U.S.-Mexican Immigration Through Many EyesA Webquest for 8-12 GradeMexican/American Cultural/Economic Study 
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IntroductionEvery day people immigrate to the United States both legally and illegally. While these people come from many different countries, many come from Mexico. Many people think that immigration from Mexico should be totally stopped. Many think that it should be limited. Many people think that there should be a guest worker program. Some believe that Mexican immigrants are a boon to the U.S. economy while others think that they are a drain on social services. Many want anyone of Hispanic descent to leave even if their families have been living in the U.S. for centuries longer that many other citizens. Why are these opinions so diverse? What are the facts? How does this immigration affect both the United States and Mexico economically? How does it affect U.S. citizens economically? How does it affect Mexican citizens economically? How does it affect Mexican immigrants? Can a consensus be reached? It is up to you. | ||
TaskYou have been chosen to advise the presidents of the United States and Mexico on an immigration treaty to be negotiated by the two countries. You will represent a specific group of people. You will investigate only from the viewpoint of that group. You will prepare recommendations backed by your research that you have conducted by always keeping in mind the qualities and needs of the group that you represent. Each group will report to the rest of the groups in order to write a consensus paper from all groups to send as your best-combined advice to send to the presidents of the United States and Mexico. As a part of the recommendations each group will prepare a costs and benefits analysis in economic terms of the needs of the group in relation to immigration. They will use these analyses to build a consensus among all groups to produce a written policy that will be an acceptable compromise for all groups. The policy will be presented to the class by a panel of representatives from each group. | ||
Preactivity 7Students will read the article The United States and Mexico: Partners in Reform to get a picture of the issues about Mexican Immigration at: http://new.heritage.org/Research/LatinAmerica/BG1715.cfm and Mexico Appeals to U.S. for Immigration Reforms at: http://www.ailf.org/pubed/pe_mex_overview.asp and read all about United States immigration http://www.closeup.org/immigrat.htm | ||
Process
1. Students in groups will research U.S.- Mexican Immigration to look at the issue through the eyes of different groups of people on both sides of the border. They will decide how immigration affects the lives of the persona that they have been assigned. Student groups will all assume the character of a specific person or group who are involved in some way with immigration and/or immigrants. They will research the costs and benefits of immigration to this person or group and prepare a position paper detailing these costs and benefits and what kind of treaty this person or group would like to see the Presidents of the United States and Mexico adopt. Students will also have assignments that are specific to each scenario. Students may work by using other web pages, but if they do they need to evaluate each web page using the guidelines from:
2. Students will work together to come to a consensus incorporating all of the viewpoints
that the students have researched. Students need to understand what consensus is by using the guidelines on the following web pages:
http://www.ic.org/pnp/ocac/#anchor1464290 They will then work towards producing one policy that chosen members of each group will present to the class. 3. Students will be divided into 5 groups. Each group will take on the persona of the person or persons of the scenario. After all tasks are complete, then students will proceed to the hearing.
