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Nowhere Boy is a chapter book for students in 3rd grade or higher. This is a story about a boy who moves from Syria to Belgium in hopes to live a better life. When a tragic accident takes his father he is left on his own with nowhere to go. He soon makes a friend of a lifetime that helps him put his life back on track.

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(Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan Children's, August 2018)

Fourteen-year-old Ahmed fled a life of uncertainty and suffering in Syria, only to lose his father on the perilous journey to the shores of Europe. Thirteen-year-old Max never wanted to move from America to Brussels, Belgium and continue his life of failure, this time at a French-speaking school. But with one startling discovery, Max and Ahmed's worlds collide, changing everything they know about heroism, hope, and love.

Available in translation in French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Greek, Portuguese (Brazil edition, Portugal edition), Korean, Polish, Czech, Mandarin, Farsi and Romanian.

U.S. Paperback out August 25, 2020! Buy a copy here. Are you an educator looking to purchase classroom copies? Info on discounts and placing orders here.

Bonus Material:

Praise

FOUR STARS FOR NOWHERE BOY!

"A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis." - Kirkus, Starred Review

" Thoughtfully touching on immigration, Islamophobia, and terrorism, this novel is a first-purchase. -School Library Journal, Starred Review

"Marsh ( The Night Tourist) offers a timely and entertaining tale of suspense and intrigue while eloquently conveying the courage necessary to trust another person in a climate rife with fear, suspicion, and ethical dilemmas." - Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"A complicated and realistic story of European geopolitics past and present." - BCCB, Starred Review

"A resistance novel for our time....'Nowhere Boy' is elegantly structured, plausible in its improbable plot and studded with moments of rapturous prose. The book ends on a single word that sums up its entire message: 'Hope.'" -Elizabeth Wein in the New York Times Book Review

"An important and riveting story, masterfully told. Move this one to the top of your TBR pile immediately." -Barbara O'Connor, author of WISH and WONDERLAND

"Nowhere Boy has the authenticity of nonfiction, with all the heart and pulse of a great novel. As a journalist, who has reported on the refugee crisis for years, I was deeply impressed by how real and gripping Marsh's tale felt - from the very start - as a father and son clung to life raft in rough seas. This should be required reading in middle schools across America." - Jake Halpern, winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for his series, "Welcome to the New World," in the New York Times.

"A hopeful story about recovery, empathy and the bravery of young people." -Booklist

"Perfect for classroom reads, this timely novel with its strong male protagonists will foster discussions about friendship, Islam, and complex refugee predicaments throughout the world."-VOYA

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Nowhere Boy, a middle grade novel by Author Katherine Marsh

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(Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan Children's, August 2018) Fourteen-year-old Ahmed fled a life of uncertainty and suffering in Syria, only to lose his father on the perilous journey to the shores of Europe. Thirteen-year-old Max never wanted to move from America to Brussels, Belgium and continue his life of failure, this time at a French-speaking school.

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Tani’s New Home: A Refugee Finds Hope and Kindness in America, is a book intended for learners in 1st - 3rd grade. A little boy named Tani moves from Nigeria to New York City with his family. This move is very overwhelming for him but he soon finds a love for something that changes his life.

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For children, ages 2-6 years old, the book “My name is not Refugee” is about a little boy the same age. Him and his mother say goodbye to friends and loved ones before they set out for something new. They walk, and walk, and walk. This invites readers to decide what decisions they would make if they were walking in this little boy’s shoes.

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My name is not Refugee | Children's Books Read Aloud

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This is a picture book for curious students, especially for those 3-7 years old. The title, “What is a Refugee?”, probably gives you an idea of what students can learn from this book. Other questions this book can answer are, why are they called refugee’s? Why do they need to leave their country? Why are they sometimes not welcome in their new country? This is an excellent resource for teaching young learners.

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What Is a Refugee? [Gravel, Elise] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. What Is a Refugee?

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This cute picture book, meant for preschool through second grade students, celebrates our personal strengths that we bring with us wherever we go. Migrants leave their homes in order to start new lives elsewhere. Though they might feel they have little to offer, they too have dreams. Using their strengths they build up their lives and families, dream big dreams, and work hard to make them come true.

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Born in Mexico and raised among giant grandmothers, mossy house walls, and rampaging feral gardens, Yuyi Morales fostered a strong bond with the magical stories that ran in her family. Since having immigrated to the USA in 1994, she has drawn from her family's legacy and her heritage to create some of the most celebrated Latino works for children's books.

Yuyi is the 2004 winner of the Pura Belpre Medal for Illustration for her book Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book as well as the 2008 winner for Los Gatos Black on Halloween (written by Marissa Montes), given to a Latino illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.

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Her book Harvesting Hope; The story of Cesar Chavez (written by Kathell Krull), was the recipient of the Christopher Award and the Jane Adams Award, and was deemed one of the best books of 2003 by Child Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, and School Library Journal.

Yuyi is also the creator of ALA notable book, Little Night, co-released in Spanish as Nochecita, and winner of the 2008 SCBWI Golden Kite Medal.

Some of other recognitions her work has received include the Americas Award, the California book Award, and the Tomas Rivera Award won in 2004 and 2008.

Asked about her work Yuyi says, "I strive to capture the incredible beauty of the every day forms using textures and colors as another way to reveal the heart of the story. I also pursue glow and luminosity with resolve. If I could ask for a talent, it would be to become a color genius."

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Dreamers [Morales, Yuyi] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Dreamers

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This lesson plan contains materials meant for students 15-18 years old. Using individual and group work, students are encouraged to apply their knowledge into their daily lives. They are asked to think about how their lives are connected to those who are asylum seekers, migrants, and refugees.

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Group and individual work is encouraged along the way to foster a sense of academic independence with check-ins by teachers.

Click on the links to download the teaching materials.

Words matter

Understanding refugees, migration and asylum begins with understanding a few basics. The word "refugee" is often used as a blanket term for people displaced by war, violence or persecution. But there are different categories of displaced people, each with specific needs.

You can watch these explainer animations as a preparation for your lesson. Choose which sections you need and download them as you like to compose your own instructional package.

Facts and figures about refugees

Finding the right facts and figures about refugees and migrants can be a challenge. There is a plethora of information available from thousands of sources. However, the information provided is not always reliable, complete or up-to-date.

In the facts and figures section of this website, you can find a set of downloads and media materials on refugees containing basic facts and figures you may need to prepare for your lessons. These materials are suitable for pupils ages 15-18.

Choose which sections you need in your classroom and download them as you like to compose your own instructional package.
Go to the Facts and Figures page
Video exercise

Omar's story

Omar is seventeen. His father Ziad and his mother Maha and his three brothers and two sisters fled Syria to Jordan, where they lived as refugees for e few years. Omar recalls how he and his father had to do all kinds of work just to survive. The family was eventually resettled to Luxembourg. Omar now goes to school like any other 17 year old. He is passionate about fitness and documenting his surroundings with his own camera.

Related materials

Download the video (English)

Use the lesson plan for exercises and class activities based on the video

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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Group and individual work is encouraged along the way to foster a sense of academic independence with check-ins by teachers. Click on the links to download the teaching materials. Understanding refugees, migration and asylum begins with understanding a few basics. The word "refugee" is often used as a blanket term for people displaced by war, violence or persecution.

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In this lesson plan we get a different approach to learning about refugees by starting with the basics. Such as “what is a refugee?” Then expand on this by putting the students in the shoes of another person and give them ways to relate to the stories and lives of a refugee during a crisis.

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This lesson has been updated to include revised maps and new data, videos, and news articles. (December 2019)

Objectives

Students will:

Explore the human geography of the current refugee crisis.

Employ data to create a map of the crisis.

Examine one refugee's story and use it to map his or her experiences.

Consider challenges facing the international community and weigh responses to the crisis.

Resources

Handout - Key Terms

Handout - Refugee and IDP Data-2018

Handout - Mapping the Global Crisis

Handout - Mapping One Refugee's Journey

Handout - Refugee Stories

Optional Videos - Life on Hold

Slideshow - Maps
Note: Teaching about the global refugee crisis may require special sensitivity. The activity might be especially intense for students with a personal connection to the issue. Teachers should help promote careful consideration of the topic and work to make their classrooms a safe place for all students. Note: Colored pencils or markers are helpful for this activity.
1. Introduction

Write the question "What might force you (and your family) to abandon your home and leave your country?" on the board. After students have considered the question individually, ask students if they've heard about the recent refugee crisis in the news. What is a refugee? What are some reasons that refugees leave their homes?

Distribute Key Terms, and review each term with the class. Make sure that students understand the difference between a refugee, an internally displaced person, and a migrant. Review what it means for a person to apply for asylum. You may wish to show the following Choices Video to help introduce the terms:
What are refugees and internally displaced persons?
2. Mapping the Global Crisis

Explain to students that in order to better understand the scope of the crisis, they are going to analyze data on refugees and IDPs and then map the information. Give each student a copy of Refugee and IDP Data-2018 and Mapping the Global Crisis. Instruct students to read through the data handout on their own. Next, guide the class through the instructions for shading in the map on the Mapping the Global Crisis handout. Go over the term "map key" with students if needed. You may wish to have students complete this activity in pairs or small groups.

It might be helpful to project the map onto a screen or whiteboard, either for reference or for a spin on the activity. To modify the activity and complete as a class, students could collaboratively shade in the countries on the map projection.

If colored pencils or markers are not available for your classroom, consider instructing students to use patterns, in place of colors, when shading in areas on the map.

After the class has completed the exercise, ask students to reflect on what they have mapped and read. Were they surprised by any of the data? Which numbers were the most striking? How does the data compare to what they expected to see?

Ask students about the countries they shaded. What do students know about the current situation in countries that are the greatest sources of refugees and IDPs, such as Syria, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan? Why might such large numbers of people be leaving their homes in these places?

Ask students about the top host countries and countries with the most asylum applications. Why might refugees go to these countries? Encourage students to look at the location of these countries on the map. How does location affect where refugees go? What might be other reasons that so many refugees end up in these countries? What responsibility do these countries have for protecting refugees?

3. Mapping One Refugee's Journey

Explain to students that in order to learn more about the current refugee crisis, they will read the account of one refugee and then map his or her journey. Break the class into small groups or pairs. Assign one refugee story per group, and give each student their own copy of Mapping One Refugee's Journey and Refugee Stories. (You may wish to only give each group a copy of the story that they will map instead of the entire packet of stories.)

Ask students to follow the instructions on the handouts-they should begin by reading the story. Review any vocabulary that students have identified as challenging. Have students fill out the organizer and then complete the map exercise. Tell students that they will be sharing their stories and maps with the class.

The map exercise designates specific tasks, but also asks students to use creativity to illustrate aspects of their refugee's journey that they think are important. This could include drawing a picture, using an image, or adding text to the map. Students may face space constraints on the maps for Shahad and Ahmet and should be encouraged to use their space creatively, drawing "out of bounds" over different parts of the map if they wish. To help students understand the mapping exercise, you may wish to read Shahad's story as a class and share our sample map of her journey, available in this slideshow of maps.

Update: Video Alternative

Another collection of refugee stories that you may find useful for this activity is Life on Hold by Al Jazeera. The site features video interviews with Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, as well as a place for viewers to leave comments for each refugee. The videos provide more in-depth stories than the shorter UN text sources and focus on a single region.

You may wish to orient students to the website to be sure they know where to find important features. Each refugee's page provides a main video that is about eight minutes long as well as a small map that shows his or her route. Instruct students to watch the main video and also click the map for a description of the refugee's journey. Remind students that, because each story is different, they only need to fill in the sections of the handouts for which they have information. You may encourage students to click "Add your thoughts to the wall" to leave a comment for a refugee or to see others' posts.
Note: The videos are intense and powerful and may be upsetting for students to watch. (For example, Mohammad describes seeing dead bodies, Abu Abdo describes what it was like to kill someone in the conflict, and Omar shows the camera his wounded leg.) As with the text sources, be sure to preview the videos to make sure they are appropriate for your classroom. You may wish to assign only a selection of the following:
Syria to Lebanon:

4. Class Discussion

Ask groups to briefly summarize each refugee story for their classmates. You may also wish to have each group present its map to the class.

What did students learn about each refugee? What were some of the reasons people gave for leaving their countries of origin? After hearing a few answers to these questions, ask students if any of the refugees' stories had similarities. How did experiences differ? Were students surprised by anything that they read? What challenges did the refugees face during their journeys, and how did they respond? Who or what organizations or governments have they turned to for aid? Is there anything else that the students would like to know about the refugees they read about? About other refugees?

Who do students think should be responsible for helping refugees? What do students think that people, organizations, and governments should do? What role do students think that the United States should play? Did hearing refugees' stories shape students' opinions about the refugee crisis? If so, how?

Ideas for Extra Challenges

1. Ask students what they know about the role of the United States in responding to the refugee crisis. To learn more, ask students to read the article "Trump Slashes Refugee Cap to 18,000, Curtailing U.S. Role as Haven." You may also direct them to the supplementary resources at the bottom of this page and the following Choices video: What is the process for refugees coming to the United States? Based on what they have read, what role do students think the United States should play? Encourage students to write letters to elected officials detailing these opinions. They can find contact information for the White House at whitehouse.gov/contact and for their U.S. senators and representatives at congress.gov.

2. Encourage students to explore international and local responses to the refugee crisis. How are other countries' governments and citizens responding? What are some specific examples of people finding ways to assist and welcome refugees? ("German Volunteers Launch 'Airbnb for Refugees'" is one example of one group's efforts to encourage a sense of community among host countries and refugees.) Ask students how people in their own communities have responded to the refugee crisis. Students can research and contact local organizations that are responding, and interview someone who is part of an active organization. Students can also research their state's specific Resettlement Program. Alternatively, students might wish to organize a meeting at school to raise awareness and discuss possible next steps at both at an individual and community level. For example, students may want to plan a fundraiser or film screening related to refugee relief.

3. Have students research the country of origin or the host country from one of the refugee's stories, directing them to the resources below. Ask students to find information about the country's government, economy, and social policies and programs. Ask students to write a short essay about their findings, outlining possible reasons why refugees made, or had to make, certain choices. BBC Country Profiles CIA World Factbook

Supplementary Resources

NaTakallam: Language Learning Programs and Professional Translation Services Provided by Refugees

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Refugee Stories: Mapping a Crisis - Choices Program

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This lesson has been updated to include revised maps and new data, videos, and news articles. (December 2019) Students will: Explore the human geography of the current refugee crisis. Employ data to create a map of the crisis. Examine one refugee's story and use it to map his or her experiences.

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Now that you have a good understanding about the Syrian refugees from lesson plan 2, lets take it way back to the 1930s when the German race was taking charge. The Jewish people back in the day may have had a different experience in their refugee camps than what the Syrian people experience today. Learn about the similarities and differences in refugee camps across the timeline through the resources contained in this lesson plan.

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Global Issues

The German liner St. Louis, carrying about 900 German Jewish refugees, was denied entrance to the Havana harbor in 1939. The ship was later denied entrance to the United States and returned to Hamburg, Germany. Credit... Associated Press

Browse all our Text to Text lesson plans Introduction .
Today there are more than 65 million displaced people worldwide - the highest number on record since the United Nations Refugee Agency began collecting statistics. Europe faces a humanitarian crisis, with thousands of people fleeing conflicts in Syria and around the Middle East and Africa arriving in Greece, Hungary, Germany and other countries each month. Some European citizens are wary of allowing refugees to enter, citing concerns about security and the economy; other countries on the continent have struggled to find the resources and the political will to meet migrants' and refugees' needs.

For many observers, today's challenges also raise uncomfortable historical echoes, as scenes of refugees crowding European train platforms and waiting in grim reception camps recall the events of World War II and the Holocaust. A Times article noted the parallels and asked, "How apt is the comparison between Syrians today and German Jews before World War II, and what can and cannot be learned from it?" In an Op-Ed in August, the columnist Nicholas Kristof argued that "history rhymes" and wrote, "Today, to our shame, Anne Frank is a Syrian girl."

