Response to: Vice President Pence’s remarks at a naturalization ceremony July 2020

People who entered the US legally are the only ones that can naturalize and be called a citizen, after having resided legally in the country for at least 5 years, know the history, language and the rights of this nation you are entitled to request to become a Naturalized US Citizen.

The way Pence described United States as the most prosperous and free country of the world, the most generous and welcoming country. A country that as a lot of opportunities only if you  respect the law, study the constitution and its rights. A country where you can achieve and live your dreams if you make sacrifices and work hard. A country that has a legacy of liberty that has been built through generations since our founders father who risked all for this nation.

I am a Naturalized Citizen of the United States and I am very familiar with the process of becoming a citizen, I am also very familiar with everything immigrants and minorities have to endure to make the American dream come true. I share the same descriptions he made about United States, it takes a lot of hard work and sacrifices to become an American and fulfill you goals and dreams. I know that in my home country I would had never have what I have achieved in this country and I have achieved more than what I thought would.

Citizenship, not only involves working hard and making sacrifices, but also being included and being part of the society and nation where you live and work for, however this is something US still struggling to  achieved. The country may have freedom and prosperity but not inclusion and we still see this differences out there in the society, where having a different race, religion and sexual orientation is still a big problem of exclusion.

Questions

If we immigrants make sacrifice, work hard and follow the US law why are we still being targets of discrimination?

Do you think exclusion is one of US biggest problem and that it is why we still can’t totally end discrimination?

4/5

Response to:

brahm Lustgarten, “The Great Climate Migration”

The article talks about Jorge from Guatemala and how he left his country due to climate change, the article said that by 2100 people will be moving out of their native land in pursuit of food and survival.  According to a research this movement will remap the world’s population stating that more than 30 M people will move to the US border in the next 30 years. 

Oppenheimer and Krueger’s model found that that Mexican migration to the US increases in period of droughts, all of the other models found that climate does make people move and relocate to areas that more habitable. 

I think the best way to tell a climate migration story is, by doing it the way this report does, including statistical macro research and showing a human micro effect. We first need to see the small details to see the big picture. 

They use the term migrants instead of refugees because migration is the move of people, and the people who moves are called migrants. Also because the data shows people will move to different directions due to climate change and not due to political, sex or religion persecution which are the only types of persecutions that will grant you the “refugee status” in any country.

Question  

Would you move to another city, state or country if the place where you live can no longer provide you with food and shelter? 

Do you believe that lifting border restrictions will cause all crimes to skyrocket?

4/5

Response to the songs.

“American Land” by Bruce Springsteen,

“Follow me”  Moxie Raia and Wyclef Jean

These two songs talks about immigrants traveling or wanting to travel to America (USA). However in the “American Land” song by Bruce Springsteen, he pictures United States as this beautiful place where diamond and beers and sweet are available to everyone in the street, it also says that any hard working man can make this land his home, but it doesn’t tell how hard you have to work and everything you have to endure in order to make this place your home or to obtain diamonds and beer. On the contrary the sound “Follow me” by Moxie Raia and Wyclef Jean talks about a war in the border and that friends turn to enemies because of that. Favianna Rodriguez goal for YBCA Zine was to develop and create programs that increased cultural equality in the United States, using art to touch people is just incredible. Art usually brings communities together and can reach areas others people or artifacts can’t. She used art and artists’ voice or influence to transmit cultural ideologies, so these can help acquire the ultimate corporate goal “cultural equity”.

Questions

Why has people portraited America as the promised land of opportunity when in reality is not like that?

Does the media and society influence us on how we see or perceive a place to be?

4/5

Response to 

“Chef’s Table: Christina Martinez” (available on Netflix)

“The Immigrant Income Gap“, Harvard Business Review

“Immigrating While Queer” The Public Radio’s Podcast (20 min)

“Undocumented and Black in America” Define American 

The Netflix the documentary “Chef’s Table: Christina Martinez” talks about an illegal immigrant from Mexico that was able to success and created a restaurant business in Philadelphia. Despite her success and  being married to an American citizen, she was denied to get a green card and fix her immigration status, just because she entered the country running through the desserts of Mexico and US. After her business started to catch attention in the community, her restaurant was voted as one of the best restaurant in the area which gave the business a boost and eventually she got famous for her restaurant and started to get invited to radios, tv show and all sorts of media. She took advantage of this fame and started to tell her story and advocate for immigrants who are facing or faced similar struggles like she did in order to find her place in this new country.