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I. Hugo Castrellon-Undocumented Mexican Immigrant II. Miguel Juarez and His Family-Restaurant Owners III. Robert Martin-U.S. Teenager IV. Isadora Zaragosa and her Family V. Amalia Lopez-Mexican Immigrant and Medicaid Recipient Hearing Preparation1. Each group will read the person or group description. They will discuss what that person's opinions on the topic of Mexican-U.S. immigration. Each group will study the suggested websites and then they will complete all tasks given them. Each group will bring their costs/ benefits analysis and position statement to the hearing with copies for all of the other classmates. Make sure that students in each group understand all the provisions of their statement that they are proposing. 2. Each testimony group should carefully review their position statements and costs benefits analysis and prepare an outline of arguments to present during their testimony. Their arguments should be based on accurate information. Students may consult resources in the library, local experts, and current journals and periodicals, but must use required web pages. The students in these groups should create or present charts, diagrams, tables, and/or outlines to support and clarify their arguments. 3. Each group will assign a person to be a part of the reviewing committee. This committee will elect a chairman that will preside over the committee who will come to consensus on the details of the final proposal for the Presidents of Mexico and the United States. 4. Each group will assign one person to be a part of the media. The media group will write a preliminary news article, outlining the key provisions of the bill and summarizing the likely arguments to be made for and against the bill. The article will be read aloud just prior to starting the hearing. They may also present any political cartoons or other commentary at this time. The Hearing1. The chairperson of the committee will announce the order in which the testimonies will be given. Each group will have a chance to testify for at least 10 minutes, but none will testify for more than 20 minutes. Various members of the committee will ask questions and take notes. 2. During the hearing, the media group will take notes on their observations. During a break in the hearing, the media will write a press release to summarize the proceedings. They may also release any cartoons or editorials. 4. During a break, the committee will decide whether or not they have come to consensus, or that there is no possible way to do so. After the break, the committee's decision will be announced and discussed. Members of the committee must give clear explanations for the decisions they have made. If they have come to consensus, they will list all the details that will go into the final position statement. If they have not come to consensus, they will list the details that they agreed upon, and they will list the details that they could not agree upon. Each group will return to their original groups and will write a final position statement to send to the presidents. | ||
I. Hugo Castrellon-Undocumented Mexican ImmigrantHugo was a 16-year-old Mexican young man who lived in Durango, Mexico. Hugo's father died when he was young leaving his mother to support a family of 3 boys and 3 girls. His mother runs a corner store that does not make enough money to raise her large family. Hugo's brothers send back money to his mother so that she could support the remaining family. Hugo's family drew him a rosy picture of life in the U.S. They sent him money to come to the U.S. He could not do this legally, (neither did his relatives) so, he had to find a way to get to Arkansas illegally and safely. Hugo came to the U.S. by taking a bus to Tijuana, Mexico and searching for a coyote or pollero to help him get across the border. He paid a man $1500 to take him to the U.S. He walked through the Mexican desert for 3 days and nights and finally made it near the border. The group, who had all paid $1500 each to the coyote, had to hide out in a 3-foot high culvert for two days until it was safe for them to cross the border without detection. The culvert had a few inches of water running through it. They had to remain crouched in the culvert trying not to get wet, and with the fear of the culvert having a flash flood as well. After crossing the border the group took a bus to Los Angeles where they hid out in a house until the coyote deemed it safe for each of them to take a flight to where ever they wanted to go in the U.S. With no papers for working he attended high school to learn English. He graduated from High School, but found it difficult to get jobs without papers. He continued to work odd jobs and live with his relatives finding it difficult to contribute to the family needs. Hugo was asked to take some boxes to a friend of his cousin. He did so and was arrested for delivering methamphetamines to undercover police officers. He had no knowledge of the U.S. justice system and with a public defender as his council he was convicted and sent to an Arkansas state penitentiary for 20 years. In prison he continued learning to speak English and went to school to learn computer skills. He served five years and was paroled. He was required to get a job as a condition of his parole. When he first visited his parole officer, he explained that he could not get a job since he would commit a crime by doing so since he had no papers. He was told to return the next day, and when he did so, he was arrested by the INS and taken to the Washington County Jail. He remained in jail for two months not being told anything about any charges. His family was afraid to visit him not being citizens themselves. He was only visited by a citizen friend. One day the friend called to visit and was told that he had been taken away by the INS. There was no way to find out where he was. He had been taken to an Immigration and Naturalization Service prison in Louisiana, but he was unable to contact anyone as to where he was. After three months, Hugo was flown just across the border of the U.S. and dropped in a border town in Mexico without any money. He had to have money wired to him to get bus fare in order to get to his mother's house.