Mr. Kristof and other writers invoke the fate of Jewish refugees in the 1930s as a cautionary tale about the consequences of indifference and inaction in the world community today. A new documentary film by Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky, " Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War," offers another historical lens that can sharpen our perspective on today's crisis. It tells the little-known story of Martha and Waitstill Sharp, an American couple who left behind the safety of their Massachusetts home and their own young children to aid refugees in Europe on the brink of World War II. The Sharps faced a complex and desperate situation with humanity, creativity and courage.

In this Text to Text, we pair a Times article about the historical resonance of Europe's refugee crisis with an excerpt from "Defying the Nazis" that chronicles the Sharps's relief and rescue mission in 1939. Together, these texts raise important questions about whether there are "lessons" of history and invite reflection on how individuals and governments choose to respond to those in need.

Police officers on Sept. 4 guarded a so-called reception center for migrants in Roszke, Hungary. Some migrants were tricked into boarding trains for such camps. Related Article Credit... Reuters

Even before the beginning of World War II in September 1939, Nazi Germany's open aggression toward both neighboring countries and people within its borders had sparked a refugee crisis. The German annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland in 1938 increased the number of people affected by Nazi restrictions, while at the same time those restrictions intensified to the point that Jews, political dissidents and others were effectively removed from German public life and denied rights, employment and education. Germany's aggressive steps to expand its borders touched off both an international political crisis, as world leaders scrambled to avoid war, and a humanitarian refugee crisis, as hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people, mostly Jews, sought safety from the Nazis in countries outside the grip of the Third Reich.

Despite an isolationist mood, a suspicions of refugees, and official policies that often discouraged involvement, some Americans felt a sense of responsibility toward European refugees and found ways to act on their behalf. The Unitarian Church - a liberal religion with roots in Christianity - had links to Czechoslovakia and wanted to offer assistance to refugees streaming into the country. Though Germany had annexed Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland region, the rest of the country and its capital remained still free and independent. In January 1939, Unitarian leadership sought volunteers to lead an aid mission in Prague. Seventeen couples had turned down the risky post, but Martha and Waitstill Sharp decided to accept. Just weeks later, after arranging for neighbors to look after their children, ages 8 and 3, they sailed for Europe.

In Prague, the Sharps spent seven months providing food, shelter and medical care to refugees. Just weeks after they arrived, German troops occupied the whole of Czechoslovakia. The Sharps quickly saw the necessity for rescue as well as relief efforts, and mastered the intricacies of emigration procedures, helping refugees find jobs and sponsors abroad and often accompanying them on dangerous border crossings. They were watched by the Gestapo and had to do much of their work in secret. The Sharps went home to Wellesley only when they heard rumors of their imminent arrest. But just a few months later they returned to Europe, this time for another rescue and relief mission in war-torn France. There, Martha led a children's emigration project that allowed 27 children from dissident or Jewish families to escape to the United States. For their work in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and France, the Sharps have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem - the highest recognition accorded by the state of Israel to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during World War II. They are two of only five Americans to be so honored.

In the aftermath of World War II, the newly formed United Nations moved to set up international bodies and laws to define the status and rights of refugees for the first time. The U.N. High Commission for Refugees was established in 1951 and given a three-year mandate to resolve postwar refugee problems. Sixty-five years later, it still exists, and there are more refugees around the world today than at any time since the end of World War II.

Today's refugee crisis has its roots in conflicts all around the world. Many of those fleeing to Europe come from Syria, where a brutal civil war that began in 2011 has created nearly 5 million refugees, many of them children. Some of those refugees live tenuously in camps and cities in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon; many others, desperate to get to Europe, have risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea in small boats. The crisis has overwhelmed the systems for aiding refugees created in the wake of World War II. Humanitarian impulses and the rights of refugees guaranteed by international law are competing with concerns that the migrants may pose a threat to the security of European countries where they seek asylum. In fact, the refugee crisis and the threat of terrorism have become intertwined in the minds of many Europeans.

Can the history of the refugee crisis of the 1930s help us think about how we respond to Syrian refugees today? The Times article by Daniel Victor' explores the parallels between today's Syrian refugees and Jewish refugees before World War II. We pair this news article with a 10-minute excerpt from "Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War" that focuses on the Sharps's efforts to help refugees escape from occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939. Together, these sources complicate our thinking about how individuals and governments define their responsibility to refugees, in the past and the present.
________ Key Questions
* What are similarities and differences between the refugee crises of the 1930s and today?

* How might examining the history of refugees in the 1930s inform the choices that individuals and governments make in responding to refugees today?

Activity Sheets: As students read and discuss, they might take notes using one or more of the three graphic organizers (PDFs) we have created for our Text to Text feature:

* Comparing Two or More Texts

* Double-Entry Chart for Close Reading

* Document Analysis Questions
_________ Text 1: "Comparing Jewish Refugees of the 1930s With Syrian Refugees Today," Daniel Victor, The New York Times, Nov. 19, 2015.

A tweet drawing a historical parallel to the current plight of Syrian refugees drew thousands of retweets this week.

An article in The Washington Post with a similar premise also drew attention in recent days.

They both raised the question: How apt is the comparison between Syrians today and German Jews before World War II, and what can and cannot be learned from it?

Some historians say that, while the two groups are not completely symmetrical, there are lessons to be drawn.

Republican leaders and some Democrats have sought to halt the Syrian refugee program, fearing fighters from the Islamic State could be among the 10,000 migrants allowed to enter the country.

"We cannot allow terrorists to take advantage of our compassion," Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin said. "This is a moment where it is better to be safe than to be sorry."

In 1938, Jews sought to escape Nazi Germany at a time when the United States was struggling through the Great Depression, and Americans expressed similar concern over accepting refugees.

"I don't think it would meet the part of wisdom," said Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota, according to the Nov. 5, 1938 edition of The New York Times. "Our conditions here at home prohibit accepting an influx of population."

Peter Shulman, an associate professor of history at Case Western Reserve University and the man behind the @HistOpinion Twitter account, said most of the responses to his tweet had supported the premise, while others disputed it. Americans were primarily concerned with economics in 1939 while today's fears are related to safety, many replied.

It's true that Americans in 1939 were worried about refugees taking jobs. Those who lived through the Depression were overwhelmingly supportive of restricting immigration, Mr. Shulman said.

But safety was also a concern. Jews were associated with a variety of acts and ideas that were seen as un-American, Mr. Shulman said, including Communism and violence.

That caused Jewish refugees to be "extraordinarily, excruciatingly vetted," said Marion Kaplan, a professor in the Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University.

"The State Department worried that among the Jewish refugees there would be Nazi spies," she said. "There was hysteria about fifth columnists coming in with the refugees."

One area where the two refugee groups do not neatly match, Ms. Kaplan said, is the racial animus they faced both home and abroad. Unlike modern Syrians, Jews in the 1930s "were singled out as the racial enemy, par excellence, in German society," she said.

And the United States was not entirely welcoming. On top of wanting to preserve jobs, Americans were concerned about Jews "weakening the Nordic or Anglo racial stock," Mr. Shulman said. "That was a very real concern."

He added: "You can't just reduce it to economics or politics. That sort of racial identity was very powerful."

________

________ For Writing and Discussion
1. How does Daniel Victor's article compare responses to Jewish refugees in the 1930s with responses to Syrian refugees today? What are some of the key similarities and differences? How do ideas about race and religion shape attitudes to refugees in each example? What other factors play a role?

2. How does the film clip from "Defying the Nazis" connect to Mr. Victor's article? How does it extend your thinking about the lives of refugees and the fears, hopes and challenges they have experienced? How does it add to your understanding of United States' policies and attitudes toward refugees in the 1930s?

3. The historian Peter Shulman, interviewed in the article, argued that there are "enough similarities between Jewish refugees in the 1930s and Syrian refugees today to draw a 'moral connection' between the two situations." Do you agree with Mr. Shulman? Why or why not? If yes, how would you describe this "moral connection?"

4. What dilemmas did Martha and Waitstill Sharp face in their decision to leave home and help refugees in Europe? What risks did they take? What do you think motivated them to make a choice to help refugees when that was so at odds with American public opinion and national policy?

5. Many who connect the refugee crisis of the 1930s to the plight of Syrian refugees today emphasize the failure of the United States and other countries to help. The Sharps's story, in contrast, is about a small group of private citizens banding together to aid refugees. Is their history relevant to the current refugee crisis? How might a story of people who chose to help then inform decision-making about the refugee crisis today?

6. In another Times article, a Human Rights Watch staff member argued, "We all say we have learned the lessons of history, but to be turning away these desperate people who are fleeing a horrific situation suggests that we haven't learned the lessons at all." What are the potential benefits of looking for "lessons" in history? What might be some of the challenges or drawbacks? Why is it so difficult to learn and apply the "lessons of history?"

Martha and Waitstill Sharp departing New York Harbor for Europe in 1939, in "Defying the Nazis." Credit... Sharp Family Archives

1. Contextualizing Today's Refugee Crisis: Samantha Power is the United States ambassador to the United Nations. Recently, she visited Newcomers High School in New York City to discuss the current refugee crisis with students, all of whom are immigrants to the United States. In this video, a student asks, "Did World War II and the Holocaust change how the United States of America and the world thinks about the refugee crisis right now?" In response, Ms. Power shares the history of the St. Louis, a ship of Jewish refugees that was turned away from United States in 1939.

Based on Ms. Power's response, what significance does she see in this history? How does hindsight help us understand an event differently from people at the time? According to Ms. Power, how has this history affected the way some individuals and organizations are responding to the refugee crisis today? The lesson " Understanding the Global Refugee Crisis " from Facing History and Ourselves includes more footage of Ms. Power's conversation with students, with additional readings and questions that contextualize today's crisis. It invites us to think about the importance of humanizing refugees and suggests that there are small steps people can take to help.

2. Learning from the Sharps's Mission: The short video "A Willingness to Act" is drawn from Ken Burns's and Artemis Joukowsky's documentary, " Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War," featuring the voice of Tom Hanks as Waitstill Sharp. Facing History and Ourselves' companion classroom resources invite students to explore what motivated the Sharps'smission, the dilemmas they faced, and the impact of their actions. Three lesson plans for teaching with "Defying the Nazis" incorporate additional clips from the film, activities like historical character maps, which help students identify the forces that shaped the Sharps's decision to act, and letters from the Sharps's archive, like this 1940 letter from Martha to her young son, Hastings, where she explains her decision to stay in Europe to help vulnerable children.

3. Gaining Perspective on History: Part of the challenge in drawing "lessons" from history lies in the fact that when we look back at a moment in history, it's difficult to fully inhabit the perspective of the people who lived at that time and see the world as they did. One way to gain perspective is to read news accounts of events, like the refugee crisis in Czechoslovakia in 1938 or the American debate about accepting Jewish refugees in 1939, that were written at the time the events were happening. The New York Times's archive contains dozens of stories about the refugee crisis of the 1930s and the United States' response to it. Below are just a few of those articles.

* Refugee Ship Idles Off Florida Coast (June 5, 1939)

* Refugee Ship (June 8, 1939)

* Hoover Backs Bill to Wave Quota Act for Reich Children (April 23, 1939)

* French Seize 2 Refugee Vessels (Aug. 9, 1939)

As you read them, consider these questions: How do the articles portray the crisis and the options available to refugees? What was the range of responses and attitudes to refugees, and what arguments were offered in support of allowing or restricting immigration? What questions would you want to ask the individuals living at the time who are quoted in these articles? What would you want them to understand?

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum project " History Unfolded: U.S. Newspapers and the Holocaust " is another way to gain insight about what ordinary Americans knew and thought about Europe, based on accounts in local newspapers from all over the United States. Its website offers hundreds of articles from newspapers in the 1930s and 1940s. It also invites readers to become "citizen historians" by seeking out and submitting articles from the archives of their own local newspapers.

New York Times coverage of the current refugee crisis is collected on this Times Topics page on Refugees and Displaced People. How do you imagine people reading these articles in the future reacting to what they see? What might you want these future readers to understand about the forces that shape attitudes to refugees today?

4. Considering the Protections Afforded Refugees: The United Nations created the official "refugee" designation in 1951 to encompass individuals who have been forced to flee their countries because of persecution, war or violence. At the time, many believed it was important for international institutions such as the newly founded United Nations to commit to aiding refugees because of the failure to help those fleeing Nazi persecution in the 1930s and 1940s. In this video, Sasha Chanoff, the director of the refugee advocacy organization RefugePoint, explains the distinction between refugees and other migrants and describes the international agreements that govern the rights and treatment of refugees today. What laws and protections are in place for refugees today that did not exist during Europe's refugee crisis in the 1930s? What do you think these international agreements have achieved? Where do you think they have fallen short?

A New York Times Room for Debate piece in September 2015 asked five scholars and advocates to respond to the question, " What Can Countries Do To Help Refugees Fleeing to Europe? " How do the contributors' perspectives add to your thinking about what responsibilities governments have to refugees coming from outside their borders? What is the role of empathy and ideals in how countries respond to refugees? What is the role of practical concerns?

A family of refugees receiving an English lesson from William Stocks, 23, in Marietta, Ga. "My job is to serve these people," Mr. Stocks said, "because they need to be served." Credit... Dustin Chambers for The New York Times

5. Aiding Refugees, One at a Time: When they accepted the mission to Czechoslovakia in 1939, Martha and Waitstill Sharp were among the founders of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, a nonsectarian human rights group that is still active around the world. Today, too, even as the refugee crisis has provoked political controversy, individuals and private organizations have found ways to aid refugees. Mothers in the United States called for donations of baby carriers and children's clothing and delivered them to refugees in Greece. Some Germans greeted arriving refugees at the border of their country with welcome signs in German, English and Arabic. And in Canada, where the government pledged to accept 25,000 Syrian refugees, a private sponsorship program gave people a way to provide essential support and help the government keep its promise.

The articles below highlight some of these efforts. As you read them, consider: How do these stories compare to that of the Sharps? What is the range of actions individuals have taken to help refugees in Europe today? How do these various efforts differ, and what do they have in common? What tools are these individuals and groups using to make a difference? How have people been able to help when they live in proximity to refugees? How have they helped when they are far away? What can an individual or a small group accomplish that a government may not be able to?

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Text to Text: Comparing Jewish Refugees of the 1930s With Syrian Refugees Today (Published 2017)

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Global Issues Browse all our Text to Text lesson plans Introduction . Today there are more than 65 million displaced people worldwide - the highest number on record since the United Nations Refugee Agency began collecting statistics.

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Have you ever wondered what it’s like in a refugee camp? Do you know what a refugee camp is for? This lesson plan, designed for middle school students and high school students, gives you an inside look into Syria. A place that has been affected by wars and people have been forced out of their homes. Learn how they get along by reading the stories and watching the videos about the Syrian refugees.

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Global Issues

Hana Abdullah left her home in Mabrouka, a small Syrian town, in 2011 at the beginning of the Syrian civil war, and moved with her extended family to a makeshift tent settlement in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. This photograph was taken on August 1, 2015, when Hana was 12 years old. Credit... Lynsey Addario for The New York Times Magazine

Note: Occasionally we partner with outside organizations who make especially good use of New York Times materials in their programming and curriculums. For example, this guest lesson on climate change was written by members of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies; this one about navigating life online was created by a writer at Common Sense Media; and this one about espionage was written by the youth education director at the International Spy Museum.
Below, we feature a guest lesson plan created by the Global Nomads Group, an international organization that creates interactive educational programs - online platforms, video conferences, media and other learning materials - for students about global issues, to foster dialogue and understanding among the world's youth. This lesson is designed to prepare students to participate in a live webcast on Wednesday, May 3, open to young people anywhere in the world who wish to participate.
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Background: As of December 2016, 4.8 million registered Syrian refugees had left their country. And 6.1 million more are internally displaced, which means they were forced to move within Syria. In other words, more than half of Syria's 22 million citizens have left their homes because of the civil war that started in 2011. Youth are particularly vulnerable. Many young Syrians lost their security, homes and access to education.