The immigrant income gap is a research conducted in Canada to determine whether first, second or third generation immigrants are pay equally or if there is a difference between generation, in this research they also include race and language spoken at homer and work. The results were as expected 1st generation of immigrants tends to get pay much less than the next generations, but what they also found is that if you are white and a man you can get pay more than any other person with the same level of education and doing the same job.

The podcast “Immigrating While Queer” is very interesting because it shows different issues an young immigrant can encounter when the families decides to migrate to another country. Like not speaking the language, social distancing, emotional distress and others. Sam was a child when she came to US with get mother and had to overcome her fears of being “different”, beside this she quickly adapted herself to the country and learned the language by watching Netflix, she eventually when to school and land a career in IT.  but the most interested part was  that when she was a teenager she decided to tell her mother she was gay which caused some tension between them, but at the end her mother accepted her as she is.   

“Undocumented and Black in America” is a short video were a group of African descendant are talking about being black and immigrant. They said this is something people don’t usually realize, but is difficult for them to also adapt and play a role within the society 

Question 

Do you think equal pay should be a federal right?

Do you think illegal immigrants should be granted a green card and/or permanent residency if they are contributing to the country and US economic ?

4/5

Responses to: UNHCR “1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees”

Define American “Words Matter”

Tal Kopan, “Justice Department: Use ‘illegal aliens,’ not ‘undocumented’” CNN 

• The 1951 convention defines as refugee to anyone seeking asylum because they are being or have been persecuted against their nationality, race, political belief, religion.
• Anyone who has committed a crime against humanity and/or war crimes does not fall into the definition of a refugee.
• The word “refugees” is barely use in media or government I can’t really remember when was the last time I heard it in a news outlet, however if I am not wrong, some media do call people refuges, but when they are reporting news on other countries or areas outside of United States. On the contrary when they cover similar news in the US, then they call the refugees “Illegal Aliens” or “Undocumented Individuals”
• People and the 1951 convention avoid using these terms I just mentioned because the are discriminatory, even the public knows these words have a bad meaning and people should not be call like that. However, the DOJ seems to like these terminologies because to them all refugees have done something that is illegal; therefore, they are criminals and they don’t deserve the decency of being call a “refugee” even though that’s not what the 1951  Convention states.

4/5

Questions 

if refugees are supposed to be treat fairly according to the 1951 Convention why are they not being treat like that?

why is DHS, USCIS and ICE deporting people who are asylum seekers to their home country when the Convention of 1951 states that no one should be expelled or returned against their will?

My artifact is a quote that come out on a major newspaper published on Oct.  6, 2020; on that date the New York Times had this quote in the front page ‘We Need to Take Away Children,’ the article basically states that many high-ranking officials knew about the consequences of the “zero tolerance” policy imposed by President Trump and decided to go forward with it. Involved in this scandal are many, government agencies including the White House, DHS (Department of Homeland Security), DOJ (Department of Justice) and AG (Attorneys General).  In the article former attorney general Jeff Sessions said, “We need to take away children”, “If Care about kids, don’t bring them in” making clear that was what the President wanted and that was what needed to be done and that government lawyers should not refuse to prosecute migration law violators despite their age.

I wan to talk about the first quote and how these “zero tolerance” policies deteriorates families and individuals across the globe. Family should not be separated specially against their will; I was separated from my father and mother at an early stage of my life and I know from a personal experience and scientific research that separations of children can led to many health and mental problems in human beings and animals.

What is the impact of “we need to take away children” and how this type of law enforcement policies separate families and deteriorates individuals?