Tasks for Hugo Castrellon
1. Go to:
2. Go to:
3. Prepare a costs/benefits analysis of Hugo's decision to leave Mexico and go to the U.S.: MAKE SURE THAT YOU USE THE ECONOMIC TERMS THAT YOU STUDIED AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS UNIT. 4. Prepare a position statement that you think Hugo would write about Mexican immigration to the United States. What would he suggest the Presidents put in the treaty? |
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II. Miguel Juarez and His Family-Restaurant OwnersMr. Juarez came to the United States from Guadalajara, Mexico in 1981. He left his family in Mexico, and he entered into the United States as an immigrant agricultural worker. When his visa expired, he did not leave the States, but he moved to Springdale, Arkansas because he had been told that there were many jobs there. He worked in a Mexican restaurant for several years always being paid in cash. He paid no taxes or social security. In 1986 he was given amnesty by the Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA) Amnesty. This was a blanket amnesty for some 2.7 million illegal aliens in the United States. Those who could show that they had resided illegally in the United States continuously since at least January 1, 1982 and those who had worked as agricultural workers for at least 90 days between May 1, 1985 and May 1, 1986 were granted amnesty. This bill also increased border controls and created a program to verify the immigration status of aliens applying for certain welfare benefits. After becoming an American citizen, he applied for the rest of his family (his wife and children) to come to the United States. They were granted worker status, and they all came and started a Mexican restaurant in Fayetteville, Arkansas. They had great success and eventually started two other restaurants. The Juarez family continued to run its restaurants using a mostly cash economy. They continued to send money back to their other relatives in Mexico. They continue to hire new immigrants while teaching them the restaurant trade and helping them to learn to speak English. All of the family and their employees work and socialize together. Mr. Juarez's mother never learned to speak English since she does not work in the restaurants, but she stayed home and tends the children and grandchildren. The men in the family learned English in order to do business. The youngest child in the Juarez family was only two when the family moved north. He went to American schools and learned English and became a typical American teenager. He graduated from college, but his parents were not pleased that he did not care about their Mexican customs. The Juarez family lead very prosperous lives in the United States. They continue to help their relatives in Mexico and they maintain a residence in Mexico, which they visit periodically. They live in a mostly Hispanic community in Northwest Arkansas. They attend Spanish church services, shop in Spanish speaking stores and continue with their Mexican traditions such as Quincañeras, El Cinco de Mayo, y La Señora de Guadalupe. Their youngest child continues to not participate in many of these traditions.
Tasks for Miguel Juarez and His Family
1. Read the article The Occupational Assimilation of Hispanics in the U.S.: Evidence from Panel Data by Maude Toussaint-Comeau at:
http://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedhwp/wp-04-15.html Also read: http://www.cis.org/topics/assimilation.html Write an article for the local newspaper that tells the Juarez story as an example of immigrants who come up having nothing and now are running a profitable business. Add details and the feelings of the family about what they have accomplished. 2. Make a costs/benefits analysis of the life in the United States of a Mexican Immigrant using the article and the Juarez family's scenario. MAKE SURE THAT YOU USE THE ECONOMIC TERMS THAT YOU STUDIED AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS UNIT http://www.cis.org/topics/costs.html 3. Prepare a position statement that you think the Juarez family would write about Mexican immigration to the United States. What would they suggest the Presidents put in the treaty? |
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III. Robert Martin- U.S. TeenagerRobert Martin was 15 years old when he started high school. He came from a poor family that did not value education greatly. His mother, Martha, graduated from high school, but with a C average, and she really did not like school. His father, Alex, did not graduate from high school, went into the military, and now works at Superior Industries on a line making truck parts. He never really liked school and did not really care if his son finished high school or not. He wanted his son to work after school to help the family with expenses and because he thought that it will teach him to be responsible more than school did. Robert also did not value school. He rarely studied and the older he got the more he found ways to skip school. He had a job at Hardees after school that kept him busy from 4 pm to 8 or 10 pm. He did not have time to study even if he wanted to do so. He often did not get enough sleep and found himself falling asleep in his classes. By the time Robert was 17 he had put himself into a hole by not having enough credits to graduate even if he were to take a full load in school and attend Summer School. He started his senior year, but soon he felt that he was wasting his time. On the day that he turned 18 he droped out of school. He continued to work at Hardees, but he soon became tired of the poor pay and fast food. He wanted to move to his own apartment, but could not afford it on his fast food pay. He went to the Army Recruiter to join the Army, but the Army had changed its rules since his father had entered. They no longer accepted non-high school graduates. He hunted for other jobs, but found that he was not qualified for many jobs that paid better. He found that there were few jobs in agriculture or construction with his lack of experience and the fact that many immigrants were willing to work for far less than he wanted to work. His father kept telling him to get another job and stand on his own feet, but he did not have any luck finding a better paying job. He finally got another job telemarketing and started classes to learn some computer skills in hopes of a better job. He tired easily of the long hours and the classes. He was laid off from his telemarketing job due the jobs being outsourced to India. He was on unemployment for several months. During that time he had to search for available jobs. He had to write a journal of jobs that he has applied for and about why he thought that he did not get the job until he found a job and his unemployment checks ended. He finally moved back home and went back to his job at Hardees much to his and the unhappiness of his father.