These numbers can make the conflict seem too big or overwhelming to fix. But behind the statistics, there are stories of real people trying to build new homes for their families. There are youth working to improve their situations and the smaller challenges they face every day.

In this lesson plan, students will examine the effect of the Syrian crisis on the lives of young people from that country, especially those who are refugees. This lesson is part of a larger program organized by the Global Nomads Group, which includes this curriculum guide for teachers (PDF) as well as a live webcast involving Syrian refugee children and youth from around the world.

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Nisreen al-Najjar's son Hisham, center, at home in Jordan. Hisham has Type 1 diabetes. Related Article Credit... Nadia Bseiso for The New York Times

Teacher's Note: This lesson plan includes several suggestions so that teachers can choose the resources that will be most helpful and appropriate for their students. The resources listed include longer and shorter articles, as well as multimedia features such as slide shows and videos that require access to a computer and the internet to view. This guide also includes suggestions for ways to adapt the lesson to use specific resources.

Teachers are encouraged to:

■ Read the articles and watch the videos listed in steps 2 and 3 below in advance. Choose the stories of young Syrian refugees that will be interesting to your students.

■ Adapt plans and preparations for the lesson to give students enough time to read the articles, watch videos and use multimedia features you choose. This may include taking additional time (or more than one session) for the lesson.

■ Consider omitting any of the stories that may be too difficult or overwhelming for any of your students.

■ Consider choosing only one or two stories of Syrian young people for the entire class to explore together. (The stories of Hana Abdullah and Bayan Mohamed, listed below, are especially recommended in this case.)

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1. Warm-up: Ask students to write a response to the following questions:

* What do you know or have you heard about the crisis in Syria?
* How do you think this war has affected Syrian young people?

Then, have students share their responses with the class.

Alternatively, if you plan on using the entire "Reimagining Syria: Sharing Our Stories" curriculum, distribute Handout 1.1, Pre-program Assessment (PDF) and follow the instructions in the teacher curriculum guide.

2. Read and watch the stories of young Syrian refugees. Organize students into small groups. Explain that each group of students will focus on the story of a young Syrian refugee. Explain that they will read or watch the story, then research how the crisis in Syria has shaped that young person's life and experience.

Give students time to read the articles or watch the videos.

Video

The Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan is one of the largest Syrian camps in the world. In the fall, we visited the camp live with our audience. Here's what we heard from the refugees and from you. Credit Credit... Deborah Acosta/The New York Times

Young Syrians Refugees: Six Stories Twelve-year-old Hana lives in a refugee settlement in Lebanon. She and others in her family work picking fruit and vegetables in nearby fields in the Bekaa Valley.

A 10-year-old Syrian refugee resettles in Canada through a private sponsorship program in that country. A 5-year-old boy living with Type 1 diabetes and his family cope with their new circumstances as refugees in Jordan. Yusra Mardini, a 16-year-old girl who left her home in the Daraya suburb of Damascus with her family in 2013, went on to compete as a swimmer on the International Olympic Committee's refugee team in the 2016 summer games. An architect and activist tells her story of studying in Aleppo, protesting the Assad regime, and ultimately fleeing the country. Seventeen-year-old twin boys, their parents and sister left Syria in 2012, ultimately settling in Aurora, Illinois. A 23-year-old Syrian man is among several refugees and residents of Za'atari Camp in Jordan who share their experiences and opinions with a New York Times reporter during an interactive video conference. Viewers in the United States, Brazil and other countries pose questions and comments in real time via social media, and the refugees with whom the reporter speaks respond.

Yusra Mardini, who will compete on the refugee team at the Rio Games, trained at the Wasserfreunde Spandau 04 club in Berlin. Related Article Credit... Gordon Welters for The New York Times

3. Connecting information to stories. Ask students to write answers to the questions on Handout 1.2: Connecting information to stories, focusing on the experience of the refugee whose story they read or watched. They should make inferences based on information from the story, from the other resources below, and any other reliable sources they can find.

If there is enough time remaining in the lesson, ask each group to share what they have learned. They should begin with an introduction to the story of the young Syrian they read or watched, and then present answers to the questions they found as they reviewed the sources provided (or others they found).

Teachers' note: Students may not find answers to all of the questions in the sources they read or viewed. Support them in answering as many questions as they can, but allow them to leave some unanswered if they cannot find reliable information to make inferences.

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4. Writing "Inquiry questions and idea statements": Write these questions on the board, and ask students to finish them in ways that reflect their own opinions and perspectives.

A. Learning about the experiences of people from Syria (and those in the communities that host them), the five most important facts I learned were ...

i. ___

ii. ___

iii. ___

iv. ___

v. ___

B. Something unexpected or surprising I heard or learned today was ...

C. One challenge or one opportunity I have in common with some of the Syrian youth in these stories is ...

D. One challenge or one opportunity I face that is different from those facing Syrian youth in these stories is ...

E. If I could ask [name of Syrian person from one of the stories] a question in person, I would ask ...

Students can write their statements and questions individually, or working together in their small groups. Then they can share some of their reflections with the class.

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Additional Learning Network Resources Text to Text: Comparing Jewish Refugees of the 1930s With Syrian Refugees Today Analyzing Trump's Immigration Ban: A Lesson Plan Growing Up in a Time of Fear: Confronting Stereotypes About Muslims and Countering Xenophobia Tragedy in the Mediterranean: Learning About Europe's Immigration Crisis Analyzing Maps to Better Understand Global Current Events and History The ISIS Threat: Teaching About the Complex War Raging in Iraq and Syria The Fog of War: Helping Students Make Sense of Syria

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Examining How the Syrian Crisis Has Shaped the Lives of Young Refugees: A Guest Lesson Plan (Published 2017)

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Global Issues Note: Occasionally we partner with outside organizations who make especially good use of New York Times materials in their programming and curriculums. For example, this guest lesson on climate change was written by members of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies ; this one about navigating life online was created by a writer at Common Sense Media; and this one about espionage was written by the youth education director at the International Spy Museum.

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Would it be difficult for you to teach about the U.S. - Mexico border? This lesson plan, meant for students grades 6-12, is a great resources because not only does it have the resources and guidance a teacher needs, it helps the students see reality. It helps students to get a good understanding about the symbolism and politics of the U.S -Mexican border.

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This website dives deep into the “who”, “what”, and “why”people become migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers. They provide correct definitions and include stories about the experiences of these people.

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Most people in the world have had the experience of leaving the place where they grew up. Maybe they will only move as far as the next village or city. But for some people, they will need to leave their country entirely - sometimes for a short time, but sometimes forever.
Every day, all over the world, people make one of the most difficult decisions in their lives: to leave their homes in search of a safer, better life.
There are many reasons why people around the globe seek to rebuild their lives in a different country. Some people leave home to get a job or an education. Others are forced to flee persecution or human rights violations such as torture. Millions flee from armed conflicts or other crises or violence. Some no longer feel safe and might have been targeted just because of who they are or what they do or believe - for example, for their ethnicity, religion, sexuality or political opinions.

These journeys, which all start with the hope for a better future, can also be full of danger and fear. Some people risk falling prey to human trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Some are detained by the authorities as soon as they arrive in a new country. Once they're settling in and start building a new life, many face daily racism, xenophobia and discrimination.

Some people end up feeling alone and isolated because they have lost the support networks that most of us take for granted - our communities, colleagues, relatives and friends.

WHY DO PEOPLE LEAVE THEIR COUNTRIES?

There are many reasons why it might be too difficult or dangerous for people to stay in their own countries. For example, children, woman and men flee from violence, war, hunger, extreme poverty, because of their sexual or gender orientation, or from the consequences of climate change or other natural disasters. Often people will face a combination of these difficult circumstances.

People who leave their countries are not always fleeing danger. They might believe they have a better chance of finding work in another country because they have the education or capital to seek opportunities elsewhere. Others might want to join relatives or friends who are already living abroad. Or they might seek to start or finish their education in another country. There are lots of different reasons for people to start a journey to build a life in a new country.

DEFINITIONS: WHAT EXACTLY IS A REFUGEE, AN ASYLUM SEEKER AND A MIGRANT?

The terms "refugee", "asylum seeker" and "migrant" are used to describe people who are on the move, who have left their countries and have crossed borders.

The terms "migrant" and "refugee" are often used interchangeably but it is important to distinguish between them as there is a legal difference.

Who is a refugee?

A refugee is a person who has fled their own country because they are at risk of serious human rights violations and persecution there. The risks to their safety and life were so great that they felt they had no choice but to leave and seek safety outside their country because their own government cannot or will not protect them from those dangers. Refugees have a right to international protection.

Who is an asylum seeker?

An asylum seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country, but who hasn't yet been legally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim. Seeking asylum is a human right. This means everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum.

Who is a migrant?

There is no internationally accepted legal definition of a migrant. Like most agencies and organizations, we at Amnesty International understand migrants to be people staying outside their country of origin, who are not asylum seekers or refugees.

Some migrants leave their country because they want to work, study or join family, for example. Others feel they must leave because of poverty, political unrest, gang violence, natural disasters or other serious circumstances that exist there.

Lots of people don't fit the legal definition of a refugee but could nevertheless be in danger if they went home.

It is important to understand that, just because migrants do not flee persecution, they are still entitled to have all their human rights protected and respected, regardless of the status they have in the country they moved to. Governments must protect all migrants from racist and xenophobic violence, exploitation and forced labour. Migrants should never be detained or forced to return to their countries without a legitimate reason.

WHAT IS AMNESTY'S POSITION ON MIGRANTS, REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS?

We campaign for a world where human rights can be enjoyed by everyone, no matter what situation they are in. Amnesty has championed the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants for decades.

We campaign to make sure governments honour their shared responsibility to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. We condemn any policies and practices that undermine the rights of people on the move.

The people are not the problem
There are about 35 million refugees globally. Many people feel overwhelmed by the numbers and see people moving across borders as a global crisis. We at Amnesty International disagree that it is a crisis of numbers. The people are not the problem. Rather, the causes that drive families and individuals to cross borders and the short-sighted and unrealistic ways that politicians respond to them are the problem.
Campaigning for people on the move
With our campaigns, we put pressure on governments to honour their responsibility to protect every single person's rights. They must make sure that refugees, asylum seekers and migrants are safe, and are not tortured, discriminated against or left living in poverty.

We campaign for governments to properly process the asylum claims of asylum seekers so that they don't leave them in limbo - sometimes even locked away in detention centres - for years. We also want to see migrants being protected from exploitation and abuse by their employers or by traffickers.
The individual beyond the label
Each human being has more than one identity. "Refugee", "migrant" and "asylum seeker" are only temporary terms; they do not reflect the whole identity of women, children and men who have left their homes behind to start a new life in a new country.

When we use these labels, we need to remember that out of the many ways in which people describe themselves, these terms only refer to one experience: that of leaving their countries. But the identities of these people are made up of so many more things.

Most people seeking to live elsewhere will feel that the experience of leaving their countries doesn't fully capture who they are. Like all of us, they are complex and unique human beings and might choose to identify themselves as being from a certain country or region, belonging to a group that speaks a certain language or shares a culture. Or they might say about themselves that they are a teacher, doctor, artist, passionate football fan, father, sister, son or mother.

A person's legal status cannot express the full identity and personality of a refugee, asylum seeker or migrant. No one can be known solely through their legal status.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Support our campaigns to help refugees!

You can join our movement of people who welcome refugees. Amnesty's I Welcome campaign calls on governments worldwide to welcome their fair share of the world's people who are seeking safety. With enough political will, our leaders can protect people fleeing conflict and persecution, including through a solution called resettlement.

We are also pushing for other safe ways for refugees to start new lives, such as by reuniting families who have been separated, through community groups sponsoring refugee families to move to their country, and through universities and businesses offering people study or work visas to start a new life.

Governments should never force anyone to go back to a country where they are at risk of human rights violations. Instead, refugees should be offered a safe place to live and opportunities to access work, education and health care.

Where your government has a sponsorship programme, you can get involved in community sponsorship. This is where local communities come together to raise money to resettle and welcome families and individuals who have fled their home countries.

FIND OUT MORE

Laws for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers

The rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are protected by international law, regardless of how and why they arrive in a country. They have the same rights as everyone else, plus special or specific protections including:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 14), which states that everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution in other countries

The 1951 UN Refugee Convention (and its 1967 Protocol), which protects refugees from being returned to countries where they risk being persecuted

The 1990 Migrant Workers Convention, which protects migrants and their families

Regional Refugee law instruments (including 1969 OAU Convention, 1984 Cartagena Declaration, Common European Asylum System and Dublin Regulation)

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Who is a refugee, a migrant or an asylum seeker?

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"Refugee," "migrant" and "asylum seeker" are only temporary terms, learn more about who they really are.

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This bilingual website is completely full of classroom resources to talk about immigration, and focusing on English language learners.

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Colorín Colorado is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs). Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation’s capital, and receives major funding from our founding partner, the AFT, and the National Education Association. © Copyright 2023 WETA Public Broadcasting.

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This is an AMAZING website created specifically for immigrants, refugees, Asylees, and anyone else who is new to America. If you are looking to expand your knowledge about students with different backgrounds, this is the website for you.

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Welcome to the U.S. Department of Education's page dedicated to providing information and resources for immigrant, refugee, asylee students and families.

On November 17, 2015, the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services released a fact sheet on the rights of unaccompanied children to enroll in and participate meaningfully and equally in education programs.

On October 20, 2015, the U.S. Department of Education released a Resource Guide to help schools, colleges, teachers, and other personnel support the college and career success of undocumented and DACA youth in secondary and postsecondary settings.

Currently, there are over 4.7 million foreign born individuals enrolled in pre-kindergarten to postsecondary education, representing 6% of the total student population. Another 20 million students are the children of foreign born parents.

As a nation of immigrants, America has benefited from the vitality and enthusiasm brought to its shores by those seeking a better life. Successful immigrant and refugee integration efforts build the capacity of schools and early learning programs, communities, organizations, and other stakeholders to support the civic, linguistic, and economic integration of immigrants. i

The programmatic efforts of the U.S. Department of Education (ED) support a number of immigrant populations, including immigrant children (e.g., unaccompanied youth) and the children of immigrants, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) children and youth, immigrant families, adult immigrants (e.g. refugees, asylees), foreign-born professionals, migrant students, teachers of English learners and foreign languages, and receiving communities. ED's initiatives geared toward learners, teachers, schools and communities support all three pillars of immigrant integration: civic, economic, and linguistic integration.

i Original analysis based on data from 2013 American Community Survey (ACS). Data can be found here.

Migratory workers in the U.S. include those who move within states, between states, and between countries. Therefore, some, but not all migratory workers may be immigrants.

The Office of Migrant Education (OME) aims to provide excellent leadership, technical assistance, and financial support to improve the educational opportunities and academic success of migrant children, youth, agricultural workers, fishers, and their families. Some immigrant students may be eligible to participate in OME's programs, provided they meet the program requirements and fit the definition of migratory children.
More on Migrant Student Educational Resources

Office for Civil Rights - This website includes an overview of the Office for Civil Rights, which enforces several Federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin (including lack of English proficiency), disability, sex and age, in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance from ED.

Also available in Spanish and other languages.

President Obama's proposal on our immigration system - The president has called for changing the existing immigration system. This includes his proposals for border security, increased use of E-verify, increasing permanent residencies, and the effect of immigration on the economy.