For this narrative analysis I plan to use my personal experience of being separated at an early stage of my life and what type of effect this has on the individual. I will make connections and references from a documentary by Caitlin Dickerson, “Baby Constantin,” New York Times,  a podcast by This American Life Podcast “The Out Crowd” and I will also use some of the scientific research mentioned in World Economic Forum, “Shutdown of Border Leaves Migrants in Limbo” I am not sure as to which yet, but I wan to include those in this narrative. Furthermore, I will also refer to the article by Caitlin Dickerson, “Parents of 545 Children Separated at the Border Cannot Be Found,” New York Times where it mentions a number of children who are still separated from their families due to the “zero tolerance” policy.

Responds to

 “A House Divided by Immigration Status,” National Public Radio

Caitlin Dickerson, “Baby Constantin,” New York Times

Former First Lady Laura Bush, “Separating Children…Breaks My Heart”

In this three articles we can see everything families endure to provide a better living for their children. In “A House Divided by Immigration Status” we can see a family that migrated many years ago from Mexico to United States to provide a better future for their children and in fact they did, two of then are in college and the other one is a college graduate, out of the three: One as DACA,  another is a US citizen, and the last is in the limbo since she is not a “legal resident” like her parents. Despite the fact that they all speak English, all they know is the American culture and that they all came to the country at a very young age and that they have being living in the country for years, the family is now at risk of being separated by Donald Trump who is now the President of United States and is targeting immigrant families who are undocumented with his zero tolerance policy.

“Baby Constantin” is a clear example of family separations being imposed by the new president since he stepped in the White House.  Baby Constantin is the youngest child that has ever been separated from his family by the US Government at only 4 months old. The baby from Romania was taken away from his father while trying to enter United States seeking asylum. After a big controversy and scandal all over United States and a long legal process, baby Constantin  was finally able to reunited with his parents in Romania after spending months with an adoptive family and in shelters. Where the people who  work there had prohibited to show love and affection towards the kids who were taken away from their parents.

The letter from Laura Bush “Separting Children.. Breaks my Heart” shows how every parent in United States felt towards the zero tolerance policy imposed by the current administration. In this latter the former first lady states that this was not the way to protect our borders and that United States pride itself for being a moral and humanitarian Nation and what the government was doing was against our principles. Furthermore,  she explains that separating children from their parents have many consequence beside traumas and concluding that every child deserves human kindness, love and compassion.

In these three different communication artifacts we can see that  the zero tolerance policy is wrong, it is only separating families, not protecting the US border or US citizens. The baby Constantin case is a cruel example of what this policy actually does, every child has a right and deserves to live and be part of a family. Family is the foundation to any house, State and Nation and if any country or government violates this foundation it clearly shows it doesn’t care about its citizens. This is not only an unhumanitarian policy, but also a discriminatory one that discriminates against family as a whole. Bringing charges against a minor who can even speak, read or write and is not mature enough to understand the context of what he is being charged for or what is going on, should be abolished.

Questions

Should a child who can’t speak, read and write be charger for a crime he/she doesn’t understand?

Is there a law that protects families from being separated?

5/5

Response to

Immigration Nation Episode 1: Installing Fear

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Video “Think you know ICE?”

Immigration nation episode one “Installing Fear”, shows what is like to be an ICE officer; the job they do and how they do it. In this episode of this show we can see that many ICE officers say they’re only doing their job and making sure the law is being enforce. They claim they just follow directives and do what it’s supposed to be done, even though they know that a lot of the arrests and separations of family is morally wrong and should not be done. In this video we can see the ICE officers call themselves police officers to persuade people to open their homes, so they can arrest who they are looking for and any “collaterals” (people who enter united states illegally, but who was not being traced). I personally believe that this is misinformation, ethically and lawfully wrong.

In the video immigration and custom enforcement video, we can clearly see this is some type of campaign/propaganda created by ICE officials to attract and portray their unit as one that is protecting the nation from all sorts of crimes. We can noticed this clearly by the way they created the video, it kind of looks like you are about to watch an action movie. The music and images actually engaged you and pull you to continue to watching, officers are portrayed as strong and rightful man who are in fact protecting the country from all sorts of crimes that goes beyond just deporting illigal immigrants. In the images we can see arrest being conducted and they all seem to be conducted because the individual who is being arrested has done something illegal  or committed serious crimes. However this is not what we see in the “Installing Fear” episode, in there we can see people getting arrested in the conform of their home, in from of their families and for only coming into the country illegally.

