Immigration
and Education
By: Zuri Stocker, Heather
Henslee, Melea Evans, and
Elise McDonald

Past Immigration Laws Timeline
 1790: Naturalization Act of 1790
 Only for white people with “good” moral character
 Had to live in the country for two years before
becoming naturalized
 1795:
 Increased the year limit to five years for having to
live in the country from previous law
 14th Amendment: Allowed all children that were
born in the US to be citizens
 1870:
 Nationalization laws extended to African Americans

Past Immigration Laws Cont.
 1850-1882: Chinese Exclusion Act
 Restricted further Chinese immigration due to an
increasing amount of disease
 1921: Emergency Immigration Act:
 Created immigration quotas
 Led to the Immigration Act of 1924
 1924: Immigration Act of 1924
 Capped number of immigrants able to enter the
US based on the number of immigrants of that
nationality already in the US
 Immigration basically ceased during the Great
Depression

Current Immigration Laws
 Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA)
 Currently the body of law governing
immigration policy
 Provides for an annual worldwide limit of
675,000 permanent immigrants, with
exceptions for close family members
 Congress and President determine
separate number of refugee admissions
 Immigration to the US is based on certain
principles

Principles for Immigration
 The reunification of families
 Admitting immigrants with skills that are
valuable to the US economy
 Protecting refugees
 Promoting diversity

Defining Family Unification
 This is an important principle governing immigration
policy
 Family-based immigration category allows US citizens
and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) to bring
certain family members to the US
 480,000 family-based visas available every year
 Family-based immigrants are admitted to the US
either as immediate relatives of US citizens or through
family preference system.
 Immigrants include:
 Spouses of US citizens
 Unmarried minor children of US citizens
 Parents of US citizens

Defining Immigrants with Skills
 More than 20 types of visas for temporary
nonimmigrant workers
 Include:
 L visas (intercompany transfers)
 P visas (for athletes, entertainers, and skilled
performers)
 R visas (religious workers)
 A visas (diplomatic employees)
 O visas (workers of extraordinary ability)
 H visas (variety of these for both highly-skilled and
lesser-skilled employment)
 Permanent employment based on a set rate of
140,000 visas per year

Defining Protecting Refugees
 Refugees:
 Admitted to the US based on inability to
return to their home
 Home countries must have a “well-founded
fear of persecution”
 Persecutions: race, social groups, political
opinions, religion, or national origin

Defining Protecting Refugees
Cont.
 In 2013, Obama set
the worldwide
refugee ceiling at
70,000
 Regional
allocations are in
the image to the
left

Defining Diversity Promotion
 Diversity Visa Lottery:
 Creating by the Immigration Act of 1990
 Dedicated channel for immigrants from countries
with low immigration rates to the US
 55,000 visas are allocated randomly to nationals
with less than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the
previous 5 years
 Requirements for Diversity Visa
 Must have a high-school education (or its
equivalent)
 Within past five years, a minimum of two years
working in a profession requiring two years of
training or experience

More Current Immigration
Laws
 2011: Development, Relief, and Education for Alien
Minors Act of 2011(DREAM Act):
 Restored state option to determine residency for
purposes of higher education benefits
 Provides conditional legal status for certain individuals
who:
 Was under the age of 15 when entered the country
 Has been physically present in the US for at least 5 years
 Has earned a high-school diploma or GED
 A person of good moral character
 Is not inadmissible or deportable under criminal security
grounds of the Immigration and Nationality Act
 Younger than 32 years of age when law enacted

More Current Immigration
Laws Cont.
 House Bill 56 (H.B. 56):
 Sparked fierce debate across Alabama
 A more radical law than those passed in other
states
 Has an impact on schools
 Requiring school staff to verify each student’s
immigration status during enrollment in Alabama
 Numbers must be reported to the state yearly
 Fear that parents will pull students from school
 Burdens educators with enforcing laws that are not
our responsibility

In-process Immigration Laws
 To understand the road to victory on
immigration reform and what that means
for 2014, one must first understand the
journey to get to this point.
 A national organization effort led to the
passage of the Senate immigration reform
bill in June of 2013, and shifted the public
narrative to the inevitability of victory- no
longer a question of if, but when.

