Communication 4101

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Communication Citizenship

In Vice President Pence’s speech at the naturalization ceremony in July 2020, he was congratulating those Americans who were naturalized that day. He mentioned that they are now able to. Enjoy the benefits of being an American Citizen. It was touching when he mentioned that he knows the struggles that many of those persons faced coming to the United States and because of their struggles and sacrifices they are here today. It was touching for me when he acknowledged this mainly because despite the many struggles immigrants face coming to the United States, the Trump Administration had always looked at immigrants as a nuisance. VP Pence, also noted that anyone is welcome to come to the United States. After watching Vice President Pence’s remarks, I believe that any immigrant is eligible to become a naturalized citizen. There is a catch however, because one would have to contribute to the United States for some years in order to apply for citizenship.

Question
In Vice President Pence’s speech, he mentioned that America welcomes immigrants, however I am a bit confused as to why the Trump Administration is callous towards immigrants?

4/5

Communicating about Climate Migration

According to the article titled “The Great Climate Migration” by Abraham Lustgarten, it predicts that in less than one hundred years the world will drastically change. It is projected that by 2080, climate change could force about 6.7 million more people towards the southern United States border. This was quite an interesting read as it is evidence that we as humans, need to ger our acts together and take climate change seriously. We need to do. All we can to combat climate change and make our world a better place to live.
In the article, Jorges family moved to the United States after the realization that climate change is indeed serious, and that him and his family would be affected tremendously. This article gave a lot more insight of the fact that people not only migrate for safety but also migrates to the drastic change in climate. Climate change affects our income which in turn affects our standard of living.

Question:

1. The article was an interesting read, and I was wondering since the US is one of the major contributors to climate change, does a lot of persons still migrate to the United States to get away climate change?
Grade: 4/5

Migration Stories in Art + Music

Introduction to “American Land” by Bruce Springsteen has a happy tune. The singer is going to America in search of a better life and hopes to be very successful. The songs describes the United States of America as a paradise where one can pursue their dreams. The song gives a hopeful vibe to immigrants coming to America that they can achieve any and everything. The song “Follow me” by Moxie Raia and Wyclef Jean gives a much different vibe. This song has a depressing tone which talks about fighting and mentions that immigrants need to escape from their home country in order to survive. It talks about the hardships immigrants/ refugees face at the border in search of a better life.

YCBA Zine about Favianna Rodriguez talks about how the story of immigrants can portrayed through the use of art, expressing their emotions and hardships coming to the United States. Rodriguez wants to prove that immigrants are talented and it is important that immigrant tells their own stories about the struggles and tribulations they faced.

Grade 4/5

Question:
1. Do you think the song ‘’Follow me” portrays America as a dark place that is unwelcoming to immigrants?

The episode “Chef’s Table: Christina Martinez” talks about the struggles that Christina faced when she moved to the United States of America. Christina moved to the USA in search of a better life for her daughter. She was a wife, mother and an undocumented immigrant and Christina recalls her struggles when she moved to the USA. Christina worked all types of jobs to feed her family. She eventually worked her way up and started her very own restaurant. It was very heartbreaking to watch this video as it shows the constant struggles one faces when they migrate to a different country.

Even though the United States is a first world country, one can still be judged by the color of their skin. An undocumented white person, will still enjoy the privileges as a documented white person, whereas an undocumented black person will be mistreated and looked down on.

3/5

https://splinternews.com/ice-caught-trying-to-downplay-just-how-much-its-been-ta-1819153630#replies

My artifact comes from the article titled “ICE Caught Trying to Downplay Just How Much It’s Been Targeting Innocent People” by Rafi Schwartz. In the picture we see innocent people being targeted and chained as if they are animals just because they are undocumented. It is sad to see the fear on these people’s faces, wondering what will come next. This artifact is significant to me because I am an immigrant too and my family and I came to the United States in search of a better life. I believe that these people also came in search of a better life and in my opinion, it is wrong to treat them as if they are criminals, when in fact they are just working hard to have a better life. Even though undocumented persons do not have the paperwork, they still contribute tremendously to the economy as they are working, paying taxes and buying items which pumps more money into the economy.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement has changed tremendously through the Trump Administration. When President Trump went into power, he signed three executive orders on border security and interior enforcement which threatened the rights of immigrants and refugees in the United States of America as well as globally.

My research question is “Is the way that ICE is handling undocumented immigrants humane? Is there anything that could be done to better deal with issues of undocumented immigrants since they face such a hard time travelling to the United States? Should innocent children be targeted by ICE?

I plan to integrate our class articles titled “Think you know ICE?” and also, the video titled “Baby Constantin” into my research paper. I will also incorporate the article “Know your Rights; Immigrant Rights” I will use this articles and video to show that undocumented people are being treated inhumanely and young children are being targeted.

The article titled “1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees” defines the concept of the 1951 convention. According to the article, a refugee is defined as a person who is unable to return to their country of origin because they fear being prosecuted for reasons out of their control such as race, ethnicity, religion and political affiliation.
The article gives a clarification about the 1951 convention. The convention states that refugees will not be targeted because of race, sex, religion, political affiliation or disability. The refugee convention was administered in 1950 to handle millions of people displaced in the aftermath of world war II.

After reading the article, I watched the short clip titled “Words Matter” by Define America. The video bashed the media for portraying the image that undocumented immigrants are illegal. It was noted in the video that this is not a crime but in fact a civil offence. A fact sheet was also provided which is an excellent tool for educating people that overstaying on a visa, or being an illegal immigrant is not a crime but a civil offence.

After reading the article titled “Justice Department: ’Use Illegal Aliens’, Not Undocumented” written by Tal Kopan and published by CNN, talks about the justice department instructing officers to use the term “illegal aliens” instead of undocumented immigrants”. Illegal immigrants gives the perception that the individual committed a criminal offence whereby undocumented gives the perception that the individual does not have the legal paperwork necessary to live and work in the country. I cannot recall any instances where migrant were called refugees in media or government rhetoric. I think that the DOJ encouraged the use of the words because from their perspective not having legal documents to live and work, makes a person “illegal”.

Grade 3.5/5

The article titled “An International Analysis of Governmental Media Campaigns to Deter Asylum Seekers” by Professor Sarah Bishop was quite a fascinating one to read. it shows how the government in three different continents make use of the media to show their deterrence policies. In my opinion, I think the article provided a deep analysis of the videos titled “No Way”, “Stricter Asylum Regulations in Norway and “Know the Facts” campaign. The videos helped me to understand that European nations were against illegal immigration. In the video titled “no Way”, it gives a very clear message that Australia does not welcome illegal immigrants, whether it be teachers, students or healthcare workers. In the videos it shows that the people of the European nations shows no remorse for asylum seekers.

I enjoyed reading Professor Bishop’s article, however I would have included more in depth. information about history and also how these campaigns would have been successful.

Question: Do you think that the American government is following in the footsteps of Europe when it comes to Asylum refugees?

Grade3/5

My family moved to the United States in search of a better life almost twenty years ago. They faced a lot of challenges to move here and worked endlessly to provide a better life for my brother and I.

While listening to the podcasts and understanding the dangers and challenges that families and young children face, it made me remember the challenges I faced moving to the USA. After watching “Baby Constantin” by Caitlin Dickerson, I felt very emotional to see that an innocent child was separated from his family at the border at just four months old. At such a tender age, it must have been very traumatizing for him and his parents, not knowing whether he would be treated properly and fed. This was one of the sad cases which shocked a judge and he called for a wakeup call.

Question: Shouldn’t there be an age limit when targeting families at the borders instead of traumatizing young innocent lives?

Grade:3.5/5