Angela's America's Ethnic History Blog

As we have been studying there has been much buzz around the term "chain migration" as Trump wants to end it and have stronger immigration control. Many people really don't know exactly what chain migration is, " The misconception is that any immigrant can bring as many family members as they would like when they come to the United States. In actuality, the process is much lengthier, in some cases taking up to 23 years, and is limited to certain family members." The article goes into detail to discuss the breakdown of chain migration, #1 is the benefactors. "United States citizens or lawful permanent residents (green card holders) have the ability to sponsor a family member to come to the United States." There is an application process, and not just any immigrant is able to sponsor a family member to be able to come, it isn't a free for all which is what some people think. #2 the number of visas that are granted each year, currently every year ther...

Early this morning I was scrolling through Twitter, as I always do when I saw something in the News section saying that many women across the US have spoken up about being sexually assaulted while being detained in ICE centers. The article I found stated that there have been 1,224 complaints of sexual abuse and half of those are accused work for ICE. Men and women all across the US have been reported being forced to perform sexual acts with those that are working in the ICE centers they are being detained in, one man shared, "a man said a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent threatened him with deportation after he refused to engage in oral sex — and that the officer told him he would be deported to Haiti, even though the man is from the Bahamas." The reports that The Intercept have been filed from between 2010 and September 2017 I am sure the number has recently gone up, between 2010 and 2016 there had allegedly been a total of 33,000 complaints surrounding abuse ...

Defense Secretary James Mattis made an order for ICE to not deport veterans but they aren't listening to him and it is affecting a Chinese immigrant by the name of Xilong Zhu. Zhu enlisted in the Army and enrolled himself into the University of Northern New Jersey which was a university that had been created by the Department of Homeland Security to pose as a real university to catch people who were given fake student visas. Through attending this university Zhu was able to enroll in basic training and receive his visa but ICE asked the Army to let him go since he was there on a fake visa. "He was released after three weeks and is currently waiting for a Seattle judge to issue a ruling on his removal proceedings, according to the Post.“Xilong Zhu, a citizen and national of China, was admitted to the U.S. as an F-1 nonimmigrant student in August 2013 but failed to maintain or comply with the conditions of his nonimmigrant status. As a result, on Nov. 10, 2016, ICE issued him a ...

Jakiw Palij is the last Nazi War Criminal in America and he isn't being deported, even if he was going to be deported it isn't like any other country wants to take him either. ICE has deported a total of 56,710 people in their 2018 fiscal year so far, 46% of those deported have not even been convicted of a crime, yet Palij is still in the US. "Palij served as a guard during World War II at the Trawniki forced labor camp, which also trained those participating in “ Operation Reinhard ,” a plan to exterminate every Jew in German-occupied Poland. He entered the country in 1949 without divulging his past and was later awarded citizenship, of which he was stripped by a federal judge in 2004 and ordered deported." Palij played a major role in making sure 6,000 prisoners faced their death at the hands of the Nazi's one night as they planned an escape but Palij helped in the prevention of their escape which lead to them being systemically butchered. Palij no...

In class today we were discussing Elián Gonzalez, I had never heard of his name prior to class. I learned that he was born in 1993 in Cuba his parents were divorced and in 1999 his mother brought him when she escaped Cuba and the Castro regime. Unfortunately, his mother passed away on the boat they were on trying to flee Cuba, Florida fishermen found 5-year-old Elián floating on an inner tube. His family members wanted him to stay in the US but his father who was back in Cuba and had parental rights wanted his son back with him in Cuba and he was sent back by the Clinton administration in 2000. The article I found was published towards the middle of last year going into detail about specifically happened to Elián when he was younger. It gave information on his background story and how he is using his publicity from what happened to him when he was 5 to speak up during the Cuban Revolution. Elián's case is very well known, it took two years for the US and Cuba to decide whether he...

The DACA discussion has been continuing as there has been a discussion in creating a short-term deal that Trump has appeared to be open to. There have been discussions to create a simpler deal that will allow the Trump administration to be able to start building the wall they so desperately have been wanting to make. By March 23, 2018, there needs to be a new spending bill which means there will be discussions of how to go about DACA. "The outlines of the deal Trump is now willing to explore are much narrower, said the officials familiar with the offer: a two-or-three year extension of the DACA program, which now protects about 690,000 immigrants, coupled with an unspecified amount of border wall funding-hewing to a framework that some GOP moderates explored in the aftermath of February's failed Senate votes. A three-year DACA extension could essentially remove immigration from the congressional agenda until after the 2020 presidential election by removing the threat of deport...

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has been threatening a lawsuit against the Trump administration as the federal government has proposed to include a question regarding citizenship on the 2020 census. Becerra and other attorney generals from other states have come together to send a letter to the U.S. Commerce Secretary saying the question will have an effect on how immigrants participate in the census. If this question is posed, people might not even participate in the census in fear of being deported. Many are worried about this question, and participants may choose to not respond. States with large immigrant populations such as California are worried because this question will affect the total responses they receive. “What the Trump Administration is requesting is not just alarming, it is illegal,” Becerra said. “The California Department of Justice is putting President Trump on notice: if a citizenship question is added to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau questionnaire, we are ...

