EDUCATION

Below you will find a variety of documentaries and news articles related to immigration myths and the hardships immigrant families have suffered and continue to endure because of our broken legal system.


Justice For Our Neighbors Documentary

This documentary showcases the work that Justice For Our Neighbors - Nebraska does in our community. source:http://youtube.com...JfonNE



Tony & Janina’s American Wedding

This film follows a Polish American family through the red tape of the current U.S. immigration system, telling the untold human rights story of post-9/11, that every undocumented immigrant in America faces today. source:http://tonyandjanina.com/

 

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Postville Raid

abUSed, The Postville Raid presents the devastating effects of US Enforcement Immigration Policies on communities, families and children. The film tells the gripping personal stories of the individuals, the families and the town that survived the most brutal, most expensive and largest immigration raid in the history of the United States and serves as a cautionary tale of government abuses.

To learn more about the Postville Raid please visit: http://abusedthepostvilleraid.com/.

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Lost in Detention

FRONTLINE and the Investigative Reporting Workshop examine the Obama administration’s controversial get-tough immigration policy. A year long investigation examines the current U.S. immigration enforcement system and uncovers hidden stories of abuse in the U.S. detention system. To view this program please click here.

Shattered Families

ARC's "Shattered Families" Investigative Package includes a poignant video (above) and Colorlines.com multi-part series that digs deeply into the perilous intersection of immigration enforcement and child welfare system.

Seth Freed Wessler reports from inside immigration detention centers and follows several families who were shattered. A follow-up story highlighted data ARC obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. This data reveals nearly a quarter of people deported in first half of 2011 were parents with U.S. citizen children. If rates of parent deportation remain steady, the United States will expel as many parents in just 2 years as it did in a 10-year period before the Obama administration. 

Additionally, ARC President Rinku Sen describes how domestic violence victims are particularly vulnerable, and discusses why it's crucial to keep immigrant families together. source: http://www.arc.org/shatteredfamilies

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How to Obtain an ITIN

An ITIN, or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, is a tax processing number only available for certain non-resident and resident aliens, their spouses, and dependents who cannot get a Social Security Number (SSN). It is a 9-digit number, beginning with the number "9", formatted like an SSN (NNN-NN-NNNN). To obtain an ITIN please follow one of the links below.
english: Individual Taxpayer Identification Number
en espanol: Número de Identificación Personal del Contribuyente

Dispelling DREAM Act Myths

The DREAM Act—a popular proposal to provide legal status to undocumented youth who entered the U.S. as children, graduated from U.S. high schools, and attend college or enter the military—is the target of a smear campaign from anti-immigration hardliners.  According to them, passage of the DREAM Act would cheat native-born students out of opportunities.  This tired effort to pit immigrants and native-born—whether they are workers or students—against one another is not only destructive, but has no basis in fact.  Moreover, it ignores the economic benefits that come from legalizing a group of talented, hard-working individuals who want nothing more than to contribute to America and repay the country for the opportunities they’ve been given.

Research has shown that providing a legal status for young people who have a proven record of success in the United States would be a boon to the economy and the U.S. workforce.  University presidents and educational associations, as well as military recruiters, business and religious leaders, have added their voice to those calling for passage of the bill.  The DREAM Act will help boost the number of high-skilled American-raised workers. A 2010 study by the UCLA North American Integration and Development Center estimates that the total earnings of DREAM Act beneficiaries over the course of their working lives would be between $1.4 trillion and $3.6 trillion.  Removing the uncertainty of undocumented status allows legalized immigrants to earn higher wages and move into higher-paying occupations, and also encourages them to invest more in their own education, open bank accounts, buy homes, and start businesses.

The U.S. military also needs the DREAM Act. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy, Bill Carr, stated that the law would be “good for readiness” and would help to recruit “cream of the crop” students.  The DREAM Act is part of the Department of Defense’s 2010-2012 Strategic Plan to assist the military in its recruiting efforts.

Yet, despite the popular support and extensive data that should make passage of the DREAM Act a no-brainer, there are those who continue to spread half-truths about it.  Here’s a run down of some of the most typical myths and the facts that refute them. source: http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/dispelling-dream-act-myths

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Unauthorized Immigrants Pay Taxes, Too

'The unauthorized, like everyone else in the United States, pay sales taxes. They also pay property taxes—even if they rent. At least half of unauthorized immigrants pay income taxes. Add this all up and it amounts to billions in revenue to state and local governments. The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has estimated the state and local taxes paid in 2010 by households that are headed by unauthorized immigrants. These households may include members who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. Collectively, these households paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes. That included $1.2 billion in personal income taxes, $1.6 billion in property taxes, and $8.4 billion in sales taxes. The states receiving the most tax revenue from households headed by unauthorized immigrants were California ($2.7 billion), Texas ($1.6 billion), Florida ($806.8 million), New York ($662.4 million), and Illinois ($499.2 million) {See Figure 1 and Table 1}.2 These figures should be kept in mind as politicians and commentators continue with the seemingly endless debate over what to do with unauthorized immigrants already living in the United States. In spite of the fact that they lack legal status, these immigrants—and their family members—are adding value to the U.S. economy; not only as taxpayers, but as workers, consumers, and entrepreneurs as well.' ... Look at the full article.