Road to Victory
 Electoral punch: The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant
and Refugee Rights (ICIRR)
 Began and electoral program with a relatively small
experiment in 2002
 Operated in about 10 precincts in some diverse
suburban neighborhoods in Chicago
 Individuals managed to organize non-partisan and
501©(4) programs in 20 different neighborhoods and
suburbs
 The whole idea of the vote was considered a joke at
first, but with great success, “elected” individuals
could not ignore the growth and power of the
immigrant community
 152,434 immigrant voter s have been registered by
the ICIRR

Furthering the Road to Victory
 Individuals of the Latino community conducted
driving calls
 Involved shutting down Capital Hill switchboards with
calls
 Created national text messaging list with hundreds of
thousands subscribers
 Street Heats were conducted
 Marches of 2006 to show that anti-immigrant insults
are not going to be accepted in the immigrant
community
 Marches were so large, traffic was affected
 This community takes things to another level
(regarding legal authority) to demonstrate the
disruption of deportation within their own family lives

Furthering the Road to Victory
Cont.
 Telling stories
 Leaders started “coming out” in stating that they
were “undocumented and unafraid”
 “Coming out” countered the fear that many
leaders held, and has fundamentally changed
their public lives
 The Fair Immigration Reform Movement
 Through the Keeping Families Together campaign,
thousands of stories are told about the
deportations of families involved
 The movement has matured in many ways. This
has allowed for more success in reform

Victory In Sight
 ICIRR and FIRM organizations have built
citizenship programs to help legal immigrants
 Thirteen million legal permanent residents in
the US
 Eight million of the thirteen million are eligible
to become citizens (RIGHT NOW!)
 In swing states like Colorado, Arizona, and
Florida with legal permanent residents, current
immigrant voters, and potential naturalized
citizens could mean the margin of victory

Impacts on Education and
Families
 Public spending is deceasing
 Less funding in public schools
 Increase in enrollment in private schools
 Larger class sizes in the public school systems
 Multiple cultures in a classroom setting
 Teachers are expected to know and embrace the
different cultures
 Provides other students with a knowledge of other
cultures
 Promotes classroom diversity
 Less staff support for those individuals that face language
barriers
 Immigrant students may be encourages to be productive
members of society provided an education

Practices to Support
Immigration Students
 ESOL services if needed
 Cobb County School District: provides a number of
resources to support these students
 Value and build upon students’ academic, linguistic,
and cultural background
 Create supportive learning environments
 Assist students in reaching their full potential
 Build connections between ESOL and school wide
instructional programs
 Encourage participation of students and families with
the school and the community
 Foster understanding and appreciation of diverse
populations within the school and community

What do we do when they
come to our classroom?
 In the end, we need to create the best
learning environment possible to support
immigrant students. Remember that
language proficiency does always support
their academic ability. They are more than
likely not “dumb” or “stupid.” These students
may simply lack a knowledge of our
academic content. Embrace their culture
and support the family to the best of your
ability. These practices will always promote
support for these students.

References
 AZEMUN, M., & BENITO, L. (2014). A State and National
Perspective. (Cover story). Social Policy,44(1), 3-8.
 Education and Employment. (2014, January 1). Retrieved
September 17, 2014, from
http://www.ncsl.org/research/immigration/education-and-employment.
aspx
 How the United States Immigration System Works: A Fact Sheet.
(2014, March 1). Retrieved September 17, 2014, from
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/how-united-states-immigration-
system-works-fact-sheet
 Immigration. (2014, January 1). Retrieved September 17, 2014,
from http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/immigration
 Mavisakalyan, A. (2011). Immigration, Public Education Spending,
and Private Schooling. Southern Economic Journal, 78(2), 397-423.
 Walker, T. (2011, August 31). Alabama Schools Worry About Effects
of Immigration Law. Retrieved September 17, 2014, from
http://neatoday.org/2011/08/31/alabama-schools-worry-about-effects-
of-harsh-immigration-law/