Parents that enter the US illegally have been held in immigration detention centers with their children but this recently has changed. A Brazilian woman named Jocelyn and her 14-year-old-son entered the US in 2014 both fleeing from violence, Jocelyn was fleeing domestic violence while her son was being threatened by gangs in Brazil. They left behind everything in hopes of gaining asylum in the US but they had a rude awakening and currently are being detained in two separate states. Jocelyn is being held in Texas while her son is being sent to a shelter in Illinois, a mother and her son are being torn apart not knowing when they will see each other again. This goal is to try and deter people from coming into this country illegally, so they fear they will be separated from their children not knowing when they will be together again. The article continued to go into detail discussing how families that cross the border are being charged with federal offenses. "According to public defe...

Wilson Macarreno was arrested in Seattle Washington, for being undocumented when in reality he was calling the police to stop a robbery from happening. The robber was released while Macarreno was taken into custody. Macarreno's lawyer said he fled Honduras in 2004 from the violence that was breaking out all over the country he hasn't had any criminal record in the US either. "Officers questioned a trespasser, but they lacked probable cause to arrest him, so he was released, according to Tukwila Police Department. Officers questioned a trespasser, but they lacked probable cause to arrest him, so he was released, according to Tukwila Police Department." He currently is being detained at an ICE center, "According to the Seattle Times, he will either seek asylum in the US or seek to be released because his arrest was improper." It was crazy reading this knowing that all Macarreno was just trying to stop a crime from happening, thinking he is doing a good deed th...

Jamal and his three children. On January 24, 2018, Syed Ahmed Jamal who is from Bangladesh was planning on taking his daughter to school like he did every morning when ICE officials showed up and arrested him and his brother Syed Hussain Jamal. Jamal’s wife tried to hug him goodbye, but ICE officials threatened to arrest her for “interfering” with their arrest. Jamal who is 55 years old is a chemistry professor and came to the US on an international student visa during the 1980s. Jamal tried throughout his years in the US to gain permanent citizenship, but the journey was challenging. He had been given student visas, and at one time was detained for overstaying a departure notice but was allowed to stay in the US under supervision. His family knew that one-day he might be deported but they never thought that day would end up coming, he was respected in their community, involved in his children's schools, and a very respected professor. He is being detained by ICE more than 150 m...

Unfortunately, it seems like there is going to be no deal between the Democrats and Republicans when it comes to DACA. DACA has been a hot topic for the past few months since Trump and his administration decided to put an end to DACA. DACA was introduced back in 2012 by then President Obama (whom I deeply miss and still consider my president) to protect the deportation of those that were brought into the US as children. Those who are here in this country through DACA are known as Dreamers in reference to the Dream Act of 2001. Everything that has been going on with DACA and what is going to happen has been on many peoples minds and seeing what Trump and his administration have to say/have planned to do are keeping everyone waiting. It seems like no matter how much we hope there is going to be a deal made there still hasn't been one. "Stakeholders working toward a deal on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, likely including border security, are not giving up hop...

I found an interesting article this week discussing how an Irish teenager has now found himself a victim of Trump's ongoing battle with immigration and ICE sweeps. Dylan O'Riordan has been held in ICE detention center, he was born in Ireland and came to the US when he was 12 years old, he had a green card but stayed past the 90 days. When he stayed past he continued to live his life like an American teenager, his girlfriend had gotten pregnant and he worked for his uncle to provide for her and their unborn baby. When Dylan and his girlfriend were at the mall they got into an argument and the police became involved, even though the charges had been dropped and the judge let Dylan go someone in the courthouse had tipped him off to ICE and he was picked up. Dylan states in the article ""I was aware how with Trump immigration was going to get a lot harder, but I didn't pay as much mind to it as I should have, which was my first mistake," he says." Dylan even...

Trump recently had a meeting on immigration where he said some not so nice things but countries such as Haiti, El Salvador, and the continent of Africa as a whole as "shithole countries." Hearing this I honestly wasn't surprised because it is something that would come out of Trump's mouth, but it is still unbelievable that this man is the President. Everyone that was at the meeting surrounding the topic of immigration was in complete shock at the things Trump said and his tone of voice. At the end of the day can we be completely shocked by what he said? It's disheartening to know that this man is in office, making decisions that are going to tear families apart. https://splinternews.com/trumps-immigration-meeting-was-even-more-racist-than-we-1822106353

There is no hiding that one of the main goals of the Trump administration is to crack down on immigration. During his campaign, he emphasized building a wall along the boarding states of Mexico to prevent people coming into the country illegally. This wall has been a hot topic ever since, and many people are upset with this while others agree with the wall. People leave their home countries to come to America a place they do not know to gain a better life for themselves and their family. There is always something being said in the news about the various things Trump has said he was planning on doing surrounding the issue of immigration. Recently a New York Times Article titled, Trump Appears to Endorse Path to Citizenship for Millions of Immigrants  we see Trump in a different light surrounding the topic of immigration. " President Trump on Tuesday appeared to endorse a sweeping immigration deal that would eventually grant millions of undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizensh...