CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES

~ Civics ~

Citizens in a democracy have the right and responsibility to make informed decisions. You will make an informed decision on a public issue after researching and discussing different perspectives on this issue.

Immigration Pathfinder

GRADE 10 or 11 What has been the impact of immigration to the United States?

CLASSROOM How does this issue relate to our democratic ideals and how

BASED does it involve our rights and responsibilities?

ASSESSMENT

Essential Questions:

What has been the historical significance of immigration to the United States?

What are the current political perspectives surrounding immigration?

What are the world wide perspectives on immigration to the United States?

What democratic ideals are related to the debate on immigration today?

What constitutional principles are involved in the debate?

Books

The books and media listed below represent some of the most recent publications on the subject of immigration. Both the historical and current political perspectives related to immigration are covered.

303.48 Castaneda, Jorge G. The Mexican Shock: Its Meaning for the United States. New York: The New Press, 1995.

304.8 Daniels, Roger. American Immigration: A Student Companion. New York: Oxford University Press, c2001.

304.8 Encyclopedia of American Immigration. M.E. Sharpe, c2001.

305.8 Hing, Bill Ong. To Be an American: Cultural Pluralism and the Rhetoric of Assimilation. New York: New York University Press, c1997.

305.9 Martinez, Ruben. The New Americans. New York: New Press, 2004.

325 Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, c2005.

325.73 Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia. Ellis Island and the Peopling of America: The Official Guide. New York: New Press, c1997.

973 Gonzalez, Juan. Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America. New York: Penguin, c2000.

Video/DVD

304.8 The Promised Land: Exploring the U.S. Immigration Policy. Videorecording. Mount Kisco, NY: Human Relations Media, c2001.

304.8 Destination America: the People and Cultures that Created a Nation. Videorecording. Hollywood: PBS Home Video, Distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment, c2005.

304.8 America's Immigration Debate. Videorecording. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences, c2004.

325.73 American Dream, American Nightmare. Videorecording. New York: A&E Home Video, Distributed by New Video, c2000.

342.73 Justice Factory 2: Volume 12, Immigration Law. Videorecording. New York: Ambrose Video Publishing, c1997.

Online Resources

Proquest: a database of journal and magazine articles available in most schools and public libraries

Use the Advanced Search option

Search for “immigration” and select “subject” in the pull-down menu

Make sure to select “full text articles only” to access the most information in your search

Proquest will give you a list of narrowed topics.

Each search will yield a list with options to narrow the topic further.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center/ Thomson/Gale: available through most public library systems

A search for “emigration and immigration” yields results in all of the following categories and covers the points of view of various stakeholders.

Viewpoints: Essays from both sides of the issue

Reference: Topic overviews

Magazines

Academic Journals

News

Primary Sources

Statistics: Results of surveys and other data collection

Includes: “Refugee arrivals by top ten countries of origin, 2003”

Multimedia: Broadcast transcripts and podcasts

Websites

eBooks: purchased references that may be available for online access in your school or public library

These reference books may also be available in hard copy on your library’s reference shelves.

Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. Leonard W. Levy and Kenneth L. Karst, Eds. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. 3164 pp. 6 vols.

Governments of the World: A Global Guide to Citizen's Rights and Responsibilities. C. Tate, Ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006. 1580 pp. 4 vols.

U.S. Immigration and Migration Reference Library. Sonia Benson, Ed. Detroit: U*X*L, 2004. 1391 pp. 6 vols.

Intute: a new free resource from the UK with pre-selected websites

http://www.intute.ac.uk/

Interactive Web Lessons from Verizon Thinkfinity (for teachers & students)

Selected Lessons from the home site:

http://thinkfinity.org/home.aspx

Human Migration Within and Into the United States

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/09/g912/migration.html

Selected Websites

Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930

http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/ *

Part of the Open Collections project at Harvard University, this site contains digitalized print resources and external links to information about immigration. This resource is primarily historical in nature, but there are links to current census information about immigration as well.

*Linked with permission as required on the site.

Immigration: United States Government Accounting Office

http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/featured/immigration.html

There is a lot of data related to immigration on this website including demographics, labor markets, immigration enforcement and border security, and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

http://www.ice.gov/

The focus on this site is law enforcement under Homeland Security.

American Immigration Law Foundation

http://www.ailf.org/

This site’s goal is to increase understanding in American Society of the value of immigration. It also has information about current immigration law.

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov

The Library of Congress has many resources for students and teachers. A search for “immigration” will link you to lessons, collections, and other information on the subject.

Karen Burns, Gig Harbor High School

Pictures: Microsoft Clip Art