Tasks Robert Martin
1. Read About Immigration From Mexico at: 2. Make a costs/benefits analysis of the Robert Martin's job search in comparison to Mexican Immigrants. MAKE SURE THAT YOU USE THE ECONOMIC TERMS THAT YOU STUDIED AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS UNIT http://www.cis.org/topics/costs.html 3. Prepare a position statement that you think Robert Martin would write about Mexican immigration to the United States. What would he suggest the Presidents put in the treaty? |
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IV. Isadora Zaragosa and her FamilyImmigrant Money Transfers Expected To Reach $150 Billion This Year This story adapted from article in the Salt Lake Tribune 12/26/2004 by Rhina Guidos SAN DIONISIO, Mexico - In this rural village, there is no industry, no paved roads, not even signs to tell visitors where it begins and ends. There are big houses, though, that wouldn't look out of place in West Valley City. Electricity, too, and indoor plumbing. And cell phones, even in the humblest of adobe-and-brick homes. But for Isidora Zaragosa, 62, all that progress cannot fill the void left by the young, men and women, including her children, who abandoned San Dionisio long ago. Like thousands of other Mexicans, most of them immigrated to the United States - particularly to Utah - leaving behind the broken hearts of their mothers, their children, their husbands and wives. Those good men and women left, Zaragosa said, not because they wanted to but because they had to. They couldn't earn enough money shucking corn and hauling alfalfa in this village of 1,600 to pay for their children's school uniforms, for immunizations, for meat to accompany the scant servings of nopal and maguey cactus the townspeople typically eat. Now, the lucky ones in San Dionisio eat well, in lighted, warmer rooms, all courtesy of the money that family members earn by cleaning hotel rooms, washing dishes in restaurants, building highways, university halls and even Mormon temples in Utah. Worldwide, some 80 million people, like the residents of San Dionisio, work abroad to support their families. Economists call the cross-border monetary transfers they make "remittances." On a global level, remittances are expected to reach the $150 billion mark by the end of the year. What San Dionisio's residents are doing isn't unusual. But because they base the bulk of their economic growth on money they receive from a single source - Utah jobs - their story is anything but ordinary. "Always been heartbreaking": Sitting on the edge of her bed, Isidora Zaragosa recalled all those nights she spent in this room crying and praying to God to please protect her children. One by one, her five sons and two of her five daughters told her they were going to a far away place mentioned by the families of those who had children "on the other side." Whenever someone left San Dionisio that meant they were heading to Salt Lake City, nowhere else. "I couldn't stop them," Zaragosa said. She'd endured a similar loss decades ago, when her husband Inés headed north on a guest worker program to the United States for braceros, the thousands of Mexican laborers who toiled in agriculture or on the railroads while American men fought in World War II. But when her children left, the void was far deeper. "It's always been heartbreaking to watch them go," she said. She knew, however, that she was no different than many of the families of this highland village 62 miles north of Mexico City. For years, no one knows how long, men and women had been leaving, but always remembering to send a few dollars home to help their parents buy corn for tortillas - and maybe a few farm animals. Today, the money flowing southward buys far more than tortillas, and San Dionisio bears the mark of a modern city 1,500 miles away. An old woman walks down the street wearing a purple Utah Jazz cap. A mother shows off a photo of her daughter posing next to a Mormon pioneer handcart and points to a wall laden with coffee mugs of Salt Lake City hotels where her children have worked. Cars and trucks with "Ski Utah" license plates are parked in garages around town. The money Mrs. Zaragoza's son, Francisco, saved from his jobs was enough to buy about 8 1/2 acres next to his mother's property. That's where he's building his dream home, although it's nothing fancy like his brother's two-story house, a replica of the Utah