by Laureen Fregeau
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The US has a long history of immigration and naturalization. It also has an historical cycle of pro and anti-immigrant sentiment. Pro-immigrant sentiment dominates at times when fewer immigrants are coming or when those coming are primarily of White European decent. Other than indigenous people who immigrated from Asia and settled in the Americas over 12,000 years ago (Native Americans) everyone in the US today is descended from immigrants. There are theories that Polynesians, Chinese and Africans came to the “new” world in the 1200s or before. Who were the earliest European immigrants (other than the Norse that settled the northeast)? Early America was multilingual and multicultural as it is today. The Spanish (1513) and French (1535) came first and then the Dutch (1590) and English (1607) followed by an endless parade of people from many countries. Currently, the top 10 countries from which immigrants come to the US are (highest to lowest) Mexico, India, China, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Philippines, El Salvador, Brazil, Cuba and South Korea. Recently, Venezuela is moving toward the top ten.
Take a look at this US immigration graphic showing how the source of immigrants has changed over time and this graph showing immigrants as a % of the US population since 1850. 
Notice that the % between 1865 and 1915 was about what it is today. Also note that in the late 1800s, “old stock” Americans became very anti-immigrant and immigration restrictions were put in place.
Immigration was a contentious issue in the mid-late 1800s and has recently again become a contentious issue in the US. In 2014 large numbers of undocumented unaccompanied children started coming from Central America to the US. Some school districts have experienced exponential growth in the numbers of ELs in their school. These were often children with no adult family member to care for them and thus placed in foster care. Many of these children were (and are) out of school frequently because of court dates for which no one could go in their place. El Salvadoran teens came to the US to escape death after recruitment efforts by the gangs that ruled that country until recently. Either they joined or the gang killed them and their family. In the first few months of 2016 more than 450 murders took place in El Salvador (the size of Manhattan). In 2021, El Salvador has the highest rate of murder in the world. 59 women were murdered in the first months of 2021. Some of these children come to the US with coyotes, some cross the desert (takes a week) alone and often without sufficient food or water. A number are sold for body parts. Those who make it to the US are in debt to pay off the coyote (unless they came alone). It is difficult to keep them in school because they feel they must work and pay their debts. Guatemalans, Nicaraguans and Hondurans face similar violence in their countries and seek refuge in less violent countries (including the U.S.)
Immigrants are also victims of human trafficking, sold into slavery for the sex trade or low-cost labor in the US and other countries. Immigrants, especially if they are undocumented, are less likely to seek and obtain appropriate healthcare. After the passage of AL HB56 (Alabama’s anti-immigration legislation) in 2011 immigrant women (both documented and undocumented) grew wary of seeking pre-natal care and less likely to give birth in a hospital. HB56 also led to the loss of tomato and potato crops in Alabama since these crops are picked by migrant workers (many of them are undocumented).
Recently, Central American women and children have fled the violence that continues in Central America. Women and children are especially victimized by this violence. El Salvador and Guatemala rank first and second respectively in rates of homicide against children and adolescents globally. The three Northern Triangle countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) are in the top five globally for rates of female homicides. Is it any wonder why people flee these countries to seek refuge in the US?
I lived in Guatemala during a time called “la violencia” when whole villages were murdered and buried in mass graves. People I worked with were assassinated or “disappeared”, beheaded and left on the streets as a warning to those who would oppose those in power (or those who opposed those in power). I also lived on the border of El Salvador during the civil war when children grew up playing “kick the corpse.” I understand why Central Americans have fled and still are fleeing to the US.
The vast majority of immigrant-origin students are U.S. citizens. About the same % of immigrants as native born Americans 25 and over earn or have a college education. The DACA program has enabled undocumented students who arrived as children to enter college. In June 2020, the Supreme Court blocked Donald Trump’s move to end the program but this was only a temporary reprieve. DACA recipients view themselves as Americans (they grew up here) and have contributed significantly to the nation, especially in this time of pandemic. The Biden administration returned to pre-2017 regulations for undocumented individuals who came as children before 2016. Then, in July 2021, a court decision in Texas ended new DACA grants. Undocumented students can legally attend college. A few states — including Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama — have placed restrictions on undocumented students attending public colleges and universities. Undocumented students (other than DACA) cannot receive federal financial aid for college — the type of aid that many college students rely on. However, undocumented students can get financial aid or scholarships for college in other ways. To find out more, read For Undocumented Students: Questions and Answers About Paying for College. Undocumented immigrant students can be eligible for athletic scholarships depending on the individual school policy.
“Speak English!” is a common exclamation by monolingual Americans who hold many misconceptions about immigrants and their language abilities. English is the lingua franca of the world and many people learn or want to learn English. In 2019, 91% of immigrants reported knowing at least some English as compared to 86% in the early 1900s. Most immigrants want to learn English but English language programs are often difficult to access or beyond the means of immigrants. Many universities have closed or privatized their English language centers (including South). In August a Vietnamese woman from Bayou le Batre talked to me about how distressed she is about her community’s lack of access to English language programs, especially those that bridge to university study.
Undocumented immigrants contribute far more in taxes than they ever receive in services (they do not qualify for most services, including relief checks during the pandemic and tax breaks). On average, they contribute over $11.5 billion per year in local, state and federal income taxes to the government and 15 billion per year in FICA (collecting 1 billion back). The SS system is becoming more reliant on these taxes to support retired Americans as Boomers leave the workforce. Why is there such an effort to remove productive members of society?
Sources, Resources and Further Reading
Toppleberg, C. (2010). Language, Culture, and Adaptation in Immigrant Children
Landgrave, M. (2019). Immigrants Learn English: Immigrants’ Language Acquisition Rates by Country of Origin and Demographics since 1900
Rumbaut, R. (2013). Immigration and Language Diversity in the United States. Daedalus. 2013 ; 142(3): 141–154.
Key Findings about US Immigrants (Pew Research Center, 2020)
Educational Services for Immigrant Children (Fact Sheet 1, Fact Sheet 2)
Lazarin (2022). How State Assessments Became and Remain a Driver for Equity for English Learners
Furuya, Nooraddini, Wang, & Waslin (2019). A Portrait of Foreign-Born Teachers in the United States
Suarez-Orozco, C. and Yoshikawa, H. (2011). Growing up in the shadows: Developmental implications of unauthorized status
No Country for Lost Kids, PBS report (video and text) on undocumented child immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Gindling, H and Poggio, S. (2010). The Effect of Family Separation and Reunification on the Educational Success of Immigrant Children in the
United States. The Institute for the Study of Labor, DP No. 4887
DACA and Access to Higher Education
Batista, A. (2017). An Immigrant’s Journey in Higher Education The Vermont Connection: Vol. 38 The author joined Oregon State University as
the Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Dean of Student Life in June 2015 and was named as Interim Chief Diversity Officer on
February 1, 2016. Prior to joining Oregon State, she served as Dean of Students at the University of Southern Indiana and worked at the
University of Vermont, Lynn University, Champlain College, and Mills College.
UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education database on curricula, educational resources and educational systems in other countries.
USEFUL TO INVESTIGATE YOUR IMMIGRANT EL’S EDUCATION PRIOR TO COMING TO THE U.S.
Life as an undocumented immigrant
Ukranian refugee experiences (You will need to give an email address – NO NEED TO SUBSCRIBE)
