undocumented immigrants today. Second, we ask students to research and respond to President Obama’s recent travel guides orlando executive travel guides orlando action granting up to five million immigrants a reprieve from deportation. And third, we encourage students to compare immigration policies and attitudes between different countries to gain a more global perspective on the issue.
And for much more on immigration, including lesson plans, multimedia, and links to current and historical Times articles, visit our collection Learning About U.S. Immigration With The New York Times.
As a warm up, teachers may want to ask students travel guides orlando to brainstorm a quick list of beliefs and stereotypes that people hold about immigrants, including those without legal documentation. Then watch the New York Times video we have embedded above, America’s 11 Million. List the ways in which words and images from the video either reinforce or challenge travel guides orlando those stereotypes.
Another option travel guides orlando is to watch and discuss this brief video by Sam Tanenhaus describing how immigration has evolved through American history, from anti-Irish sentiment in the 1800s to President Reagan’s decision to grant amnesty to 3 million undocumented travel guides orlando immigrants. Students can then explore this interactive map showing travel guides orlando immigration data from 1880 to 2000.
Students can research and debate four policy travel guides orlando options commonly proposed: mass deportations, pathways to citizenship, a reprieve from deportations with no chance for citizenship and refugee status for recently arrived undocumented minors from Central America. Teachers may want to assign students travel guides orlando to one of the four research groups in preparation for a debate, or they may want students to evaluate all four options and choose the policy they think is best.
In his first five years in office, travel guides orlando President Obama deported more than two million unauthorized immigrants. travel guides orlando Most were forced to leave the United States travel guides orlando after being stopped for minor offenses, such as traffic violations, travel guides orlando or for being apprehended near the border.
Do deportations work? Do they stop undocumented immigrants from trying to enter the United States? Would it be feasible to find and deport over 11 million undocumented immigrants? And what would be the consequences for families, communities and the American economy?
Photo Growth in Deportations 1892-2012:  By the end of 2013, the Obama administration had deported more than two million undocumented immigrants, more than any other U.S. president in history. Related Article Credit
Instead of forcibly removing undocumented immigrants from the United States, should we offer them a clear path to citizenship? Some argue this would be unfair to immigrants who have legally applied for citizenship and are waiting their turn? Others argue that unskilled workers with no family living in the United States have almost no chance of obtaining a green card, according to current law (PDF).
In June 2012, President Obama announced an executive action travel guides orlando that gave a temporary reprieve to more than 800,000 undocumented young people. And last month, he announced another reprieve for an estimated five million more undocumented immigrants. Some people oppose these executive actions because they say the president bypassed Congress and students can research that perspective below in the next teaching idea but for the sake of this debate, what do you think about the policy change itself? Should undocumented immigrants with no criminal record be allowed to live and work in the United States without fear of being deported?
Photo Growth travel guides orlando in the unauthorized immigrant population has slowed significantly since 2007, driven in part by a decline in immigrants from Mexico, where more than half of those immigrants travel guides orlando were born. Related Article Credit
More than 68,000 children have been apprehended at the border between the United States and Mexico this year, a sharp increase compared to last year, though the monthly totals have declined in recent months. A large number of these children have been fleeing crime and violence in their countries, and President Obama has called the situation a humanitarian crisis.
travel guides orlando In a speech to the nation last month, President Obama said that America’s immigration system is broken and needs immediate fixing, even if Congress isn t up to the job. As a temporary solution, he announced his plan to offer protection from deportation for up to 5 million unauthorized immigrants. Do you agree with the president s policy?
To begin, watch this video of the president s 15-minute speech or have students trade off reading aloud from the full White House transcript of his remarks. travel guides orlando As students listen, they should note or underline key facts the president cites to support his argument. (Before starting, teachers may wish to review the following vocabulary words: entrepreneurial, flout, bipartisan, undocumented, deportation, amnesty, impugning, hypocrisy.)
The class can then spend a few minutes writing and sharing personal reactions to President Obama’s speech in which they reflect on his description of the problem and his proposed solution. You may want to hold the discussion as a Four Corners activity. On balance, do they believe he has made a persuasive case or are they skeptical? What questions do they still have?
To go deeper, students can work in groups travel guides orlando or individually to research some or all of the questions below along with any of their own questions they had after listening to the president. They then might design and present a poster that illustrates a question they researched, including key facts, quotations and their final conclusion. Or they can write an evidence-based travel guides orlando editorial responding to the president s plan.
In these stories , a range of immigrants share their feelings on President Obama’s proposals; some are overjoyed while others express frustration . In this video recorded last summer, a family talked travel guides orlando about the immigration changes they were hoping for.
Some Republican governors have expressed fury over the president’s plan, while other Republicans are taking a more moderate approach. Some Democrats view the issue as politically perilous , while others are pleased by what they see as the Obama administration’s decisive action. Polls show that both parties are divided on the issue of immigration. This video explains why Congress has had such a tough time passing a bill on the issue.
Polls show that a majority of respondents believe that illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States if they’re already here, while less than half believe travel guides orlando that undocumented immigrants should be offered a pathway to full citizenship. travel guides orlando More than 60 percent of respondents strongly believe that Congress should fix the problem with new legislation.
Legal experts are divided over the question of whether President travel guides orlando Obama is exceeding his constitutional authority by granting deportation exemptions to up to 5 million undocumented immigrants. Legal or not, Ross Douthat, a Times columnist, says that Mr. Obama has overreached and created travel guides orlando the very thing he campaigned to prevent: an imperial presidency .
Photo Watching a Sikh band performing at a temple in Badalona, a city in Catalonia, Spain. Up to 1.5 million residents in the region travel guides orlando are not citizens and therefore cannot vote. Related Article Credit Edu Bayer for the International Herald Tribune
How unique are America’s immigration challenges? Pick one or more nations from the list below, or from your own choosing , and research the situation they face with regard to immigration or migrants. Prepare a class presentation in which you compare and contrast the situations in different travel guides orlando countries and highlight any potential solutions.
2. How is that population growth affecting the environmental sustainability of the US population? (Among other things, the average immigrant travel guides orlando s greenhouse travel guides orlando emissions rise fourfold after arrival in the US can we reduce emissions 80% by 2050 as per what global warming experts recommend if immigration continues unabated, or even rises drastically, as per the Senate bill?)
travel guides orlando This lesson plan makes the same mistake made by most of the mainstream media on deportations. The large number of deportations attributed to the Obama Administration are people who are caught crossing the border and sent back, rather than already settled illegal immigrants being sent back. Under prior administrations those weren t counted as deportations. In fact, under the Obama administration, settled illegal immigrants are very safe from deportaiton
Let s stop talking about what to do with the 11 million illegal aliens in this country. What about the rest of us? Eighteen million Americans travel guides orlando can t find full-time work, and the Obama Administration wants to give work permits and Social Security numbers to 5 million illegal workers who will then compete with our most vulnerable citizens in a dismal job market. Why aren t amnesty advocates in and out of Congress, including the media, addressing travel guides orlando this very simple question?
The law of supply and demand notes that a large supply of any item or commodity, including workers, lowers its price. Isn t it likely that the on-going depression of wages in the US is directly related to the massive number of both legal illegal immigrants that have entered the US in the last 15 years? What is the likely effect of Obama s adding even more work permits to about 5 million (or more) illegal aliens on current un/underemployment travel guides orlando levels?
The parties most assisted travel guides orlando by massive immigration travel guides orlando are the immigrants themselves (the wages) and the people who own the businesses they work for. In view of the fact that depressed w