homes they helped build. Back when Francisco was a boy, he watched families struggle to build even rudimentary adobe homes. Some men like his father went to labor in the United States through a guest worker program. Like all braceros, his father In&ecutes was encouraged to put money into a savings program sponsored by banks in the United States and Mexico. But when the war ended and the workers were no longer needed, the U.S. government sent the men home. When they tried to retrieve their savings, the money had disappeared. Those who work in the United States have little trust in banks or the government, and they send remittances directly to families through Western Union or small money-transfer services. Their work and money pads Mexico's towns and cities with almost $10 billion and contributes to an estimated $450 billion that immigrants inject into the U.S. economy, according to the Inter-American Development Bank. Unlike the braceros of the 1940s and 60s, however, today's itinerant workers are not escorted through the country, documented, hosed down and assigned a job. Though some San Dionisians are legal U.S. residents or naturalized citizens, those who cannot obtain legal documents to work abroad seek the services of a pollero or coyote to smuggle them into the United States and eventually Utah. Once they reach Salt Lake City, a network of friends helps them find jobs. In many cases, the townsfolk say, Utah employers place a call to San Dionisio, seek out former or new workers and offer them jobs, even though they know some don't have the documents needed to work. Those San Dionisians who haven't been north are tempted to make the trip because they see first-hand what awaits the families of those residents who do leave. There haven't been any San Dionisian deaths along the border yet, "thanks to the grace of God," Zaragosa said. But the human stakes are growing as an increasing number of women, including Zaragosa's daughter-in-law, leave their children behind to join the U.S. work force. Nieves P&ecute;rez, a shy 15-year-old girl from San Dionisio, lived for several years without her parents along with six other siblings in the care of her grandmother. She said it's nice to get presents from abroad. But it's painful to hear the distant voice of a mother and father on the telephone, and in her case, the cries of an American-born sibling she had never met. But, she said, her parents are good people who just want to give her and her eight siblings "a good life." When asked if the good life is worth living apart as a family, she shrugged and softly replied, "Who knows?" That ambivalence is rarely seen in the adults of San Dionisio, who commute to Salt Lake City every few years and make plans about what they will do in the future with the money from abroad. Isidora Zaragosa says she doesn't want to guess what San Dionisio will look like in five or 10 years if remittances keep coming at their current pace. They already have changed the landscape, the architecture and even the people. The young folks these days talk about finishing secondary school and immediately heading north, she said. For Zaragosa, the only thing that matters is to have her sons and daughters and grandchildren nearby. Remittances may play a part in that, she believes, because eventually her sons will come home to live in the houses they have built. "Some day, they're going to feel old, they're going to feel alone, and they're going to want to return home," Zaragosa said. Her son Francisco tries to lighten her sentiments with a story: On Valentine's Day, which in Mexico signifies friendship more than romantic love, the people decorate the town with the flags of the United States and Mexico, he said. It is a symbol of the well-deserved appreciation San Dionisio owes its northern neighbor. "We are very grateful to the United States," Francisco said. "Without the U.S., we wouldn't have anything here. It's good to feel proud and to be grateful to say, 'Because of that country, I was able to do something here.' I hope this will help my children someday to focus on trying to get ahead, to see what we have done and to follow our example." Tasks Isadora Zaragosa and her Family 1. Read about the Bracero Program at http://www.farmworkers.org/bracerop.html Write 5 letters from Mr. Zaragoza during the time he was in the bracero program to his wife and family in Mexico. Read about remittances at http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ccd06de6-73e7-11d9-b705-00000e2511c8.htm 2. Prepare a costs/benefits analysis of Mrs. Zaragoza's decision to stay in Mexico while her family went to the U.S. Read http://www.cis.org/topics/costs.html MAKE SURE THAT YOU USE THE ECONOMIC TERMS THAT YOU STUDIED AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS UNIT. 3. Go to: http://www.paisanomexicano.