Questions

Do you think ICE should be abolished?

who exactly controls ICE arrest policies?

5/5

Response to:

Parag Khanna and Kailash Prasad, “How Coronavirus Could Make People Move,” Politico

Charlotte Arnold, “The Importance of Effective Communication While Working from Home” Platform Magazine

World Economic Forum, “Shutdown of Border Leaves Migrants in Limbo”

• Public health is top of mind, and reason No. 1 why people might be looking to make a move.
• Health care isn’t the only factor that will motivate our next moves. Cost of living is a decisive issue as well
• From 2005 to 2017, there was a 159% increase in remote workers. Technology has allowed people to create their own offices anywhere. Many people enjoy the flexibility that working remotely offers
• There is a learning curve when you transition your work to a virtual platform. The transition may warrant a change in communication channels, but effective communication is just as, if not more, important than ever.
• It is not only the physical health of children that is under attack, but also their mental health. Children living in detention centers and shelters face heightened fear and stress on a daily basis, and many have already faced major traumas in life
• Individuals who have contracted COVID-19 in detention centers are being placed in isolation or quarantine to prevent the spread of illness. This type of confinement of any human being is a form of torture.

These three articles relates to what we are experiencing right now. People is starting to move away from big cities and going into suburbs and more remote places where they feel more safe an secure. Economy is another issue why people is moving away from big cities, it is known that big  cities are an expensive place to live that’s why people are looking into places where they can have a better standard of life that doesn’t cost as much as it does in a regular city. I live and work in New York and I know that living in any city of this magnitude is better expensive, you can’t basically have a good living standards with a single source of income the cost of living in these places is too high, not only that, but cities are very crowded and this make them vulnerable and unsafe as we all notice with the pandemic covid-19.

Covid-19 also caused isolation and remote working to levels we have ever seen. People started to work from home and students started to attend schools from home.  Home became our place to work , to study and to live. We basically have to do everything from home now, which at first was good because you had the freedom to do other things while being home working, but later on it became a problem since we were home our bosses started to send us email at different times of the day and gave us more assignments to do than when we were at the office and it was hard to say no because they knew we were home.

Travel bans eventually stopped migration all over the world, people were forced to stay where they were. This eventually impacted the economy and a lot of businesses specially tourism. United States is a country with a lot of immigrants and most people have relatives in other parts of the world which they usually tend to visit on Holidays, but now with the restrictions all of this is impossible. I have my mother living in another country and this ban restricts me from seeing her and other relatives and like me there is thousands of people wanting to travel and see their love ones.

Eventually covid-19 caused a lot of things that we must learn to live with at least until a vaccine is found and available to everyone.

Questions

How can you tell your boss or employer you are already doing at lot without being seem as lazy?

Will migration, traveling and tourism get back to “normal”?

4/5

The artifact that I chose was the one with the word courage on top. This was taken from the UN refuge agency website I believe. In this artifact we can see that the narrator is trying to bring awareness to what it takes and everything someone endures to later be call a refugee. The narrator later tells the history of a migrant in a sequence of events from beginning to end. Leaving the last sentence open to discussion and putting emphasis on the current situation of a lot of refugees who are now living in camps hoping they can reach the place they were dreaming about. In the picture we can see a woman provably in her late twenties, her face portraits fear, courage, hope, sadness and uncertainty. The face representing thousands of migrants stocked in refuges camps around the world. The illustration doesn’t advocate anything, but the courage it takes to be a refugee and the celebration of being a refugee. However there is not a single illustration or words that tells us what should be done in order to help all those migrants seeking asylum, peace and a new beginning.

What problem is the narrative identifying?

People currently living in camps waiting for an answer on their asylum status.

What is left out of the narrative?

What is being done and what should be done to help the refugees seek their asylum and new life.

Questions

Why doesn’t the UN advocate for a universal law to help refugees around the world?

Are refugees camps good or bad for refugees?

4/5