Week 9: Approaching Immigration

            With an aunt, many cousins, and newly adopted babies in my family having come from China (as well as Guatemala and Honduras), I am naturally extremely grateful for immigration into the U.S. being manageable and allowing me to have these wonderful people in my life.  And when it comes down to it, all Americans who are not of Native American descent have some immigrant blood in them.  However, I understand that the United States physically cannot handle to accept everyone who requests permanent residence, especially given the political turmoil and lack of stability in South and Central America as well as the Middle East.

            So now, the US struggles with the cost of immigration control in the current recession and the effort of identifying deserving immigrants for green cards in light of the rapid population growth as a result.  Also, given that the draft of the Vietnam War led many young Americans to flee to Canada, the USA Patriot Act of 2001 tripled the budget for Border Patrol along the Canadian border to address illegal reentry.

            Though it is devastating that many hardworking families cannot make it into the “land of opportunity,” it is an impossible situation for all involved, and there is no way of pleasing everyone.  So we are left with states like Arizona who feel abandoned by the Federal Government and attract attention to their cause by concocting a new law that causes great racial profiling and the unreasonable requirement of immigrants carrying their papers on themselves at all times.

            While I do not share the bigoted perspective of “the darn immigrants are takin’ all our jobs,” I do have to agree with the concept that we must deny a great deal of people seeking entrance (besides those seeking refuge from oppression and persecution, of course).

            Once immigrants have earned permanent residence or even citizenship, though, I am naturally very happy for them and interested in learning of their past and current cultures as well as welcoming them into the American lifestyle.

            I included a picture of my cousin Jenwei Tsai who moved here from China at the age of 16, alone, and graduated from the University of Illinois just weeks ago with a Masters degree in Agriculture.  This picture is of her researching for her thesis.

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            The second picture is of my adopted cousin Bo, whom my aunt and uncle picked up from China in November of 2009.

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Ben Hamilton Week Nine: Rethinking Immigration

The United States is a country formed largely by the inflow of outcasts. The colonization process began when people were not satisfied with the lives they were being forced to lead elsewhere. These dissatisfied groups realized that there was a fresh start awaiting them in the Americas. They abandoned what was at home and started new lives, requiring that they struggle almost constantly before they became successful. This tradition has continued during the following four centuries.  People come here to find better lives. They work hard to succeed, and add a great deal to our society.

My father explores the streets of
Ecuador alone. He gets a sense of the
alienation immigrants must feel when
they leave what is familiar and enter
the unknown.

            Considering our nation’s past, I find our attitudes towards new waves of immigrants very strange. The Suarez-Orozcos explain that our country generally regards immigrants of the past more favorably than those of the current era. This is evident when the Irish immigrants of the 1840’s and 50’s are considered. These new citizens were never regarded as valuable members of society. The “No Irish Need Apply” signs illustrate this clearly. Currently, however, the Irish are not stigmatized at all. I am sure that one day Mexican immigrants will not be seen in such an unfavorable light as they are today, but why is the hatred required in the first place?

            Jose does not seem to express any feelings of discrimination, but I do sense a feeling of inferiority in him. This is sad because he is an amazing young boy who relates to adults extremely well and receives great grades. His grades actually earned him a trip to King’s Island this year. Despite all of this, he tells me that he does not like to learn English. If he were from the United States, he explains, he would like to read and write and speak the language; he is from Mexico, however, and therefore does not like English. This feeling of separation is unfortunate and is no doubt an affect of the anti-immigration sentiments and alienated feeling he experiences in the states.

            The Suarez-Orozco text also speaks about the duality of immigration views held in America. One such view expresses our belief that people come here to work hard, gain a better life, and eventually become one of us, assimilated completely and losing all traces of their former identity. The other views them as s problematic, lazy, crime ridden group that only depreciates our national value. These views are sad, because they either deny immigrants their previous identities or deny them a place in our society.

