100 Questions and Answers About Immigrants to the U.S.: Immigration policies, politics and trends and how they affect families, jobs and demographics: ... education, deportation, citize (Bias Busters) - Softcover

Michigan State School Of Journalism

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1942011520 ISBN 13: 9781942011521

Publisher: Michigan State University School of Journalism, 2016

Synopsis

100 Questions and Answers About Immigrants to the U.S. is part of the Michigan State University School of Journalism series on cultural competence.

This guide has sections on identity, language, religion, culture, customs, social norms, economics, politics, education, work, families and food.

The guide is written for those who want quick answers to basic, introductory questions about U.S. immigrants. It is a starting point, for people in business, schools, places of worship, government, medicine, law enforcement, human resources and journalism who want to get a fast grounding. The guide suggests resources for those who then want greater depth. The guide was written in 2016 against the backdrop the presidential campaign.

About this title

About the Author

This guide is one of more than 10 guides created through the Michigan State University School of Journalism. The editor on this guide was Dr. Dawn Thorndike Pysarchik in the Department of Advertising & Public Relations. The series editor is journalism instructor Joe Grimm. Both have been working in cross-cultural communication for 25 years.

The concept of this series is to teach cultural competence by spreading awareness about a specific group or community. Ultimately, the goal is to break down cultural and socially constructed walls by opening up discussion among groups.

The guides have been used in diversity training in business, the health industry, universities and law enforcement.

We approach cultural competence on the basis that questions asked out of sincere interest, even if phrased in a less than graceful manner, are the best way to bridge cultures. The guides are meant to start that process and to lead to face-to-face conversations. The guides are icebreakers individuals can read on their own to make awkward conversations easier. Answers in these cultural competence guides are meant to be clear, honest and non-judgmental.
  

The authors of this guide are Michigan State students Jacob Arnold, Sierra Marie Baker, Reagan Dailey-Chwalibog, Juliana Montoya Padilla, David Reiss, Maris Claire Ryckman, Jiayuan Wang and Zixuan Wang.

From the Back Cover

How has U.S. immigration policy changed in the past 50 years?

Has U.S. immigration policy changed on the past 50 years?

Do immigrants need special visas or permits to work in the United States?

Why is the term "illegal alien" discouraged?

Are people placed on "watch lists" based upon their country of origin?

What happens when an unauthorized immigrant is deported?

This guide answers questions in ways that can help people learn without fear that they might embarrass themselves or offend others. Information is clear, concise and based on research and policies.

This little book is meant to be just a starting point toward more conversation, the best way to learn about people.

We hope this guide and the resources in it lead you to greater understanding and more meaningful interactions with immigrants to the United States, who now come from many lands and situations.

100 Questions and Answers About U.S. Immigrants is part of a series of guides published by the Michigan State University School of Journalism.

From the Inside Flap

Foreword by Sonia Nazario

Immigration is among the most contentious issues in the United States. When I speak about this issue around the country, some colleges hire extra security guards. Still, consistently, six in 10 Americans say they would allow immigrants who came to this country unlawfully to have some path to legalize.

Why the gap between the rhetoric and reality? Immigrants used to mostly settle in six states: California, New York, Texas, California, Florida and Illinois. Most people in this country didn't personally know an immigrant. Many still don't.

Their view of immigrants came from an increasingly polarized media--where people who are conservative watch TV channels that confirm their views and biases, and people who are liberal watch other channels that do the same.

In the past two decades, migrants have spread out. In search of jobs, they have gone to every nook and cranny of this country: to meatpacking plants in Omaha, Nebraska, construction sites to re-build New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, poultry processing lines in Pocahontas, Arkansas.

People have gotten to know an immigrant as someone who cleans their offices at night, mows their lawn, takes care of their children. They no longer see them as a black-and-white caricature: the criminal rapist hell-bent on taking jobs from Americans who will destroy the country, or the saintly worker whose hard work and sacrifice will cure all that ails the U.S. economy. They see that immigrant not as a one-dimensional saint or sinner--but as a human being.

They begin to empathize with immigrant struggles. Ultimately, this is what will alter the discussion about immigrants: Facts provided by this book, to dispel the many myths I hear around the country about immigrants, and a personal connection to one immigrant and their story.

Empathy is needed more now than ever. Most migrants coming to the U.S. unlawfully today aren't coming from Mexico for a better economic life. Most are coming from Central America. They are fleeing some of the most dangerous countries on Earth--where control by gangs and narco traffickers bringing drugs from Latin America to the U.S. means children as young as 9 or 10 in Honduras are recruited by these bad actors to work for them. If you refuse, they kill you. They are refugees.

In my travels in the U.S. and in Central America, I have met many of these children. I urge readers of this book to meet one of these children in your community.

If you do, you will see someone with strengths and flaws, someone looking for safety, freedom and opportunity.

Someone not so different from ourselves.

Sonia Nazario is an award-winning journalist and author who has written about immigration, hunger and drug addiction. Her book "Enrique's Journey" traces the life of a boy who fled Honduras to be reunited with his mother in the United States. A fluent Spanish speaker of Jewish ancestry, Nazario has lived in Argentina and followed Enrique's route.

Edition details

• Publisher: Michigan State University School of Journalism
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1942011520
• ISBN 13: 9781942011521
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 100