If you have difficulty understanding English, you may, free of charge, request language assistance services for this Department information by calling 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (TTY: 1-800-877-8339), or email us at: Ed.Language.Assistance@ed.gov.

Aviso a personas con dominio limitado del idioma inglés: Si usted tiene alguna dificultad en entender el idioma inglés, puede, sin costo alguno, solicitar asistencia lingüística con respecto a esta información llamando al 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (TTY: 1-800-877-8339), o envíe un mensaje de correo electrónico a: Ed.Language.Assistance@ed.gov.

給英語能力有限人士的通知: 如果您不懂英語， 或者使用英语有困难，您可以要求獲得向大眾提供的語言協助服務，幫助您理解教育部資訊。這些語言協助服務均可免費提供。如果您需要有關口譯或筆譯服務的詳細資訊，請致電 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (聽語障人士專線：1-800-877-8339)，或電郵: Ed.Language.Assistance@ed.gov 。

Thông báo dành cho những người có khả năng Anh ngữ hạn chế: Nếu quý vị gặp khó khăn trong việc hiểu Anh ngữ thì quý vị có thể yêu cầu các dịch vụ hỗ trợ ngôn ngữ cho các tin tức của Bộ dành cho công chúng. Các dịch vụ hỗ trợ ngôn ngữ này đều miễn phí. Nếu quý vị muốn biết thêm chi tiết về các dịch vụ phiên dịch hay thông dịch, xin vui lòng gọi số 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (TTY: 1-800-877-8339), hoặc email: Ed.Language.Assistance@ed.gov.

영어 미숙자를 위한 공고: 영어를 이해하는 데 어려움이 있으신 경우, 교육부 정보 센터에 일반인 대상 언어 지원 서비스를 요청하실 수 있습니다. 이러한 언어 지원 서비스는 무료로 제공됩니다. 통역이나 번역 서비스에 대해 자세한 정보가 필요하신 경우, 전화번호 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) 또는 청각 장애인용 전화번호1-800-877-8339 또는 이메일주소 Ed.Language.Assistance@ed.gov 으로 연락하시기 바랍니다.

Paunawa sa mga Taong Limitado ang Kaalaman sa English: Kung nahihirapan kayong makaintindi ng English, maaari kayong humingi ng tulong ukol dito sa inpormasyon ng Kagawaran mula sa nagbibigay ng serbisyo na pagtulong kaugnay ng wika. Ang serbisyo na pagtulong kaugnay ng wika ay libre. Kung kailangan ninyo ng dagdag na impormasyon tungkol sa mga serbisyo kaugnay ng pagpapaliwanag o pagsasalin, mangyari lamang tumawag sa 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (TTY: 1-800-877-8339), o mag-email sa: Ed.Language.Assistance@ed.gov.

Уведомление для лиц с ограниченным знанием английского языка: Если вы испытываете трудности в понимании английского языка, вы можете попросить, чтобы вам предоставили перевод информации, которую Министерство Образования доводит до всеобщего сведения. Этот перевод предоставляется бесплатно. Если вы хотите получить более подробную информацию об услугах устного и письменного перевода, звоните по телефону 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (служба для слабослышащих: 1-800-877-8339), или отправьте сообщение по адресу: Ed.Language.Assistance@ed.gov.

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Educational Resources for Immigrants, Refugees, Asylees and other New Americans

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This page provides information and resources for immigrant students.

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This website is an attempt to inform people about the common arguments against immigration. Alex Nowrasteh, the author, provides over 20 different references to correct the myths about immigration.

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Arguments against immigration come across my desk every day but I rarely encounter a unique one. In 2016, I wrote a blog responding to the most common arguments with links to different research. Since then, academics and policy analysts have produced new research that should be included. These are the main arguments against immigration, my quick responses to them, and links to some of the most relevant evidence:
1. "Immigrants will take American jobs, lower our wages, and especially hurt the poor."
This is the most common argument and also the one with the greatest amount of evidence rebutting it. First, the displacement effect is small if it even affects natives at all. Immigrants are typically attracted to growing regions and they increase the supply and demand sides of the economy once they are there, expanding employment opportunities. Second, the debate over immigrant impacts on American wages is confined to the lower single digits-immigrants may increase the relative wages for some Americans by a tiny amount and decrease them by a larger amount for the few Americans who directly compete against them. Immigrants likely compete most directly against other immigrants so the effects on less‐​skilled native‐​born Americans might be very small or even positive.

New research by Harvard professor George Borjas on the effect of the Mariel Boatlift-a giant shock to Miami's labor market that increased the size of its population by 7 percent in 42 days-finds large negative wage effects concentrated on Americans with less than a high school degree. To put the scale of that shock to Miami in context, it would be as if 22.4 million immigrants moved to America in a six‐​week period-which will not happen. Some doubt Borjas's finding and Borjas's response. Even if the Mariel Boatlift had such a large and negative effect on the wages of native‐​born high‐​school dropouts in Miami, it had a large positive impact on the wages of natives with only a high school education, to such a degree that the wages of lower‐​skilled Miamians actually increased. The rapid recovery of Hispanic wages in Miami also produces some doubt as to Mariel's effect on native wages as Hispanics were the most likely to suffer wage declines from competition with the new Cuban immigrants. Economists Michael Clemens and Jennifer Hunt have the most devastating response to Borjas: His response was due entirely to a different sample collected in Miami over the years where he observed the wage decline. Thus, the data collectors made Mariel look like it had a large negative wage effect by changing whom they surveyed.

Although some doubt Borjas's finding regarding Mariel, it is not in doubt that immigration has overall increased the wages and income of Americans. The smallest estimated immigration surplus, as it is called, is equal to about 0.24 percent of GDP -which excludes the gains to immigrants and just focuses on those of native‐​born Americans.
2. "Immigrants abuse the welfare state."
Most legal immigrants do not have access to means‐​tested welfare for their first five years here with few exceptions that are mostly determined on the state level and funded with state taxes. Illegal immigrants don't have access at all-except for emergency Medicaid.

Immigrants are less likely to use means‐​tested welfare benefits than similar native‐​born Americans. When they do use welfare, the dollar value of benefits consumed is smaller. If poor native‐​born Americans used Medicaid at the same rate and consumed the same value of benefits as poor immigrants, the program would be 42 percent smaller.

Immigrants also make large net contributions to Medicare and Social Security, the largest portions of the welfare state, because of their ages, ineligibility, and their greater likelihood of retiring in other countries. Far from draining the welfare state, immigrants have given the entitlement portions a few more years of operation before bankruptcy. If you're still worried about foreign‐​born consumption of welfare benefits, as I am, then it is far easier and cheaper to build a higher wall around the welfare state, instead of around the country.
3. "Immigrants increase the budget deficit and government debt."
Related to the welfare argument is the argument that immigrants consume more in government benefits than they generate in tax revenue. The empirics on this are fairly consistent- immigrants in the United States have about a net‐​zero impact on government budgets (the published version of that working paper is available here). A new model published by the National Academies of Sciences in their massive literature survey of the economics of immigration finds that age is the most important factor in estimating whether a new immigrant will be a net fiscal drain or contributor to government coffers, followed by education. In their best model (results in Table 8-14), immigrants who are high‐​school dropouts likely have a net‐​negative fiscal impact on government coffers if they arrive before age 25 while the most educated immigrants have a negative effect if they arrive after age 64, but the impact is small. Their model also finds that Americans with a low level of education impose a larger fiscal burden than immigrants with the same education level.

It seems odd that poor immigrants don't much exacerbate the deficit, but there are many factors explaining that. The first is that higher immigrant fertility and the long‐​run productivity of those people born in the United States generates a lot of tax revenue. The second is that immigrants grow the economy considerably (this is different from the immigration surplus discussed above) and increase tax revenue. The third is that many immigrants come when they are young but not young enough to be in public schools for as long as natives, thus they work and pay taxes before consuming hundreds of thousands of dollars in public schools costs and welfare benefits-meaning they give an immediate fiscal boost. There are many other reasons as well.

Although the tax incidence from immigrants is what matters for the fiscal consequences, between 50 percent and 75 percent of illegal immigrants comply with federal tax law. States that rely on consumption or property taxes tend to garner a surplus from taxes paid by unlawful immigrants while those that rely on income taxes do not.
4. "Immigrants increase economic inequality."
In a post‐ Piketty world, the argument that immigration is increasing economic inequality within nations is getting some attention. While most forms of economic inequality are increasing among people within nations, global inequality is likely falling and at a historic low point due to rapid economic growth in much of the world over the last generation.

The evidence on how immigration affects economic inequality in the United States is mixed-some research finds relatively small effects and others find substantial ones. The variance in findings can be explained by research methods-there is a big difference in outcomes between a study that measures how immigration affects economic inequality only among natives and another study that includes immigrants and their earnings. Both methods seem reasonable but the effects on inequality are small compared to other factors. A more recent finding is that immigrants increase wealth inequality by their effect on the price of real‐​estate in American cities. About a third of the real‐​estate price increase from 1970-2010 in American cities can be explained by the increase in immigration.

Frankly, I don't see the problem if an immigrant quadruples his income by coming to the United States, barely affects the wages of native‐​born Americans here, and increases economic inequality as a result. The standard of living is much more important than the earnings distribution and everybody in this situation either wins or is unaffected.
5. "Today's immigrants don't assimilate like immigrants from previous waves did."
There is a large amount of research that indicates immigrants are assimilating as well as or better than previous immigrant groups-even Mexicans. The first piece of research is the National Academy of Science's (NAS) September 2015 book titled The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. It's a thorough and brilliant summation of the relevant academic literature on immigrant assimilation. Bottom line: Assimilation is never perfect and always takes time, but it's going very well.

The second book is a July 2015 book entitled Indicators of Immigrant Integration 2015 that analyzes immigrant and second‐​generation integration on 27 measurable indicators across the OECD and EU countries. This report finds more problems with immigrant assimilation in Europe, especially for those from outside of the European Union, but the findings for the United States are quite positive.

The third work, by University of Washington economist Jacob Vigdor, compares modern immigrant civic and cultural assimilation to that of immigrants from the early 20th century (an earlier draft of his book chapter is here, the published version is available in this collection). If you think early 20th century immigrants and their descendants eventually assimilated successfully, Vigdor's conclusion is reassuring:

While there are reasons to think of contemporary migration from Spanish‐​speaking nations as distinct from earlier waves of immigration, evidence does not support the notion that this wave of migration poses a true threat to the institutions that withstood those earlier waves. Basic indicators of assimilation, from naturalization to English ability, are if anything stronger now than they were a century ago.

Ethnic attrition, which is when immigrants and their descendants shed their identification with ethnic or country‐​of‐​origin identity, does complicate how social scientists measure immigrant assimilation. Through intermarriage and time, the more educated descendants of Hispanic immigrants fail to identify as Hispanic which biases the view of assimilation over the generations for those who rely purely on ethnic self‐​identification. Adjusting for ethnic attrition by tracking the outcomes of the descendants of all Hispanic immigrants shows rapid and continual assimilation over the generations that is comparable to the immigrants from the Age of Migration that ended a century ago.

For the nostalgic among us who believe that immigrants assimilated more smoothly in the past, the plethora of ethnic and anti‐​Catholic riots, the nativist Know‐​Nothing movement, and immigrant groups that refused to assimilate are a useful tonic. Immigrant assimilation is always messy and it looks bad when you're in the thick of it, as we are right now, but the trends are positive and pointing in the right direction.

Even though the evidence of immigration assimilation should comfort skeptics, some have proposed massive new government programs to help boost immigrant assimilation. However, evidence from the early 20 th century Americanization Movement suggests that such efforts will fail or that they could even backfire and make new immigrants and their descendants less culturally and patriotically American. There is evidence that German Americans reacted most negatively to anti‐​German Americanization policies during World War I, to such an extent that they walled themselves and their children off from American society, which slowed the pace of assimilation. Immigrant assimilation is too important to leave it in the hands of bureaucrats or other social planners who ignore the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" principle.
6. "Immigrants are a major source of crime."
This myth has been around for over a century. It wasn't true in 1896, 1909, 1931, 1994, or more recently. Immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated for violent and property crimes and cities with more immigrants and their descendants are more peaceful. Some immigrants do commit violent and property crimes but, overall, they are less likely to do so.

The most contentious debate concerns whether illegal immigrants are more likely to be criminals than natives or legal immigrants. A recent finding on this issue shows that illegal immigration is not correlated with violent crime rates nor is it causal. Data limitations on the federal government force researchers to estimate the incarcerated illegal immigrant population using the residual estimation method which finds that illegal immigrants are much less likely to be incarcerated than native‐​born Americans but more likely than legal immigrants. The state of Texas actually recorded arrests and convictions for specific crimes by the immigration status of the arrestee and convict. In 2015 in Texas, there were 1,794 convictions against natives per 100,000 natives, 782 convictions of illegal immigrants for every 100,000 illegal immigrants, and only 262 convictions of legal immigrants per 100,000 of them. For all but four crimes that accounted for 0.18 percent of all criminal convictions in Texas in 2015, there were fewer convictions against illegal immigrant than against natives. The year 2016 shows even lower criminal conviction rates for illegal immigrants relative to natives in Texas.
7. "Immigrants pose a unique risk today because of terrorism."
Terrorism is not a modern means to wage war. There were a large number of bombings and terrorist attacks in the early 20 th century, most of them committed by immigrants, socialists, and their fellow travelers. Today, the deaths from terrorism committed by immigrants are greater than they were a century ago but the risk is still low compared to the benefits of immigration. Overall, immigration is not correlated with terrorist attacks and the risk of being murdered in an attack committed by a foreign‐​born terrorsit is also small. For instance, the annual chance of being murdered in a terrorist attacked committed by a foreigner from 1975 through the end of 2015 was about 1 in 3.6 million per year. Almost 99 percent of the people murdered by foreign‐​born terrorists on U.S. soil were murdered on 9/11 and the attackers entered on tourist visas and one student visa, not immigrant visas.

The risk of foreign‐​born terrorism on U.S. soil has also increased fears over the government's vetting system for new immigrants and travelers, prompting President Trump to temporarily ban travelers and immigrants from certain countries. But according to my colleague David Bier, there have been very few vetting failures since 9/11. From 2002 through 2016, only one radicalized terrorist entered the United States for every 29 million visa or status approvals. Only one of the post‑9/​11 vetting failures resulted in an attack on U.S. soil, meaning that a single deadly terrorist entered as a result of a vetting failure for every 379 million visas or status approvals from 2002 through 2016. That is a very low risk especially compared to the pre‑9/​11 vetting system.
8. "It's easy to immigrate to America and we're the most open country in the world."
It is very difficult to immigrate to the United States. Ellis Island closed down a long time ago. There isn't a line for most immigrants in most cases and when there is, it can take decades or centuries. This chart shows the confusing and difficult path to a green card. Does that look easy to you?

America allows greater numbers of immigrants than any other country. However, the annual flow of immigrants as a percent of our population is below most other OECD countries because the United States has such a large population. The percentage of our population that is foreign‐​born is about 13.5 percent- below historical highs in the United States and less than half of what it is in New Zealand and Australia. America is great at assimilating immigrants but other countries are much more open to legal immigration.
9. "Amnesty or a failure to enforce our immigration laws will destroy the Rule of Law in the United States."
For a law to be consistent with the principle of the Rule of Law, it must be applied equally, have roughly ex ante predictable outcomes based on the circumstances, and be consistent with our Anglo‐​Saxon traditions of personal autonomy and liberty. Our current immigration laws violate all of those principles. The immigration laws are applied differently based on people's country of birth via arbitrary quotas and other regulations, the outcomes are certainly not predictable, and they are hardly consistent with America's traditional immigration policy and our conceptions of liberty.

For the Rule of Law to be present, good laws are required, not just strict adherence to government enforcement of bad laws. An amnesty is an admission that our past laws have failed, they need reform, and that the net cost of enforcing them in the meantime exceeds the benefits. That is why there have been numerous immigration amnesties throughout American history.

