My New America
My New America Part Three: Immigration
Immigration in My New America is one of the topics tackled in the latest PalacioMagazine.com project with the Political Science classes of Professor Som Chounlamountry at California State University, Long Beach. This is the third partnership with the Professor and his students.
In My New America, we wanted to discover as many voices surrounding three important issues: Health Care and the Affordable Care Act, Jobs and the Economy, and Immigration. Eighteen students across three classes participated in the three-month long project. The students were tasked with writing an essay about the topic and conducting interviews. A fourth team produced a series of mini-podcast on each of the topics.
The Immigration Team Podcast
The Jobs and Economy team leader, Ivan Hernandez, sat down with the Podcast team, Mark Morettini and Kyari Cail, for a debrief on the project.
Kyari Cail
Ivan Hernandez
Mark Morettini
Team Essay on Immigration
(This essay has been updated with the following recent breaking news about Immigration)
Rescission of Memorandum Providing for Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”)
On June 15, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, after consulting with the Attorney General, signed a memorandum rescinding the November 20, 2014 memorandum that created the program known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”) because there is no credible path forward to litigate the currently enjoined policy.
June 16, 2017: Deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) From The New York Times
“Dreamers’ to Stay in U.S. for Now, but Long-Term Fate Is Unclear”
“President Trump will not immediately eliminate protections for the so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as small children, according to new memorandums issued by the administration on Thursday night.
But White House officials said on Friday morning that Mr. Trump had not made a decision about the long-term fate of the program and might yet follow through on a campaign pledge to take away work permits from the immigrants or deport them.” (Read more here)
President Donald Trump and Immigration Promises
Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States of America, made a number of promises about immigration during his campaign. He promised to deport millions of people in his first day in office and build a “great, great wall.” The wall may be an unfulfilled campaign promise but his deportation promise may not be. According to an April 2017 report, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claimed that in the 100 days since President Trump’s Executive Orders regarding immigration enforcement priorities, more than 41,000 individuals who are either known or suspected of being in the country illegally have been arrested. “This reflects an increase of 37.6 percent over the same period in 2016,” according to the report.
According to ICE, nearly 75 percent of those arrested during this period in 2017 are convicted criminals, with offenses ranging from homicide and assault to sexual abuse and drug-related charges. However, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly is quoted as saying that, “He has made it clear that ICE will no longer exempt any class of individuals from removal proceedings if they are found to be in the country illegally.”
The good news is that all the arrests have not led to immediate deportations. Atlantic Magazine in a May 17, 2017, online article about the ICE arrests’ report reported information that while arrests are up, deportations are actually down. According to the Atlantic story, ICE’s acting director, Thomas Homan, told reporters that deportations have actually declined by 12 percent under the Trump administration.
“This is because more undocumented immigrants are being arrested in the interior of the country rather than along the border. As a result, they often face lengthy hearings in the nation’s immigration court system.”
Immigration Fears Stoked and Confirmed
This doesn’t mean that fear hasn’t gripped many communities. In a New York Times article, ‘Don’t Open the Door’: How Fear of an Immigration Raid Gripped a City, Katharine Q. Seelye and Jess Bidgood described how past publicized immigration raids can challenge a community, “distinguishing between verifiable reports of arrests and empty rumors driven by fear.”
In a February 2017 Gallup Poll, American were asked their views about the speed of Trump’s immigration actions. 10% said he wasn’t moving fast enough with 47% telling pollsters that he was moving too fast. When the Immigration team interviewed a fellow CSULB student about Trump’s ability to deport millions of immigrants in four years, the answer was no, it was not possible to deport millions of undocumented people in those four years and that it would have a devastating effect on the United States. Another student had a different view, “It is possible to deport millions of people because Trump is not afraid to try something new.” That made this student fearful because they have friends who are undocumented and they’re worried about their future safety.
Another controversial element of President Trump’s Immigration policy is his Executive Order 13769 (Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States). The order:
“. . .lowered the number of refugees to be admitted into the United States in 2017 to 50,000, suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for 120 days, suspended the entry of Syrian refugees indefinitely, directed some cabinet secretaries to suspend entry of those whose countries do not meet adjudication standards under U.S. immigration law for 90 days, and included exceptions on a case-by-case basis. Homeland Security listed these countries as Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.” (Read more here and here)
On March 16, 2017, Executive Order 13780 revoked and replaced Executive Order 13769. Trump has called the new order a “watered down, politically correct version” of the prior executive order. (Read more here and here). Both Executive Orders have faced numerous legal challenges with the latest being the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against President Donald Trump’s revised executive order. Like other courts, the Court of Appeals used his tweets against him. The arguments are now expected to move to the United States Supreme Court, possibly as early as the week of June 18, 2017 (Read more here).
An Immigration group member interviewed a fellow CSULB student with the question, “If the Muslim Ban were not blocked by the courts, what affect could it have on relations with Middle East countries such as U.A.E. and Iraq?” The interviewee responded that “If the courts did not block the Muslim Ban, it will have a serious effect because it will give radical people incentives to attack the United States.” Another interviewed person, part of the Moot Court Program at CSULB, offered this opinion on the Muslim Ban topic, “We shouldn’t ban people based on their ethnic or religious background.”
Immigration Team
Ivan Hernandez is Team Leader and a senior majoring in Political Science at CSULB. A first-generation college student, he’s the first person in his family to attend college. His parents and mentors in school are the reason he’s pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a career in politics.
Cintia Martinez is a Junior at CSULB. She’s currently pursuing a degree in Political Science with an emphasis in Law, Politics, and Policy. In her spare time, she loves to read and tutor students at her local high school.
Adam Greene is also a Junior at CSULB. His greatest passion in life is educating others and empowering his community through access to better information. Greene is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s in Political Science with the goal to earn a Master’s degree. He looks forward to the day that he can represent the best interests of his community members and fight for them at the highest levels of government.
Misael Molina is a senior at CSULB studying political science. He has an interest in working in campaigns and possibly law school. Molina’s family is from El Salvador and he’s currently working at Bank of America.
Marlon Martinez is a 3rd-year transfer at CSULB and proud to be a first-generation Mexican-American student. A Communication Studies student, his goal is to be a comedy writer and work for Conan O’Brien.