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5 Myths About Immigration

Despite the fact that we are a nation of immigrants -- or perhaps because of it -- immigration continues to be one of America's most contentious topics. The new law in Arizona authorizing police to arrest individuals who cannot show documents proving that they are in the country legally has set off a fresh bout of acrimony. But as in the past, much of the debate is founded on mythology.

1. Immigrants take jobs from American workers.

Although immigrants account for 12.5 percent of the U.S. population, they make up about 15 percent of the workforce. They are overrepresented among workers largely because the rest of our population is aging: Immigrants and their children have accounted for 58 percent of U.S. population growth since 1980. This probably won't change anytime soon. Low U.S. fertility rates and the upcoming retirement of the baby boomers mean that immigration is likely to be the only source of growth in what we call the "prime age" workforce -- workers ages 25 to 55 -- in the decades ahead. As record numbers of retirees begin drawing Social Security checks, younger immigrant workers will be paying taxes, somewhat easing the financial pressures on the system.

Moreover, immigrants tend to be concentrated in high- and low-skilled occupations that complement -- rather than compete with -- jobs held by native workers. And the foreign-born workers who fill lower-paying jobs are typically first-hired/first-fired employees, allowing employers to expand and contract their workforces rapidly. As a result, immigrants experience higher employment than natives during booms -- but they suffer higher job losses during downturns, including the current one.

It's true that an influx of new workers pushes wages down, but immigration also stimulates growth by creating new consumers, entrepreneurs and investors. As a result of this growth, economists estimate that wages for the vast majority of American workers are slightly higher than they would be without immigration. U.S. workers without a high school degree experience wage declines as a result of competition from immigrants, but these losses are modest, at just over 1 percent. Economists also estimate that for each job an immigrant fills, an additional job is created.

2. Immigration is at an all-time high, and most new immigrants came illegally.

The historic high came more than a century ago, in 1890, when immigrants made up 14.8 percent of our population. Today, about two-thirds of immigrants are here legally, either as naturalized citizens or as lawful permanent residents, more commonly known as "green card" holders. And of the approximately 10.8 million immigrants who are in the country illegally, about 40 percent arrived legally but overstayed their visas.

It's worth noting that although the unauthorized immigrant population includes more people from Mexico than from any other country, Mexicans are also the largest group of lawful immigrants. As for the flow of illegal immigrants, apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border have declined by more than 50 percent over the past four years, while increases in the size of the illegal population, which had been growing by about 500,000 a year for more than a decade, have stopped. This decline is largely due to the recession, but stepped-up border enforcement is playing a part.

3. Today's immigrants are not integrating into American life like past waves did.

The integration of immigrants remains a hallmark of America's vitality as a society and a source of admiration abroad, as it has been throughout our history. Although some people complain that today's immigrants are not integrating into U.S. society as quickly as previous newcomers did, the same charge was leveled at virtually every past wave of immigrants, including the large numbers of Germans, Irish and Italians who arrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Today, as before, immigrant integration takes a generation or two. Learning English is one key driver of this process; the education and upward mobility of immigrants' children is the other. On the first count, today's immigrants consistently seek English instruction in such large numbers that adult-education programs cannot meet the demand, especially in places such as California. On the second count, the No Child Left Behind Act has played a critical role in helping educate immigrant children because it holds schools newly accountable for teaching them English.

However, the unauthorized status of millions of foreign-born immigrants can slow integration in crucial ways. For example, illegal immigrants are ineligible for in-state tuition at most public colleges and universities, putting higher education effectively out of their reach. And laws prohibiting unauthorized immigrants from getting driver's licenses or various professional credentials can leave them stuck in jobs with a high density of other immigrants and unable to advance.

4. Cracking down on illegal border crossings will make us safer.

The job of protecting the nation's borders is immense, encompassing nearly 7,500 miles of land borders, 12,380 miles of coastline and a vast network of sea ports, international airports, ports of entry along the Mexican and Canadian borders and visa-issuing consulates abroad.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, we have dramatically strengthened our borders through the use of biometrics at ports of entry, secure cargo-shipment systems, intelligence gathering, integrated databases and increased international cooperation. The Border Patrol has nearly doubled in size in the past five years, to more than 20,000 agents. The Department of Homeland Security says it is on schedule to meet congressional mandates for southwestern border enforcement, including fence-building. And cooperation with the Mexican government has improved significantly.

Still, our southwest border is more a classic law enforcement challenge than a front line in the war on terrorism. Antiterrorism measures rely heavily on intelligence gathering and clandestine efforts that are unrelated to border enforcement.