Enforcing laws that are inherently capricious and that are contrary to our traditions is inconsistent with a stable Rule of Law, which is a necessary but not sufficient precondition for economic growth. Enforcing bad laws poorly is better than enforcing bad laws uniformly despite the uncertainty. In immigration, poor enforcement of our destructive laws is preferable to strict enforcement but liberalization is the best option. Admitting our laws failed, granting an amnesty for lawbreakers, and reforming the law would not doom the Rule of Law in the United States-it would strengthen it.
10. "National sovereignty."
By not exercising control over borders through actively blocking immigrants, the users of this argument warn, the United States government will surrender a vital component of its national sovereignty. Rarely do users of this argument explain to whom the U.S. government would actually surrender sovereignty. Even in the most extreme open immigration policy imaginable, total open borders, national sovereignty is not diminished assuming that our government's institutions chose such a policy (I am not supporting totally open borders here, I am just using it as a foil to show that even in this extreme situation this argument fails). How can that be?

The standard Weberian definition of a government is an institution that has a monopoly (or near monopoly) on the legitimate use of violence within a certain geographical area. It achieves this monopoly by keeping out other competing sovereigns. Our government maintains its sovereignty by excluding the militaries of other nations, by stopping insurgents, and interrupting the plans of terrorists.

However, U.S. immigration laws are not primarily designed to keep out foreign armies, spies, or insurgents. The main effect of our immigration laws is to prevent willing foreign workers from selling their labor to voluntary American purchasers. Such economic controls do not aid in the maintenance of national sovereignty and relaxing or removing them would not infringe upon the government's national sovereignty any more than a policy of unilateral free trade would. If the United States would return to its 1790-1875 immigration policy then foreign militaries crossing U.S. borders would be countered by the U.S. military. Allowing the free flow of non‐​violent and healthy foreign nationals does nothing to diminish the U.S. government's legitimate monopoly on the use of force in the Weberian world.

There is also a historical argument that free immigration and national sovereignty are not in conflict. From 1790-1875 the federal government placed almost no restrictions on immigration. At the time, states imposed restrictions on the immigration of free blacks and likely indigents through outright bars, taxes, passenger regulations, and bonds. States did not enforce many of those restrictions and the Supreme Court struck down the rest of them in the 1840s. However, that open immigration policy did not stop the United States from fighting three major wars: the War of 1812, the Mexican American War, and the Civil War. The U.S. government's monopoly on the legitimate use of force during that time was certainly challenged from within and without but it maintained its national sovereignty even with near open borders. Those who claim the U.S. government would lose its national sovereignty under a regime of free immigration have yet to reconcile their opinion with America's past. To argue that open borders would destroy American sovereignty is to argue that the United States was not a sovereign country when George Washington, Andrew Jackson, or Abraham Lincoln were presidents. We do not have to choose between free immigration and U.S. national sovereignty.

Furthermore, national sovereign control over immigration means that the government can do whatever it wants with that power-including relinquishing it entirely. It would be odd to argue that sovereign national states have complete control over their border except they that cannot open them too much. Of course they can, as that is the essence of sovereignty. After all, I am arguing that the United States government should change its laws to allow for more legal immigration, not that the U.S. government should cede all of its power to a foreign sovereign.
11. "Immigrants won't vote for the Republican Party-look at what happened to California."
This is an argument used by some Republicans and conservatives to oppose liberalized immigration. They point to my home state of California as an example of what happens when there are too many immigrants and their descendants: Democratic Party dominance. The evidence is clear that Hispanic and immigrant voters in California in the early to mid‐​1990s did turn the state blue but that was as a reaction to California's GOP declaring political war on them. Those who claim that immigration‐​induced change in demographics is solely responsible for the shift in California's politics have to explain the severe drop‐​off in support for the GOP at exactly the same time that the party was using anti‐​immigration propositions and arguments to win the 1994 election. They would further have to explain why Texas Hispanics are so much more Republican than those in California are. Nativism has never been the path toward national party success and frequently contributes to their downfall. In other words, whether immigrants vote for Republicans is mostly up to how Republicans treat them.

Republicans should look toward the inclusive and relatively pro‐​immigration policies and positions adopted by their fellow party members in Texas and their subsequent electoral success there rather than trying to replicate the foolish nativist politics pursued by the California Republican Party. Although some Texas Republicans have changed their tone on immigration in recent years, they have focused primarily on border security rather than forcing every state employee to help enforce immigration law. My comment here assumes that locking people out of the United States because they might disproportionately vote for one of the two major parties is a legitimate use of government power-I do not believe that it is.
12. "Immigrants bring with them their bad cultures, ideas, or other factors that will undermine and destroy our economic and political institutions. The resultant weakening in economic growth means that immigrants will destroy more wealth than they will create over the long run."
This is the most intelligent anti‐​immigration argument and the one most likely to be correct although the evidence does not support it. Economists Michael Clemens and Lant Pritchett lay out an enlightening model of how immigrants from poorer countries could theoretically weaken the growth potential of the countries that they immigrate to. Their model assumes that immigrants transmit anti‐​growth factors to the United States in the form of lower total factor productivity. However, as the immigrants assimilate, these anti‐​growth factors weaken over time. Congestion could counteract that assimilation process when there are too many immigrants with too many bad ideas, thus overwhelming assimilative forces. Clemens is rightly skeptical that this is occurring but his paper lays out the theoretical point where immigration restrictions would be efficient by balancing the benefits of economic expansion from immigration with the theoretical costs of degradation in economic growth.

Empirical evidence does not point to this effect either. In a recent academic paper, my coauthors and I compared economic freedom scores with immigrant populations across over 100 countries over 21 years. Some countries were majority immigrant while some had virtually none. We found that the larger a country's immigrant population was in 1990, the more economic freedom increased in the same country by 2011. Immigrant countries of origin did not affect the outcome. These results held for the United States nationally but not for state governments. States with greater immigrant populations in 1990 had less economic freedom in 2011 than those with fewer immigrants, but the difference was small. The national increase in economic freedom more than outweighed the small decrease in economic freedom in states with more immigrants. Additionally, large shocks into specific countries result in vast improvements in the economic freedom score. Large immigrant populations also do not increase the size of welfare programs or other public programs across American states and there is a lot of evidence that more immigrants in European countries actually decreases support for big government.

Although this anti‐​immigration argument could be true, it seems unlikely to be so for several reasons. First, it is very hard to upend established political and economic institutions through immigration. Immigrants change to fit into the existing order rather than vice versa. Institutions are ontologically collective-my American conceptions of private property rights would not accompany me in any meaningful way if I went to Cuba and vice versa. Local institutions are incredibly robust under a model called the Doctrine of First Effective Settlement. It would take a rapid inundation of a local area by immigrants and a replacement of natives to upend institutions in most places.

The second possibility is immigrant self‐​selection: Those who decide to come here mostly admire American institutions or have opinions on policies that are very similar to those of native‐​born Americans. As a result, adding more immigrants who already broadly share the opinions of most Americans will not affect policy. This appears to be the case in the United States.

The third explanation is that foreigners and Americans have very similar policy opinions. This hypothesis is related to those above, but it indicates an area where Americans may be unexceptional compared to the rest of the world. According to this theory, Americans are not more supportive of free markets than most other people, we are just lucky that we inherited excellent institutions from our ancestors.

The fourth reason is that more open immigration makes native voters oppose welfare or expanded government because they believe immigrants will disproportionately consume the benefits (regardless of the fact that poor immigrants actually under‐​consume welfare compared to poor Americans). In essence, voters hold back the expansion of those programs based on the belief that immigrants may take advantage of them. As Paul Krugman aptly observed, "Absent those [immigration] restrictions, there would have been many claims, justified or not, about people flocking to America to take advantage of [New Deal] welfare programs."

As the late labor historian (and immigration restrictionist) Vernon M. Briggs Jr. wrote, "This era [of immigration restrictions] witnessed the enactment of the most progressive worker and family legislation the nation has ever adopted." None of those programs would have been politically possible to create amidst mass immigration. Government grows the fastest when immigration is the most restricted, and it slows dramatically when the borders are more open.

Even Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels thought that the prospects for working‐​class revolution in the United States were smaller here due to the varied immigrant origins of the workers who were divided by a high degree of ethnic, sectarian, and racial diversity. That immigrant‐​led diversity may be why the United States never had a popular worker, labor, or socialist party.

The most plausible argument against liberalizing immigration is that immigrants will worsen our economic and political institutions, thus slowing economic growth and killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Fortunately, the academic and policy literature does not support this argument and there is some evidence that immigration could actually improve our institutions. Even the best argument against immigration is still unconvincing.
13. "The brain drain of smart immigrants to the United State impoverished other countries."
The empirical evidence on this point is conclusive: The flow of skilled workers from low‐​productivity countries to high‐​productivity nations increases the incomes of people in the destination country, enriches the immigrants, and helps (or at least does not hurt) those left behind. Furthermore, remittances that immigrants send home are often large enough to offset any loss in home country income through emigration. In the long run, the potential to immigrate and the higher returns from education increase the incentive for workers in the developing world to acquire skills that they otherwise might not-increasing the quantity of human capital. Instead of being called a brain drain, this phenomenon should be accurately called a skill flow.

Economic development should be about increasing the incomes of people and not the amount of economic activity in specific geographical regions. Immigration and emigration do just that.
14. "Immigrants will increase crowding, harm the environment, and [insert misanthropic statement here]."
The late economist Julian Simon spent much of his career showing that people are an economic and environmental blessing, not a curse. Despite his work, numerous anti‐​immigration organizations today were funded and founded to oppose immigration because it would increase the number of Americans who would then harm the environment. Yes, seriously-just read about John Tanton who is the Johnny Appleseed of modern American nativism.

Concerns about overcrowding are focused on publicly provided goods or services-like schools, roads, and heavily zoned urban areas. Private businesses do not complain about crowding as they can boost their profits by expanding to meet demand or charging higher prices. If crowding was really an issue then privatizing government functions so they would then have an incentive to rapidly meet demand is a cheap and easy option. Even if the government does not do that, and I do not expect them to in the near future, the problems of crowding are manageable because more immigrants also means a larger tax base. Reforming or removing local land‐​use laws that prevent development would also go a long way to alleviating any concerns about overcrowding.

Although we should think of these issues on the margin, would you rather be stuck with the problems of crowding that they have in Houston or the problem of not enough crowding like in Detroit?

There are other arguments that people use in opposition to immigration. Many of those arguments revolve around issues of "fairness"-a word with a fuzzy meaning that differs dramatically among people and cultures. Arguments about fairness depend entirely upon feelings and, usually, a misunderstanding of the facts that is usually corrected by reference to my 8 th point above. These are the main arguments against immigration that I encounter and my quick responses.

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The 14 Most Common Arguments against Immigration and Why They're Wrong

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Arguments against immigration come across my desk every day but I rarely encounter a unique one. In 2016, I wrote a blog responding to the most common arguments with links to different research. Since then, academics and policy analysts have produced new research that should be included.

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This website was designed by Lifting Hands International. Included are shared experiences about refugees of all different backgrounds. Now, just think of all the information that is included within a single website!

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The refugees LHI supports come from a wide range of locations and cultures. They have different traditions but share a common experience-having to leave everything behind, flee their homes, and try to start over somewhere else.

On February 24, 2022, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Representing an escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian war that began with the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, it was the largest conventional military attack on a European sovereign state since World War II.

Within two weeks of the invasion, more than 1.7 million Ukrainians fled their home country as refugees to neighboring Moldova, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary, and more than 160,000 Ukrainians remained internally displaced in Ukraine.

LHI responded by immediately sending a team into the region to evaluate the situation on the ground, and jumped in to help coordinate a massive volunteer efforts, empower local orgs with small grants, provide warm meals, establish a local emergency aid hub, tackle a major transportation issue, and establish the infrastructure needed to deal with the large number of refugees crossing out of Ukraine. Visit our Ukraine Response page for more information about this developing situation.

On August 15, 2021, the Taliban entered the Afghan capital of Kabul, finalizing their takeover of the country. The world watched in horror day after day as desperate Afghans tried to escape. It was only two weeks later that the final US military cargo plane took off from the Kabul airport, marking the end of the US mission to airlift tens of thousands of Afghan refugees fleeing Taliban rule.

The US Department of Homeland Security subsequently launched Operation Allies Welcome, an effort to safely resettle vulnerable Afghans and those who worked with US troops in the country for the past 20 years. The process involves rigorous screening and vetting prior to receiving humanitarian parole into the US. Individuals and their dependents who then receive Special Immigrant Visas will be admitted as lawful permanent residents who can begin the resettlement process through the Afghan Placement and Assistance Program, in conjunction with resettlement agencies across the US.

When Afghan families are transitioned from military bases into residential housing, US Federal law requires refugee apartments to be fully furnished before families move in. However, unless the long list of housing items are donated, the cost of furniture and household supplies comes out of the family's already humble stipend. That is why LHI has partnered with the International Rescue Committee to assist with housing setup for refugees being resettled in Utah through our Afghan Refugee Aid program.

INTERNALLY DISPLACED AFGHANS (IDPs)

It is estimated that 1.8 million Afghans are internally displaced due to years of war, violent conflicts, economic problems, and natural disasters. Forced evictions displace more Afghans on a daily basis. Most lack adequate food, water, shelter, health care, and find few opportunities to pursue employment and education. Many settle on the outskirts of large cities, but pressure on local job markets and strain on infrastructure creates new conflict with local populations. Afghanistan launched a National IDP Policy in 2014 to protect the rights of those who are displaced and find solutions through different government agencies and other partners. But corruption, lack of capacity in the Afghan government, and fading international interest has resulted in the policy failing to provide reliable access to even basic living necessities. As a result, most IDPs have to travel long distances just to get water and often struggle to find one daily meal. LHI's International Aid program ships and distributes containers of critical aid supplies to these families in Afghanistan.

The civil war in Syria has been raging since 2011, forcing hundreds of thousands of Syrian families to flee the lands they have called home for centuries in search of a better, safer life. They come from all over Syria, including war-torn Aleppo. Many make their way south to find refuge in northern Jordan. They live in small unofficial camps in the Jordanian desert where resources are scarce and just getting to the nearest town is too expensive for most families to do frequently. Most hope to return to Syria one day but realize it's not likely that they will be able to. Many came from generations of goat and sheep herders, which is a well-respected profession in Syria. They all had to leave their flocks behind. Our Gather for Goats program provides families with milk goats that thrive in the harsh desert conditions, providing a consistent source of nutritious milk. And families often sell the baby goats, generating income to help regain their livelihoods. We've also provided Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon with shipments of humanitarian aid supplies through our International Aid program.

Umm Bisaam, a wonderful Syrian woman living in a small camp with her relatives, said they were forced to flee their home near Aleppo when the bombs began falling too close. They travelled nearly 500 kilometers to an area near Al Mafraq, Jordan. One of the things from home she misses most (aside from the rest of her family) is the schools for her children. She points out that she can see Syria from their small camp in northern Jordan, but they cannot go there. Like most of the other 3 million+ refugees who have fled Syria, she hopes to return home one day. But she doesn't think it will probably happen.

INTERNALLY DISPLACED SYRIANS (IDPs)

There are currently more than 6 million Syrians-including 2.5 million children-internally displaced in Syria. This is more than half of the country's pre-war population, and the largest internally displaced population in the world.

A decade of civil unrest in Syria continues to fuel this dire situation. Civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, have been deliberately targeted by various parties involved in the conflict, such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a coalition spearheaded by the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. Territorial control by these armed groups and limited access to safe shelter and basic services have forced some Syrians to flee in search of new safe areas more than 25 times since the conflict began.