Rethinking Immigration- Nish Thiyagarajah

Being an American born child of immigrant parents, with an entire family in our home country, I have a fair amount of personal experience involved with the subject when it comes to immigration. My father and mother traveled here through Canada in the late 70s through asylum due to violence that was happening in their country, as well as my father’s attainment of a scholarship from no other than the University of Cincinnati. They had a relatively hard time adjusting, and early on it caused our family a lot of problems which created unnecessary stress. I think one of the biggest problems for a lot of immigrants is accepting a role of lower distinction in this country when compared with their home country, most likely because of the ability to communicate effectively. This became such a problem for my mom that she was pretty much desperate to leave, which she did.


In terms of legislation, I personally have a lot of problems with our current regulations. When she left, it voided their request for asylum and so my dad, who was basically working his ass off and just beginning becoming successful in his place of work, was forced to toss everything aside and care for my sister and I above anything and everything else. I was four years old back then, and my sister was 12. My mother has tried, repeatedly, for the past 14 years, to regain citizenship and travel back here to be with us again. But so much money thrown at lawyers, court proceedings, and failed musings simply on how to reunite a mother with her children, has forced us to move on with our lives, because with all that time grew a large distance, and I don’t mean the 10,000 mile distance from here to Sri Lanka, but an emotional one. It’s sad, but it happens. All the time, immigrants without valid visas are swooped up with no warning, leaving children and families behind with no warning or sign of their disappearance. Personally, my experience with it has left me no belief whatsoever in the status quo and completely detached emotionally in terms of everything that’s happened.


My personal vision of immigration is simply people just looking to get a better life for themselves and perhaps remove themselves from a despondent situation. Really its just laughable to me, that immigration can be such a controversial topic considering it’s the foundation of this country and we’re all technically immigrants, stupid as that might sound. The government, at the same time, is doing what they need to in order to properly deal with people who are breaking the law. I’ve just never understood the lack of empathy actively displayed by the institution.


In terms of rethinking cultural identity, while my answer might not be all that satisfying, it’s simply what you make of it. That is to say, one’s cultural identity is, to me, an encompassment of who they are, what they’ve experienced and the people they surround themselves with. It’s a really broad topic, and to be honest I am not a fan of these types of questions at all. I think there’s so many different ways to think about something like cultural identity, and the best approach in my mind is to simply have respect for culture in general but not to treat others any differently than you’d approach a random person who looks “perfectly normal.” Cliched, yes. But the golden rule has that moniker for a reason.

Week 9- Rethinking Identity; Maureen Rooney

I think that the society I live in, including myself, can make a difference in encompassing the cultural differences that surround us. Even though my community is small, we can make a local difference which could then build into making a larger impact in another society. Like professor Vaughn mentioned in class, many immigrants and their parents forget the customs that they once practiced. My society can be more inclusive by offering a variety of classes such as ethnic cooking, salsa dancing and maybe a sport that is not frequently played in America to allow the immigrants feel more comfortable in America. This may seem like the “epcot approach” but it would allow new citizens to keep their traditions from their old country and allow people in my community to learn their traditions with them, making everyone feel more open and comfortable.

My community also can rethink identity by getting to know the individual before stereotyping them. I believe the majority, not just Americans, are guilty of this. If we allow ourselves to develop our own opinion then we will be able to learn more about the individual and their religion, their real cultural identity, making the society feel like a more accepting culture to live in.     

Viviana has a bright future in head of her. Even though she is an immigrant, she will eventually, which much hope, become a legal citizen of the United States. She can still speak Spanish quite well but she is also developing her English speaking skills.

          However, even though Viviana is first looked as an immigrant to others, she is much more than just an immigrant. She is a sister, daughter and friend to many. She has a bright personality and loves to color; Viviana loves the color purple. She struggles in language arts but loves math.