The seasoned enforcement officials I have spoken with all contend that if we provided enough visas to meet the economy's demand for workers, border agents would be freed to focus on protecting the nation from truly dangerous individuals and activities, such as drug-trafficking, smuggling and cartel violence.

5. Immigration reform cannot happen in an election year.

The politics of immigration can be explosive and can chase lawmakers away, especially as elections near, with the result that Congress infrequently and reluctantly updates immigration laws. However, all the significant immigration bills enacted in recent decades were passed in election years, often at the last minute and after fractious debates.

This list dates back to the Refugee Act of 1980, which established our system for humanitarian protection and refugee and asylum admissions. Next came the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which made it illegal to hire unauthorized immigrants and provided amnesty for 2.7 million illegal immigrants. The Immigration Act of 1990 increased the number of visas allotted to highly skilled workers. And the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act charged immigration agencies with implementing significant new law enforcement mandates.

Legislative attempts to make urgently needed changes fizzled in the House in 2005 and in the Senate in 2006 and 2007, and the to-do list for this Congress is substantial. But ruling out immigration reform, whether because Congress has other priorities or because it's an election year, would be a mistake. The outline for immigration legislation that Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and his Democratic colleagues unveiled last week, together with the uproar over the Arizona law, may help convince lawmakers that there's no time like the present.
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com

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Myths & Facts About Birthright Citizenship

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is enshrined in U.S. history as the cornerstone of American civil rights, ensuring due process and equal protection under the law to all persons. Equally important, however, is the Fourteenth Amendment’s affirmation that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are, in fact, U.S. citizens:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Most recently, pundits used the issue of birthright citizenship to challenge the legitimacy of both major parties’ candidates in the 2008 presidential election. Senator John McCain was born in 1936 on a U.S. military base in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father—a U.S. Naval officer—was posted, causing some to question whether McCain is a natural‐born citizen. President Barack Obama was born to a U.S.‐citizen mother and an immigrant father in Hawaii in 1961, two years after Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state. Even months into his presidency, some conspiracy theorists still question President Obama’s eligibility to serve.

But the question of who is entitled to U.S. citizenship is most often raised during debates over illegal immigration. While most of the debate turns on the question of who can become a citizen through legalization and naturalization, some groups argue that the way to end illegal immigration is to change the rules of the game by denying citizenship to the U.S.‐born children of illegal immigrants.

Each year, bills are introduced in Congress to deny U.S. citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants and, in some cases, the children of immigrants who are in the country on temporary visas. On May 29, 2009, Rep. Nathan Deal (R‐9th/GA) re‐introduced his “Birthright Citizenship Act” (HR 1868), which would deny birthright citizenship to children born in the United States to illegal, and even temporary, immigrants. Recently, there have been proposals to abolish birthright citizenship in Texas and California by state lawmakers, who hope to advance a national debate on the issue and push a legal challenge to the Supreme Court.

Rarely, however, does the immigration advocacy community explore the impact of the birthright citizenship debate as it relates to the Fourteenth Amendment. Thus, the Immigration Policy Center invited respected scholars and authors to provide greater perspective on this perennial issue.

Before introducing the specific papers, a bit of background is in order.

There are two basic principles by which countries define citizenship. The first is jus sanguinis, or citizenship by descent, which means that an individual is a citizen based on his or her parentage. Under this principle, a person is not automatically a citizen by virtue of having been born within the country’s territory. Rather, the citizenship of the child’s parents determines whether or not the child is a citizen. Countries that adhere to the principle of citizenship by descent vary on issues such as whether citizenship is acquired through the father or the mother, whether one or both parents must be citizens, and the marital status of the parents. Switzerland, for example, follows the principle of jus sanguinis and does not confer citizenship on all persons born in the country. Second‐ and even third‐generation immigrants may not be citizens of Switzerland by birth because birth in the territory does not matter. Similarly, being born in Germany does not automatically confer German citizenship. A child born in Germany to parents who are not German citizens will acquire German citizenship at birth only if one parent has lived in the country for at least eight years.

The second principle of citizenship is jus soli, or citizenship by birth. Any person born within the country’s territory is a citizen, regardless of the citizenship of the parents. Countries may place limits on birthright citizenship, such as excluding the children of foreign diplomats. The United States, Canada, and some Latin American countries, among others, ascribe citizenship to all persons (with noted exceptions) born in their territory. Thus the children of legal and illegal immigrants born in the United States are U.S. citizens by virtue of the fact they are born on U.S. soil.

Of course, even countries with birthright citizenship policies have jus sanguinis policies for persons who are born outside of the country, but who may have a claim to citizenship. For example, children born to U.S. citizens residing abroad may be U.S. citizens at birth if both of the parents are citizens of the United States and at least one parent resided in the United States before the birth of the child, or if one parent is a citizen of the United States who resided in the United States for at least five years before the birth of the child.

The few examples provided above demonstrate how complex citizenship laws may be. However, one thing is clear: for nearly 150 years, the principle of birthright citizenship for all persons born within the United States has been a strong and clear element of American law and values. ...read the full article.

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