Throughout this process, many families have been torn apart. Making matters worse, a large number of Syrians have lost their property deeds and other legal documents during their displacement, leaving little to no possibility of ever returning to the land they once owned.

LHI's partnership with NuDay Syria will enable our International Aid program to send critical aid shipments to Syria for distribution to thousands of IDPs just hoping to survive and build better lives for themselves and their families.

The Yazidi refugees living in Greece are survivors of the 2014 ISIS genocide in and around Sinjar, Iraq. Thousands of Yazidi men were killed and thousands of Yazidi women and girls were forced into sexual slavery by ISIS. Many survivors had no choice but to flee their ancestral lands in Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey, where they made the harrowing journey in an inflatable raft across the Aegean Sea to Greece (painfully, many didn't make it). LHI's Refugee Center in Greece has provided an array of services to meet the needs of Yazidi refugees living in camps in Serres. Additionally, LHI's Greatest Need program has provided solar lights to thousands of Yazidi families living in refugee camps in northern Iraq. Most of these camps do not have electricity, and one solar light provides a family with light, safety, and the ability to cook after dark.

Kordi is one of the survivors. She is a mother to five girls and one son. She and her family had been celebrating the Yazidi summer festival when ISIS came and caught them off guard at around 6:00 pm one evening. ISIS took the men into to the streets to kill them there. Three of her cousins, her husband, and her uncle were forced to put their hands on the back of their heads and line up in the street. Just then, some neighbors came into where the women were. They knew it was their neighbors and friends from the past, even though they were all wearing black clothes on were covering their faces. One of them put his hand on another's gun and said "Put it down, these women are helpless and can't flee, let's go somewhere else."

When that happened, the men ran back inside, their skin yellow from fear. Even though they were spared, ISIS went to the other houses, took all the other men outside and killed them. They stacked the bodies on top of each other in a huge pile. Their women were screaming and running through the dead bodies trying to wake up their husbands and brothers. The soldiers pulled them by their hair and threw them into cars. Kordi and her family fled to their garden to hide until morning. ISIS spent that whole night searching through her village for survivors. In the morning, Kordi and her family fled.

The Rohingya people are a stateless ethnic group who have faced decades of persecution and violence in Myanmar. In fact, the United Nations lists them as one of the most persecuted groups in the world today. Despite maintaining that they have been indigenous to the area for more than 1,000 years, they are denied citizenship under a 1982 Myanmar nationality law, and are restricted from freedom off movement, state education, and civil service jobs. Their legal situation has been widely compared to apartheid in South Africa. Entire Rohingya villages have been burned to the ground, families separated and killed, and women and girls gang raped.

About a million Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar and now live in the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh. The kind Rohingya man pictured spoke enough English when LHI Founder/Director Hayley Smith visited in 2017 to plead, "Please don't forget us." He and his family live in the horrific conditions in the camp described above. LHI's International Aid program collects and distributes critical aid to residents there. We have also provided 50,000 hot meals to children living in the camp through our Greatest Need program. These are two ways we are keeping our promise to him.

CENTRAL AMERICAN REFUGEES

The Northern Triangle of Central America, composed of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, is considered one of the most dangerous places on earth, resulting in unprecedented numbers of individuals and families fleeing for their lives (most of the refugees crossing at the southern border in recent years are from these three countries, though some are from other countries including Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, and African nations). Their home countries are in a state of political upheaval and gangs are rampant, threatening families with death if they do not pay, join, or do their bidding. For many, heading north is the only option.

After arriving in the US, families are held at detention centers and put through preliminary processing before being dropped off at shelters along the border that provide warm meals, showers, and a place to stay for a short time. This gives families time to figure out how to get where they are going, which is often to stay with relatives already living in the US. LHI collects and delivers aid to shelters along the border that support these families through our US Border Aid program.

Pictured here is Eduardo, who worked at his family's fruit stand in Honduras. He was told by local gang members that they wanted him to sell drugs stashed in the middle of his fruit. He did not comply, and they told him they would kill him, his family, and his children if he didn't do it. Again he said no. One night, Eduardo was followed by 7 or 8 gang members armed with machetes and pistols. He had to run and hide in a sewer to keep from being captured and killed. They went to his house to find his wife and two children, but fortunately, they were with his mother at the time. Later, they caught up with him and tried to kill him with machetes, but he escaped despite being struck several times. He now lives with numerous scars on his arms and legs. Of his group of 27 childhood friends, only three are left. All the others were killed, or are in jail, on drugs, or in gangs. For that reason, he left his country to seek safety in the US.

INTERNALLY DISPLACED SOMALIS (IDPs)

Decades of violence and government instability-compounded by natural disaster, drought, and lasting food shortages-has created a situation where more than 2 million people are internally displaced in Somalia. Crops are failing and livestock dying. While Somalia struggles with its own vulnerable people, tens of thousands of refugees, mostly from Ethiopia and Yemen, are fleeing into Somalia to try to find refuge there, putting additional pressure on already scarce resources. Many internally displaced Somalis lost their livelihoods when they were driven from their homes and are dependent on humanitarian services for survival. LHI's International Aid program collects and distributes industrial-sized containers of critical aid supplies to Somalis living in IDP camps near Mogadishu, where the cost of living is much higher than in Somalia's more rural areas.

The European Commission defines refugees in transit as refugees who are temporarily admitted in the territory of a state under the condition that they are resettled elsewhere. In other words, they are families who have been forced to flee their homes and have arrived in a safer country where they are not allowed to stay permanently. These refugees are from varied backgrounds and ethnicities, but all are escaping violence, conflict, persecution, poverty, gender inequality, or other life-threatening conditions (including consequences of climate change and environmental degradation).

In many areas of the world, an increasing number of families are forced to flee their homes and embark on perilous journeys in search of safety. Many face abuse and exploitation in transit. Despite technological advances making travel faster and safer for many refugees, the journey can still take months. Once abroad, most refugees will spend several years in a transit country before being resettled elsewhere, and some may never reach their intended destination. Additionally, their route, method of transportation, and intended destination can change at different phases of their journey, causing them to fall in and out of various legal categories. This period of being "in limbo" can be devastating both physically and mentally as families often face poor living conditions as well as perpetual uncertainties and delays.

LHI's Refugee Center in Greece provides psychosocial programs for refugees while they stay in the nearby Serres camps awaiting resettlement in other countries. The program also provides aid supplies for families in the camps along with other refugees staying in the surrounding areas.

"It's strange, how you go from being a person who is away from home to a person with no home at all. The place that is supposed to want you has pushed you out. No other place takes you in. You are unwanted, by everyone. You are a refugee."

- Clemantine Wamariya, The Girl Who Smiled Beads

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Lifting Hands International - Who We Help

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The refugees LHI supports come from a wide range of locations and cultures. They have different traditions but share a common experience-having to leave everything behind, flee their homes, and try to start over somewhere else. On February 24, 2022, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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Refugee High: Coming of Age in America written by Elly Fishman. This is a novel about high school students trying to find a place to live. It takes place at Chicago high school where studies show they have the highest proportions of refugees in any school nation. A reading to help students open their eyes to what is really going on around them. A reading for 15-18 year olds.

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A reading about Iraqi Children who are currently refugees in Jordan. There is a War going on and dozens of children and families are unable to flee. They are living in tents with somedays no water, food, access to schools or health care. Plans rebuild their lives is put to play. A reading for 12-15 year olds.

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Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees a book by Deborah Ellis

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The United States and its allies invaded Iraq seven years ago. Today the country is still at war, and no one can claim that true democracy has come. Four million Iraqis have been displaced, and about half of them, unable to flee the country, are now living in remote tent camps without access to scho…

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What is what is a New York Times Bestseller written by Dave Eggers. This little boy was forced at the age of 7 to trek through miles of land by foot to reach freedom. Once in the Americas we see so many more challenges Achak Deng has to face. A reading for 14-18 year olds.

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The narrator, Valentino Achak Deng, an immigrant from Sudan, describes some of what he experienced when he first arrived in the United States.

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The Fire Horse Girl is a book about the worst sign in the Chinese Zodiac for girls. As Jade more goes through life she only wishes for her powerful dreams to come true. A reading for 12-15 year olds.

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In this excerpt, the narrator, a young Chinese girl, poses as a boy with forged papers, trying to gain entry into the United States. When she realizes the American immigration agents are checking identity papers at the dock, she fights past them and runs for her life.

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How to be a responsible Citizen. This is a lesson students usually learn early on. In this article we learn of activities students can participate in to have social and civic responsibilities as a US citizen.

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Time Frame

2 class periods of 30 minutes each

Life Skills

Social & Civic Responsibility

Summary

Students will identify and list characteristics of responsible citizens using Clara Barton as an example. In small groups, students will share ways they can demonstrate responsible citizenship in their neighborhood, school, state, nation, and world.

Materials

Class set of blank papers

Brainstorm the qualities of a friend

Discuss why they are desirable qualities

What does it mean to be a responsible citizen?

1. Define citizen using the Responsible Citizen poster (pdf)(A person who belongs to a community) and define responsible.

2. Explain that responsible citizens help to make their community a good place to live for everyone.

3. Read and complete the Clara Barton Storyboard Activity (see attachment).

Day 2
Attention Getter:
Emphasizing importance of individual roles and responsibilities of a good citizen.

Brainstorm and list on a chart paper the classroom duties of a second grader.

Show the class a handful of paper cutouts, explaining that they represent these roles.

Throw the papers out onto the floor.

Discuss how long it would take if just one person had to pick up all the pieces versus the group working together.

Relate this to the classroom jobs discussion and good citizenship.

Not doing our job makes it hard on others.

We need to work together

Working together saves time

How do I demonstrate I'm a good citizen?

1. Discuss and define the various communities to which the children belong. (neighborhood, school, state, nation and world).

2. Divide students into small groups. Each group will take one of the communities listed above. Assign one student in each group to be the scribe. They will generate ideas of how they can be good citizens in their assigned communities.

3. Groups will present their ideas to the class while the teacher compiles the list for display.

4. Guide students to notice the commonalities between the group lists.

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Time Frame 2 class periods of 30 minutes each Life Skills Social & Civic Responsibility Students will identify and list characteristics of responsible citizens using Clara Barton as an example. In small groups, students will share ways they can demonstrate responsible citizenship in their neighborhood, school, state, nation, and world.

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Social movements of the 20th Century. This article/website shares a social studies activities that can be student led. Studnets get to come up with and learn life skills while working in groups.

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Time Frame

5 class periods of 45 minutes each

Life Skills

Character

Social & Civic Responsibility

Summary

Students will select a social or political movement of the 20th century (e.g. woman's movement, civil rights movement) to research and share what they learned with their classmates.

Enduring Understanding:
The U.S. emerged as a world influence through the contributions of individual groups, movements, and events.

Essential Question:
What impact did the social and political movements of the 20th century have on the United States?

Instructional Procedures

Step 1: During a class discussion bring up the idea of social unrest to the students. Have the children generate a list of topics of concerns that are facing the people of today.

Step 2: Introduce the social and political movements of the 20th century (woman's movement, the civil rights movement, child labor reforms, New Deal, Social Security, labor unions, temperance, immigration laws, peace movement etc.)

You may want to refer to the National Archives website for more information about each movement and the decade that it occurs in.

Discuss the main movements for a general understanding of the unrest.

Note: On UEN's emedia there are many short and long videos on a variety of political and social movements. We felt that each educator would like to select their own area of focus.

Step 3: Divide the class into groups of two or three students. Each group selects a movement to research. They need to analyze information to determine the who, what, where, why and how.

Their goal is to create a PowerPoint to instruct the class. In their PowerPoint they must include primary source documents and photos. Their slide shows should be no longer than 10-15 slides each. An optional slide show could include: title page, who page, what page, where page, when page, how page, why page, extra photos x3 pages, how it effects me now page, bibliography. Please refer to the rubric for specific instruction.
Share the completed PowerPoints with the class.

Assessment Plan

Pre-assessment: List all the social and political movements of the 20th century and how they effect you.

Post Assessment: The PowerPoint is the final assessment.

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Time Frame 5 class periods of 45 minutes each Life Skills Character Social & Civic Responsibility Students will select a social or political movement of the 20th century (e.g. woman's movement, civil rights movement) to research and share what they learned with their classmates. Enduring Understanding: The U.S.

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How to share a heavy topic with children? Tell Stories. Stories about refugee's/immigrants from children their age. This can be done through activities, videos, story telling, etc. That is exactly what this article teaches parents of younger children as well as elementary teachers to do.

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Teaching materials are focused on building socio-emotional skills in the classroom with the aim of allowing students and teachers to co-create a peaceful classroom environment where children are able to celebrate their differences.

The activities are linked as much as possible to the experiences of children themselves and what their home life is like.

Video and audio materials for this age group tell stories of a refugee child of the same age as the pupils through discussion of upbeat, familiar and relevant topics such as home-life, hobbies, toys, new school life and future dreams.

Click on the links to download the teaching materials.

Main curriculum about refugees, asylum and migration

This main curriculum for children aged 6 -9 focuses on building socio-emotional skills and facilitating peer relationships, celebrating diversity, understanding new arrivals in the classroom, as well as creating a peaceful environment in the classroom.

Integrating teaching about refugees, asylum and migration in your class activities

This module contains guidance and ideas on how to introduce the topic in various settings in your classroom.

Activity guide for 6 - 9 year olds

This practical guide contains some suggestions for class activities.

Video exercise

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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Teaching materials are focused on building socio-emotional skills in the classroom with the aim of allowing students and teachers to co-create a peaceful classroom environment where children are able to celebrate their differences. The activities are linked as much as possible to the experiences of children themselves and what their home life is like.

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Becoming a Citizen. Some students may be blind to the process of becoming a citizen and others may not. This article tells us all the rights and privileges citizens get here in the United states. We learn how one can be considered a natural citizen and what it takes for a foreigner to gain their citizenship.

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Becoming a Citizen Citizen Rights Citizen Responsibilities Volunteering

Becoming a Citizen

To be able to vote, hold public office, or serve on a jury, a person must be a United States citizen. Citizenship may be acquired in one of two ways; either as a natural citizen or a naturalized citizen. Those who obtain their citizenship at birth are referred to as natural citizens, while those who become citizens at some time after their birth are referred to as naturalized citizens.

Natural citizens can be subdivided into two groups; those who acquired their citizenship by having beenborn in the United States, and those who acquired their citizenship by been born to parents that are citizens of the United States. Those individuals who are born on U.S. soil are said to have received their citizenship under the doctrine of " jus soli" or by the "right of the land". Natural citizens who are not born within the United States, but who are born from parents who were citizens of the United States at the time of their birth acquire their citizenship under the " jus sanguinis" doctrine or by the "right through blood".

The process by which people from foreign countries become U.S. citizens is called naturalization. There are three steps in this process:

1. File an application.

2. Take a naturalization examination.

3. Participate in an Oath Ceremony

Not everyone, however, is eligible to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. A person must meet certain requirements:

Be at least 18 years old

A lawful permanent resident for five years

A person of good moral character

Be able to understand, read, write, and speak basic English

Possess a basic understanding of United States government and history

Be willing to take an oath of allegiance to the United States

Additional eligibility details can be found on the Immigration and Naturalization Service web site. In addition, the INS has provided this eligibility worksheet (pdf) to help people determine if they are eligible to apply for naturalization.

Application for Naturalization

All applicants must complete the "Application for Naturalization" (Form N-400) to become naturalized. This form can be downloaded off of the INS web site or it can be obtained from a local Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) office. To discover where the closest INS office is to you, use the INS online map.

The application requests information such as name, address, date of birth, basis for eligibility, absences from the U.S., employer information, marital history, information about children, allegiance to the U.S. and more.

All applicants must be fingerprinted by the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) for the purpose of conducting FBI criminal background checks. The INS charges $32.49 per person (for most applicants) at the time of filing for this fingerprinting service.