I think American citizens need to meet people who are new to the country by getting to know their personality and background; Americans’ first thought should not be “Oh, she is an immigrant.” American needs to be more excepting of newcomers because they are creating America’s culture. They are bringing new traditions and introducing ways of living to many Americans; they are an asset to the American culture. In doing so, immigrants will be able to assimilate easier into American society. It is said that “social support offers [immigrants] a mechanism to cope with stressful life events,” such as a move to a new country (Vaughn, p. 71). As a result, immigrants will feel more stable and accepted in their new home, allowing them to introduce and educate Americans about their customs.

Week 9; Jonathan Hilton

Week 9: Rethinking Immigration – Jonathan Hilton

From "Field Day" at AMIS

Looking back over the past eight or nine weeks, it seems strange that we never as a class delved deep into “immigration reform” in its politicized sense. This class was, I think, more about learning about immigrants than about immigration. That is what has set it apart from the other classes relating to immigration I have taken—the strong focus on the immigrant experience rather than immigration itself as a socioeconomic phenomenon. The fact that the course dealt with immigrant children had a lot to do with this: the “immigrant experience” is fascinatingly real to them as youngsters caught up in the middle of something gigantic. The stories in the book by Igoa really brought this point home to me. Issues faced by immigrants that I had studied in previous courses became much more than observable anthropological phenomena—they became “real” in a way that I had never seen them before.

Immigrant children exemplify the idea of the
"immigrant experience" because it is so real to them

How can we “rethink” immigration? Much of the debate that goes on in politics has to do with topics such as “amnesty” for undocumented workers, control of the border with Mexico, halting human smuggling, deciding from which countries we will accept asylum seekers and so forth. But I think that rather than debating these issues endlessly, it would be more useful to try to envision a more humane immigration experience: one in which families didn’t have to live in fear of having mothers and fathers arrested at Wal-Mart and deported the next day; victims of violent crimes weren’t forced to testify in court to avoid deportation; workers weren’t exploited by bosses who confiscate their passports; undocumented workers could pay bail for incarcerated family members without fearing for their own safety; and lawyers didn’t exploit them by telling them that they have to hire a legal expert to go pay a traffic ticket. There are some things that are basic and obvious and have less to do with complex models of immigration flows than with goodwill and common sense. We should cultivate an environment that discourages the exploitation of immigrants. This is a principle that doesn’t have to do so much with “controlling” or regulating immigration as it does with changing something in our own culture: not allowing our culture to be infused with fear. Pluralism (Vaughn, 94) means respecting others. So long as there is rampant exploitation of some groups, we will never, as a society, reap the full benefits of the multiculturalism we enjoy here in the United States.

Week 9--Michelle Prinzo

Rethinking Immigration:

Helping my students share their identity with children in Africa

My students working on pictures to describe their life in Cincinnati

This year has opened up my eyes to issues related to immigration. As I have mentioned in previous posts, many of my students are immigrants, children of immigrants, and/or have a strong connection to another country/culture. My students, as well as the students at AMIS, have shown me how important it is to integrate their home culture and experiences with those of American/Cincinnati-an culture. Helping students to better understand their identity and allowing them to share their cultural differences is one way to support this integration. In the photos above my students and I are learning about children in Otho Abwoa, Kenya and comparing it with our culture through UC's Engineers Without Borders Visual Pen Pal Program. My students showed exceptional maturity as they discussed the similarities and differences between the school children in Otho Abwao and many of them drew upon their immigration and travel experience to enrich our discussion. 

My students demonstrate the direction that I would like to see views and policies on immigration move in. The children in my classroom are excited and curious about other cultures. They ask questions and they learn from one another. Through this exchange they have built a unique classroom culture and have developed a strong set of shared characteristics. Their actions and behavior provide a positive "ethos of reception" for the immigrants and children of immigrants in our classroom. As described by Suarez-Orsozco and Suarez-Orozco, an ethos of reception is a significant factor of the experience of immigrant children that is shaped by "general attitudes and beliefs held by members of the new society about immigration and immigrants" (36). 

I believe that if public opinion begins to view immigrants as a cultural asset the immigrant experience will improve. As the immigrant experience improves, immigrants and children of immigrants will become greater assets to our society politically, socially, culturally and economically.