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=18 and read about the life of a pollero or coyote. 4. Prepare a position statement that you think Mrs. Zaragoza would write about Mexican immigration to the United States. What would she suggest the Presidents put in the treaty? |
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V. Amalia Lopez-Mexican Immigrant and Medicaid RecipientAmalia Lopez is a Mexican immigrant who came to the United States when she was 15. Her father and mother and her two brothers came by walking across the deserts of Northern Mexico and into Arizona. It was a long and arduous trip. She and her family eventually settled in Arkansas living with friends from their hometown, Tampico, Mexico. She went to school for two years, and learned some English. She was able to attend school because school systems cannot ask children or their parents for information about their immigration status. She did not graduate because she got married and was soon pregnant. Amalia's husband Miguel did not have any insurance because he worked on a roofing crew that paid cash to its workers and did not have any benefits. While he made good money for an uneducated immigrant, he did not have extra money for all of the doctor's bills especially since he was sending money home to help support his parents in Mexico. Amalia went to the Arkansas Department of Health where illegal aliens can receive prenatal care as a part of the state's Medicaid program. The state offers a prenatal care program specifically to illegal aliens who are pregnant, the idea being that the baby who is born of that pregnancy will be a U.S. citizen who's eligible for the state's ARKids First Medicaid program. The state decided to implement an optional program because officials believed it could save money in the long run. On average, prenatal care costs $1300 from doctors' appointments to post-delivery care, compared to an average of $1800 for one day in a neonatal intensive care unit. Good prenatal care can prevent an intensive care stay in some cases. There is a movement in the state of Arkansas to end any services to undocumented aliens. They feel that the aliens are lawbreakers who are just being rewarded with services such as Medicaid and education. The Governor feels that it is important to protect future citizens. Since many Mexican immigrants have not finished school, education is important for their children. It enables them to learn English, acculturate into the American culture and allows them to move up economically. Illegal immigrants often become an underclass of people who do not acculturate, are not educated, do not speak English, have no rights, and can easily be indentured, living in fear, and abused. Undocumented immigrants who use false papers pay taxes and social security but rarely apply for tax refunds or social security. Tasks Amalia Lopez 1. Read about the costs of Social Services for immigrants in the United States: http://www.cis.org/articles/1994/back294.htm 2. Take BOTH sides- Amalia's side that these services are good for the future of Arkansas AND the side of those who think that illegal immigrants are a drain on American taxpayers. 3. Make a costs/benefits analysis of Amalia's choices. MAKE SURE THAT YOU USE THE ECONOMIC TERMS THAT YOU STUDIED AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS UNIT http://www.cis.org/topics/costs.html
5. Prepare a position statement that you think Amalia Lopez would write about Mexican immigration to the United States. What would he suggest the Presidents put in the treaty?
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EvaluationDownload evaluation (28kb pdf) Content developed by Kathy Lemons, Fayetteville High School, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Made possible by the Bessie B. Moore Center for Economic Education at the University of Arkansas. For questions contact klemons@fayar.net. Design and CSS/HTML by Sonia Gutiérrez, sonia@3c21.org, advanced CSS/HTML by Mike Akerman. |