Applicants must include the following with their Application for Naturalization:

Photographs

The filing fee for Form N-400 is $640. A biometric services fee of $85 is also required for applicants under 75 years of age when filing Form N-400 regardless of where the applicant lives and whether the applicant is filing from within the United States or abroad.

Naturalization Examination

After the Application for Naturalization has been filed, applicants will be notified to appear at a INS office to be interviewed. The applicant will be asked questions about his/her application and some questions that will examine his/her knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and government.

Do you think you would be able to pass this exam? Find out by taking the online Naturalization Self Test or viewing the Sample Questions (pdf). Below are a few of the questions applicants may be asked:

What is the legislative branch of our government?

Who was Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Who is the Commander in Chief of the U.S. military?

Who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court today?

During this interview, applicants will also be examined on their ability to read, write, and speak English. The following applicants do not have to complete this part of the exam:

Individuals who are more than 50 years of age and who have been lawful permanent residents for 20 years or more.

Individuals who are more than 55 years of age and who have been lawful permanent residents for 15 years or more.

Oath Ceremony

If one's Application for Naturalization is approved, then the next step to becoming a citizen is to take the Oath of Allegiance to the United States.

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

If an individual cannot promise to bear arms or perform noncombatant service because of religious training and belief, he/she may omit those statements when taking the oath.

In some places, one can choose to take the Oath the same day as the interview, or to request to be scheduled for an oath ceremony in a court.

Citizenship Day

On February 29, 1952, President Harry S. Truman signed a bill establishing September 17 as Citizenship Day; a day to recognize and honor citizens. September 17 is also the date on which the United States Constitution was signed in 1787.

Want to wish someone a special Citizenship Day, good luck on a citizenship exam or congratulations on a swearing in ceremony? Send them a free electronic greeting card.

Citizen Rights

The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the Constitution) reflect the United States founders' desire for individual freedom and their opposition to the centralization of power. The Declaration contains the founders' belief that there are certain truths: that we are all created equal, that we have the unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that the right to govern comes from the consent of the people. The Constitution explains the roles of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government and provides a system of checks and balances among these branches. Specific civil liberties and rights not mentioned in the Constitution are spelled out in the Bill of Rights. These documents reflect the founders' desire to preserve individual political freedoms.

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression from government interference. Freedom of expression is made up of the explicit rights of freedom of speech, press, assembly and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. During the two centuries since the adoption of the First Amendment, the Supreme Court and lower courts have attempted to interpret and define these freedoms through various court cases. It should be noted that these freedoms apply to all people who live in the United States, not just U.S. citizens.

Freedom of Religion

The First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion was established because many of the colonists who founded the United States came to America to escape religious persecution and government oppression. This country's founders wanted to prevent any one religion from dominating the government or imposing its will or beliefs on society as a whole. Two clauses in the First Amendment guarantee freedom of religion. The first part of this provision is known as the Establishment Clause, and the second part is known as the Free Exercise Clause. The establishment clause prohibits the government from passing laws that will establish an official religion or preferring one religion over another. The courts have interpreted the establishment clause to accomplish the separation of church and state.

The free exercise clause prohibits the government from interfering with a persons practice of their religion. However, religious actions and rituals can be limited by civil and federal laws. For example, the 1878 Supreme Court case Reynolds v. United States found that the federal law prohibiting polygamy, which was challenged by a Mormon defendant, was constitutional. Polygamy was outlawed.

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of speech is the right to speak out publicly or privately. This covers all forms of expression, including newspapers, magazines, books, television, radio, movies, and electronic documents. While the right to free speech is not absolute, its protection is broad. For example, it protects silence (e.g., right to refrain from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance), symbolic speech (e.g., the right to burn an American flag in protest), intellectual freedom (e.g., right to read). In most cases the First Amendment, does not protect speech that incites or provokes extreme violence. For example, it is illegal to yell "Fire!" in a movie theater. Be sure to check out the recent Supreme Court decisions that have to do with freedom of speech.

Freedom of the Press

The courts have long struggled to determine whether the framers of the Constitution intended to differentiate press freedom from speech freedom. Most have concluded that freedom of the press derives from freedom of speech. Freedom of the press allows an individual to express themselves through publication. The Court has generally rejected requests to extend to the press privileges beyond those available to ordinary citizens.

The Right to Assemble

Freedom of assembly is the right of people to gather peacefully to exchange ideas or to peacefully protest social, economic, or political conditions and demand reform. The Million Mom March is a recent example of assembly. People gathered around the country on Mother's Day 2000 to educate children and adults about the dangers of guns. Most public gatherings in the United States proceed without active interference by police or other officials. But sometimes police officers may make arrests when demonstrations threaten to turn violent. The right to assemble, however is not an absolute right. Most towns and cities can legally regulate the time, place, and manner of assembling. For example, a city may restrict a large demonstration to a particular area or time of day.

The Right to Petition

The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances guarantees people the right to ask the government to provide relief for a wrong through the courts or other governmental action. It works with the right of assembly to allow people to join together to seek change from the government.

Additional Freedoms

The First Amendment is not the only change or addition to the Constitution that defines citizens' rights. Some of the other amendments in the Bill of Rights also define citizens' rights, such as the right to bear arms and the right to a trial by jury. (To learn more about the Bill of Rights, go to the Historical Documents section of this web site.)

The Rights of Black Americans

It was noted above that the Declaration of Independence, states "That all men are created equal..." But in 1776 when this document was written, many blacks in America were enslaved. It took almost ninety years for the United States government to end slavery. Black Americans made significant gains in their struggle for equal rights during the Reconstruction, the 12-year period after the American Civil War. The 13th Amendment, adopted in 1865, abolished slavery in the United States. In 1868, the 14th Amendment made the former slaves citizens. It also guaranteed to all people "equal protection of the laws." The 15th Amendment, which became law in 1870, did not expressly grant black citizens the right to vote, but prohibited state and federal governments from denying this right based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

Although these amendments helped to strengthen the rights of Blacks in America, they were not successful in ending racial discrimination and injustice. During the late 1870's, white Americans increasingly disregarded the newly won rights of black Americans. In 1896, in the Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson, upheld a Louisiana law requiring separate but equal accommodations for blacks and whites in railroad cars. Many Southern states used the "separate but equal" rule established in this case to segregate the races in public schools, establishments and transportation for over 50 years.

In 1954, the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education established that segregation in the public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. This event is sometimes noted as the first step in the Civil Rights Movement. Ten years later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. This law bans discrimination because of a person's color, race, national origin, religion, or sex. The act primarily protects the rights of blacks and other minorities. It is one of the nation's strongest civil rights laws. The following resources describe the important people and events of the Civil Rights movement.

The Rights of All Americans

African Americans, of course, are not the only group in America's history that faced injustice. For example, American Indians were not granted citizenship rights until 1924, and it took until 1948 for some states to allow Native Americans to vote. Women did not have the right to vote until 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified. (To learn more about voting rights go to the Elections section of this web site.)

In recent times, legislation has focused less on the rights of ethnic and racial groups. In 1980 the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act ensured that the rights of persons in institutions, such as government-run hospitals, nursing homes and prison, are protected against unconstitutional conditions. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) has helped strengthen the rights people with disabilities.

Citizen Responsibilities

The duties or responsibilities of a United States citizen can be separated into two groups: mandatory duties, such as paying taxes, and responsibilities not demanded by law, such as voting.

Mandatory: Obeying Laws

Laws are the rules under which a society or community is governed. Everyone who lives in the United States, regardless if they are citizens or not, must obey federal, state and local laws. Laws are necessary because no society could exist if all people did just as they pleased, without respecting the rights of others. Police officers and courts make sure that laws are obeyed. If a person breaks a law there is a penalty or punishment. The penalty for breaking a law depends on the law. For example, the punishment for not shoveling your sidewalk after it snows is less steep than the punishment for stealing a car. Take a moment to search or browse through the current United States Code and the Utah Code.

Mandatory: Paying Taxes

Taxes are required payments of money to the government. You may be wondering why we pay taxes (pdf). Taxes are necessary because they pay for things that most individuals could not possibly purchase for themselves, such a fire protection, schools, roads and much more.

There are many different types of taxes: federal income tax, state income tax, property tax, excise tax (tax on tobacco, alcohol, gas), social security tax and sales tax. Each type of tax pays for different public programs and services. For example, federal taxes pay for F.B.I. agents, Medicare doctors, federal judges, national park rangers, veterans benefits, federal prisons and much more. Some of the things that state taxes pay for include state highways, universities, public schools, state parks and police officers.

To learn more about taxes visit these web sites:

Mandatory: Jury Duty

The right to a trial by jury is the privilege of every person in the United States, whether citizen or not. This right is guaranteed by both the United States and Utah Constitutions. However, it also requires that citizens give of their time to serve as jurors, and thus do their part to protect this American right. A jury consists of 12 people who are selected to hear the evidence in a civil or a criminal trial. After the jurors hear the evidence presented during the trial, they must try to decide if the defendant is guilty or not guilty.

While being called to jury duty can be viewed as an inconvenience, many citizens also find it to be a learning process and a rewarding experience as well as a civic responsibility. Jurors' names are selected at random from lists of registered voters and individuals who have a driver's license issued by the Utah Department of Motor Vehicles. If an individual is chosen for jury duty, he or she must stop work and attend the trial as long as he or she is needed. Every American of legal age is subject to jury duty, unless he or she can show that such service would constitute a severe personal hardship.

Mandatory: Serve as a Witness

If you are subpoenaed or summoned to serve as a witness you must comply. A witness is someone who is called to testify under oath in a court trial or hearing about information or knowledge he or she might have about the case.

Mandatory: Register for the Draft

Virtually all males living in the United States are required to register with Selective Service within 30 days of their 18th birthday. Currently, women aren't required to register because the Selective Service law refers specifically to "male persons" in stating who must register and who would be drafted. Congress would have to amend the law for women to be required to register with Selective Service.

Registering does not mean a man will automatically be taken into the military. During times of crisis or war, the government may decide that they need larger military forces than they feel they could get through voluntary enlistment. If this happens the Selective Service will:

Conduct a lottery to determine the sequence for selecting registrants for examination and induction.

Assign each registrant the Random Sequence Number (RSN) drawn by lottery for his date of birth.

Select and order registrants for examination and induction, beginning with RSN 001. Those selected are examined for mental, physical and moral fitness.

Today, males can register online at the Selective Service web site or at their local Post Office.

Voluntary: Voting

The right to vote is a duty or responsibility as well as a privilege. It is important for all citizens to vote in every election to make sure that the democratic, representative system of government is maintained. Persons who do not vote lose their voice in the government. Before voting in an election, each citizen should be well informed about the issues and candidates. For more information about voting, go to the Elections section of this web site.

Volunteering

Many Americans of all ages choose to contribute their time and talents in support of causes in which they believe. Volunteer projects include being a chaperone on a school field trip, active membership on the parent-teacher association, participating in town meetings, and working to improve the living conditions of the poor. The idea that ordinary people, can do extraordinary things when they work together as a group in service to others, is a powerful one. Below is a list of volunteer projects and organizations for both students and adults.

Student Social Action Projects

The Earth Day Project
To celebrate Earth Day students decorate paper grocery bags with pro-environmental messages, and give them to stores to use to hold customers' groceries.

Save Our Beach
In this project, students pick up litter at local beaches, which they then analyze and categorize. Students use email to share the data with participating schools. The project then encourages students to draw conclusions from the data and discuss ways they can reduce pollution.

Nonprofit Prophets
This is an interactive project that challenges groups of students to investigate a problem that they see in the world, and then create a World Wide Web Resource page on the Internet that teaches the world about the problem. Typically, students collaborate with local non-profit agencies that need a web site.

Rainforest Action Network
Find out what you can do to help save the rainforest.

Student Community Service Projects

Do Something
Do Something is a national non-profit organization that inspires young people to believe that change is possible, and trains, funds and mobilizes them to be leaders who measurably strengthen their communities. They offer $500 grants to youth under 30 to implement service projects in their communities. Stop by this site for a grant application and to find out more about the many other programs they sponsor.

Youth Service America
Enter your zip code to find volunteer opportunities in your community.

Kids Can Make a Difference
Kids Can Make A Difference® (KIDS), an educational program for middle and high school students, focuses on the root causes of hunger and poverty, the people most affected, solutions, and how students can help. The major goal is to stimulate the students to take some definite follow-up actions as they begin to realize that one person can make a difference. The best click, however, is theWhat Kids Can Do page.

AmeriCorps
The young people in AmeriCorps work in one of 430 programs designed to meet specific community needs in four areas: education, public safety, human services, and the environment. Volunteers tutor elementary school students, start neighborhood crime watches, provide companionship to the elderly, and restore coastlines, among other things.

Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation for National Service is the private-public partnership which oversees such agencies as Learn and Serve America, AmeriCorps, National Civilian Conservation Corps and SeniorCorps. You can find out about new funding initiatives, as well as locate general resources on service-learning here.

Help the Homeless
This site teaches kids who the homeless are and what they can do to help them.

Adult Volunteer Opportunities

Peace Corps
Peace Corps is an independent overseas volunteer program of the United States government. Men and women in the Peace Corps work with people in developing countries to help them improve their living conditions. The chief goals of the corps are (1) to help the poor obtain everyday needs, (2) to promote world peace, and (3) to increase understanding between Americans and the people of other nations.

Red Cross
Red Cross is an organization that works to relieve human suffering and has more than 10 million volunteers, including blood donors and students. The programs and services of the American Red Cross are funded by voluntary contributions.

Habitat for Humanity
Volunteers apply hands-on solutions to the need for affordable housing. Together with low-income individuals needing a place of their own, individuals donate their time to build "simple, decent homes."

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Becoming a Citizen Citizen Rights Citizen Responsibilities Volunteering Becoming a Citizen To be able to vote, hold public office, or serve on a jury, a person must be a United States citizen. Citizenship may be acquired in one of two ways; either as a natural citizen or a naturalized citizen.

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This article tells us the history of welcoming and exclusionary immigrants over the years. It talks about why some wanted to come to the Americas and how others were forced against their will. The article goes on to give dates and brief explanation about how our history changed from applying for citizenship to preventing others to enter, Chinese Exclusion Act to only allow so many immigrants in at a time, to Mexicans filling in labor duties during WWII and so on.

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U.S. Immigration Timeline: Definition & Reform - HISTORY

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A timeline of U.S. immigration shows how, from the 1600s to today, the United States became a nation of people from hundreds of cultures, languages and beliefs.

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This article teaches about The Untied States immigration history specifically about Ellis island. This was where ships with immigrants would drop off those around the world. This article talks about the process of getting into the States. Standing in long lines to find out if each individual would be a good fit for the United States. Some were excepted and some were sent back.

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U.S. Immigration History

When Ellis Island opened, a great change was taking place in U.S. immigration. Fewer arrivals were coming from northern and western Europe-Germany, Ireland, Britain and the Scandinavian countries-as more and more immigrants poured in from southern and eastern Europe.

Among this new generation were Jews escaping from political and economic oppression in czarist Russia and eastern Europe and Italians escaping poverty in their country. There were also Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Serbs, Slovaks and Greeks, along with non-Europeans from Syria, Turkey and Armenia.

The reasons they left their homes in the Old World included war, drought, famine and religious persecution, and all had hopes for greater opportunity in the New World.

After an arduous sea voyage, immigrants arriving at Ellis Island were tagged with information from their ship's registry; they then waited on long lines for medical and legal inspections to determine if they were fit for entry into the United States.

From 1900 to 1914-the peak years of Ellis Island's operation-an average of 1,900 people passed through the immigration station every day. Most successfully passed through in a matter of hours, but others could be detained for days or weeks.

Many immigrants remained in New York, while others traveled by barge to railroad stations in Hoboken or Jersey City, New Jersey, on their way to destinations across the country.

Ellis Island Museum of Immigration

Passage of the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the National Origins Act of 1924, which limited the number and nationality of immigrants allowed into the United States, effectively ended the era of mass immigration into New York City. At this point, the smaller number of immigrants began to be processed on their arriving ships, with Ellis Island serving primarily as a temporary detainment center.

From 1925 to the closing of Ellis Island in 1954, only 2.3 million immigrants passed through the New York City port-which still represented more than half of all those entering the United States.

Ellis Island opened to the public in 1976. Today, visitors can tour the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration in the restored Main Arrivals Hall and trace their ancestors through millions of immigrant arrival records made available to the public in 2001.

In this way, Ellis Island remains a central destination for millions of Americans seeking a glimpse into the history of their country, and in many cases, into their own family's story.

Ellis Island Timeline

During the 1760s, it is known as Gibbet Island, for its gibbet, or gallows tree, used to hang men convicted of piracy.

Ellis dies in 1794, and in 1808 New York State buys the island for $10,000. The U.S. War Department pays the state for the right to use Ellis Island to build military fortifications and store ammunition, beginning during the War of 1812. Half a century later, Ellis Island is used as a munitions arsenal for the Union army during the Civil War.

Meanwhile, the first federal immigration law, the Naturalization Act, is passed in 1790; it allows all white males living in the U.S. for two years to become citizens. There is little regulation of immigration when the first great wave begins in 1814.

Nearly 5 million people will arrive from northern and western Europe over the next 45 years. Castle Garden, one of the first state-run immigration depots, opens at the Battery in lower Manhattan in 1855. The Potato Famine that strikes Ireland (1845-52) leads to the immigration of about 1 million Irish alone in the next decade.

Concurrently, large numbers of Germans flee political and economic unrest. Rapid settlement of the West begins with the passing of the Homestead Act in 1862. Attracted by the opportunity to own land, more Europeans begin to immigrate.

1865-1892
After the Civil War, Ellis Island stands vacant, until the government decides to replace the New York immigration station at Castle Garden, which closes in 1890. Control of immigration is turned over to the federal government, and $75,000 is appropriated for construction of the first federal immigration station on Ellis Island.

Artesian wells are dug and the island's size is doubled to over six acres, with landfill created from incoming ships' ballast and the excavation of New York City subway tunnels.

Beginning in 1875, the United States forbids prostitutes and criminals from entering the country. The Chinese Exclusion Act is passed in 1882. Also restricted are "lunatics" and "idiots."

1892
The first Ellis Island Immigration Station officially opens on January 1, 1892, as three large ships wait to land. Seven hundred immigrants passed through Ellis Island that day, and nearly 450,000 followed over the course of that first year.

Over the next five decades, more than 12 million people will pass through the island on their way into the United States.

1893-1902
On June 15, 1897, with 200 immigrants on the island, a fire breaks out in one of the towers in the main building and the roof collapses. Though no one is killed, all Ellis Island records dating back to 1840 and the Castle Garden era are destroyed. The immigration station is relocated to the barge office in Manhattan's Battery Park.

The new fireproof facility is officially opened in December 1900, and 2,251 people pass through on opening day. President Theodore Roosevelt appoints a new commissioner of immigration, William Williams, who cleans house on Ellis Island beginning in 1902 by overhauling operations and facilities.

To eliminate corruption and abuse, Williams awards contracts based on merit and announces contracts will be revoked if any dishonesty is suspected. He imposes penalties for any violation of this rule and posts "Kindness and Consideration" signs as reminders to workers.

1903-1910
To create additional space at Ellis Island, two new islands are created using landfill. Island Two houses the hospital administration and psychiatric ward, while Island Three holds the contagious diseases ward.

By 1906, Ellis Island has grown to more than 27 acres, from an original size of only three acres.

Anarchists are denied admittance into the United States as of 1903. On April 17, 1907, an all-time daily high of 11,747 immigrants received is reached; that year, Ellis Island experiences its highest number of immigrants received in a single year, with 1,004,756 arrivals.

A federal law is passed excluding persons with physical and mental disabilities, as well as children arriving without adults.

Anti-immigrant sentiment increases after the U.S. enters the war in 1917; German citizens seized on ships in East Coast ports are held at Ellis Island before being deported.

Starting in 1917, Ellis Island operates as a hospital for the U.S. Army, a way station for Navy personnel and a detention center for enemy aliens. By 1918, the Army takes over most of Ellis Island and creates a makeshift way station to treat sick and wounded American servicemen.

The literacy test is introduced at this time, and stays on the books until 1952. Those over the age of 16 who cannot read 30 to 40 test words in their native language are no longer admitted through Ellis Island. Nearly all Asian immigrants are banned.

At war's end, a " Red Scare" grips America in reaction to the Russian Revolution. Ellis Island is used to intern immigrant radicals accused of subversive activity; many of them are deported.

President Warren G. Harding signs the Emergency Quota Act into law in 1921. According to the new law, annual immigration from any country cannot exceed 3 percent of the total number of U.S. immigrants from that same country, as recorded in the U.S. Census of 1910.

The Immigration Act of 1924 goes even further, setting strict quotas for immigrants based on country of origin, including an annual limit of 165,000 immigrants from outside the Western Hemisphere.

The buildings on Ellis Island begin to fall into neglect and abandonment. America is experiencing the end of mass immigration. By 1932, the Great Depression has taken hold in the U.S., and for the first time ever, more people leave the country than arrive.

By 1949, the U.S. Coast Guard has taken over most of Ellis Island, using it for office and storage space. The passage of the Internal Security Act of 1950 excludes arriving immigrants with previous links to communist and fascist organizations. With this, Ellis Island experiences a brief resurgence in activity. Renovations and repairs are made in an effort to accommodate detainees, who sometimes number 1,500 at a time.

The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 (also known as the McCarran-Walter Act), combined with a liberalized detention policy, causes the number of detainees on the island to plummet to fewer than 30 people.

All 33 structures on Ellis Island are officially closed in November 1954.

In March 1955, the federal government declares the island surplus property; it is subsequently placed under the jurisdiction of the General Services Administration.

1965-1976
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson issues Proclamation 3656, according to which Ellis Island falls under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.

Also in 1965, President Johnson signs the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, which abolishes the earlier quota system based on national origin and establishes the foundations for modern U.S. immigration law.

The act allows more individuals from third-world countries to enter the U.S. (including Asians, who have in the past been barred from entry) and establishes a separate quota for refugees.

Ellis Island opens to the public in 1976, featuring hour-long guided tours of the Main Arrivals Building. During this year, more than 50,000 people visit the island.

1982-1990
In 1982, at the request of President Ronald Reagan, Lee Iacocca of the Chrysler Corporation heads the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation to raise funds from private investors for the restoration and preservation of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

By 1984, when the restoration begins, the annual number of visitors to Ellis Island has reached 70,000. The $156 million dollar restoration of Ellis Island's Main Arrivals Building is completed and re-opened to the public in 1990, two years ahead of schedule.

The Main Building houses the new Ellis Island Immigration Museum, in which many of the rooms have been restored to the way they appeared during the island's peak years. Since 1990, some 30 million visitors have visited Ellis Island to trace the steps of their ancestors.

Meanwhile, immigration into the United States continues, mostly by land routes through Canada and Mexico. Illegal immigration becomes a source of political debate throughout the 1980s and 1990s. More than 3 million aliens receive amnesty through the Immigration Reform Act in 1986, but an economic recession in the early 1990s is accompanied by a resurgence of anti-immigrant feeling.

The policies put into effect by the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 have greatly changed the face of the American population by the end of the 20th century. Whereas in the 1950s, more than half of all immigrants were Europeans and just 6 percent were Asians, by the 1990s only 16 percent are Europeans and 31 percent are Asians, and the percentages of Latino and African immigrants also jump significantly.

Between 1965 and 2000, the highest number of immigrants (4.3 million) to the U.S. comes from Mexico; 1.4 million are from the Philippines. Korea, the Dominican Republic, India, Cuba and Vietnam are also leading sources of immigrants, each sending between 700,000 and 800,000 over this period.

2001
The American Family Immigration History Center (AFIHC) opens on Ellis Island in 2001. The center allows visitors to search through millions of immigrant arrival records for information on individual people who passed through Ellis Island on their way into the United States.

The records include the original manifests, given to passengers onboard ships and showing names and other information, as well as information about the history and background of the ships that arrived in New York Harbor bearing hopeful immigrants to the New World.

Debates continue over how America should confront the effects of rising immigration rates throughout the 1990s. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 creates the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which takes over many immigration service and enforcement functions formerly performed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

2008-Present
In 2008, plans are announced for an expansion of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum called "The Peopling of America," which opened to the public on May 20, 2015. The museum's exploration of the Ellis Island era (1892-1954) was expanded to include the entire American immigration experience up to the present day.

Trivia

Beware the Buttonhook Men
Doctors checked those passing through Ellis Island for more than 60 diseases and disabilities that might disqualify them from entry into the United States. Those suspected of being afflicted with a having a disease or disability were marked with chalk and detained for closer examination. All immigrants were checked closely for trachoma, a contagious eye condition that caused more detainments and deportations than any other ailment. To check for trachoma, the examiner used a buttonhook to turn each immigrant's eyelids inside out, a procedure remembered by many Ellis Island arrivals as particularly painful and terrifying.

Dining at Ellis Island
Food was plentiful at Ellis Island, despite various opinions as to its quality. A typical meal served in the dining hall might include beef stew, potatoes, bread and herring (a very cheap fish); or baked beans and stewed prunes. Immigrants were introduced to new foods, such as bananas, sandwiches and ice cream, as well as unfamiliar preparations. To meet the special dietary requirements of Jewish immigrants, a kosher kitchen was built in 1911. In addition to the free meals served, independent concessions sold packaged food that immigrants often bought to eat while they waited or take with them when they left the island.

Famous Names
Many famous figures passed through Ellis Island, some leaving their original names behind on their entry into the U.S. Israel Beilin-better known as composer Irving Berlin-arrived in 1893; Angelo Siciliano, who arrived in 1903, later achieved fame as the bodybuilder Charles Atlas. Lily Chaucoin arrived from France to New York in 1911 and found Hollywood stardom as Claudette Colbert. Some were already famous when they arrived, such as Carl Jung or Sigmund Freud (both 1909), while some, like Charles Chaplin (1912) would make their name in the New World.

Sources

Closing the Door on Immigration. National Park Service.
Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.
Ellis Island. UNESCO World Heritage Convention.
Topics in Chronicling America - Ellis Island. Library of Congress.
Immigration and Deportation at Ellis Island. PBS: American Experience.

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Ellis Island: Records, Passengers & Immigration - HISTORY

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Ellis Island, a historical site in New York City, opened in 1892 as an immigration station and processed more than 12 million immigrants until it closed in 1954.

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https://help.rescue.org/donate/ukraine-acq?ms=gs_ppc_fy22_ukraine_mmus_feb&initialms=gs_ppc_fy22_ukraine_mmus_feb&gclid=CjwKCAjwrqqSBhBbEiwAlQeqGn6xQZSx7gWlM4SxIT7RI7mXtUI5njriSEW3o8RsnHVyGz231A8aUxoCPGYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

This organization is known for its impact on immigrants and refugees, one is located in SLC and at any time anyone can volunteer to support the essential work they do in safely relocating and re-adjusting families in new environments. Donations, time, and education are offered.

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Over 4 million refugees have been forced to flee Ukraine. The IRC is on the ground in Poland supporting displaced children and families with vital supplies.

Your gift will help us provide food, medical care and emergency support services to families whose lives are shattered by conflict in countries like Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen. Please give what you can today.

Your gift will help us provide food, medical care, and emergency support services to families whose lives are shattered by conflict in countries like Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen. Please give today.

Your gift allows us to deliver comprehensive help to people affected by humanitarian crises and will be used where and when most needed. And, when combined with those of other donors, your gift becomes a powerful means to support our vital work, including education, health care, emergency support and job training for families in crisis worldwide.

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Over 4 million refugees have been forced to flee Ukraine. The IRC is on the ground in Poland supporting displaced children and families with vital supplies. Your gift will help us provide food, medical care and emergency support services to families whose lives are shattered by conflict in countries like Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen.

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https://www.instagram.com/humansofny/?hl=en

THIS IS THE BEST ACCOUNT on instagram from real people with real stories about immigration, refugee, human connection and different ways of life. Very useful for personal interaction and ethical understandings.

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https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Community-Organization/Immigration-Help-Group-545733985470738/

This is a facebook group focused on educating the immigrant population about current political trends and how they could effect them and their lives. It also educates about past immigration and the rich history found in the US and what the impact of policies will do or have done.

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https://www.womenofworld.org/
This Organization is all about empowering Forcible Displaced Women from every nation and circumstance. With Fashion shows, self-reliance programs and scholarships, women have a greater chance to stand on their own in a new country and find joy, success and independence.

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We build self-reliance through custom service, community development, & economic empowerment. Women of the World is a trusted service and capacity building organization for refugee, asylee, and immigrant women and girls.

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https://ilp.org/the-ilp-story/

ILP or International Language Programs is a way for people to travel and help other countries by teaching English or doing humanitarian work around the world. It can be helpful in order to understand the humanity found in each place and for people to gain empathy and sympathy.

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The ILP Story - International Language Programs

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International Language Programs participants are college-age volunteers who have the life-changing experience of living abroad for a semester in countries all over the world. They get to experience the culture authentically by living like locals, create lasting relationships, and grow personally in countless ways.

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https://brightsidefoundation.org/?utm_term=immigration%20organizations&utm_campaign=Website%20traffic-Search-1&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=1758479445&hsa_cam=14598985192&hsa_grp=127066700557&hsa_ad=544818119670&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=kwd-2725331201&hsa_kw=immigration%20organizations&hsa_mt=b&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8_qRBhCXARIsAE2AtRbDsEkl-NtRBe08g8nTlFYL2_uvRJk7SeR2GUUo2O7T59zKXRt2if8aAgGkEALw_wcB

This is a foundation for refugees and immigrants as a resource for mental, physical, and emotional resilience within a new country by offering social adaptation help, document support, language courses, and many more helpful resources.

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https://twitter.com/UNICEF?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Who doesnt love twitter? Well now, after following the UNICEF twitter page, you can learn about the refugees around the world and tweet up the things that truly matter.

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https://www.instagram.com/usa.citizenship/?utm_medium=copy_link

This is an instagram account about USA Citizenship and what studies and questions to focus on to help become a citizen and pass the governments required test.

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/600846666606161/?ref=share

This is a facebook group that is focused on Immigrants, Refugees and Community Care with posts for protests, laws, education, current situations, and advocates for hope.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irtxoIPBVWs

Do immigrants need the United States, or does the United States need its immigrants? Writer, researcher, and first-generation immigrant American Nalini Krishnankutty showcases many surprising examples of traditions, businesses and ideas that are considered All-American today, but which owe their origins to first-generation immigrants!

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How Immigrants Shape(d) the United States | Nalini Krishnankutty | TEDxPSU

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https://youtu.be/F9qF6FvwrHI

The New York Times shows how nationality feels powerful and how it was invented to show identity.

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How Nations Make Up National Identities | NYT - The Interpreter

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https://youtu.be/SsXt6uPxV0A

This video explains what it means to be a good citizen and how we can practice being a good one.

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https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm6nfpUt8iWmzU9Xnl6kp8mgWJEuA7rNH

Kid history and cartoons explaining what is citizenship and why it matters!

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Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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https://youtu.be/tUeIp55DlvM

This resource is a long documentary about "The Origin of Nations" and what that means in our world. Where does every tribal and ethnic group descend from? This taps into this thought and schools approaches to teach this.

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https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZNAbh0qDoB4f_OQGJLgtDlTn-P2_FStW

This resource has 11 videos about how to teach children about immigration in an interactive live drawing video and interviews over youtube.

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Share your videos with friends, family, and the world