Immigration

Each year, about 65,000 undocumented young people graduate from high school only to find a brick wall between themselves and thefuture. They are some of the 2 million or so children living in the United States without “papers.” In most cases, these young people were brought here by parents at an early age and, for any number of reasons, have not been able to obtain legal residency or citizenship.

The students in my Adult Basic Education class are from a wide range of ages and backgrounds. Some are immigrants in their 20s, brushing up on their English before applying to college in the United States. Others are parents in their 30s and 40s, learning English so they can get better jobs and help with homework that their English-speaking children bring home. Still others are retired adults, having left the workforce and now having time to study English formally. Our doors are open to all of them.

For more than 20 years, Teaching Tolerance, based in Montgomery, Ala., has worked to help educators embrace the diverse classroom. We strive toward bias-free schools. We advocate acceptance, respect, equality and safety for all students.

Oct. 8, was a day of victory for a group of 22 Life Academy students in Oakland, Calif.

They are part of a 2-year-old advocacy club called “The Real DREAM Act Movement.” Students met regularly to support in campaigning for the passage of the federal DREAM Act. After several weeks of active letter writing and campaigning, their dream had finally come true: California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law AB 131, a companion bill to AB 130, together known as the “California DREAM Act.”

I wish I could introduce Santos to many residents in my state. Santos is a fifth-grader at my school. I want to keep him safe.

He was in my classroom for the first half of second grade. His parents are migrant workers, so when the spring, summer and fall work on South Carolina farms slows and stops for the winter, they take their family to other places and look for life-sustaining employment. Over the past three years, Santos has spent part of the school years here and part away.

Now that a federal judge has upheld most of Alabama’s new anti-immigration law, supporters can crow that the state is “No. 1” –at least when it comes to cracking down on immigrants. But what does that crackdown mean, practically speaking?

Teaching can be humanizing work.

This is how it happens.

The Rodriguez family walks down the hall and turns the corner to my room.

The county career center in my school district boasts a 96-percent placement rate, even in these days of near double-digit unemployment. That’s because its graduates develop skills our community needs. Students build houses. They repair cars. They network computers. Whether their next step is college, an apprenticeship or immediate employment, most high school students who complete a tech school program exit with a head start toward security.

If only that were true for all.

Alabama’s new law—with provisions against hiring, harboring or transporting undocumented immigrants—is bad enough for adults. But it is potentially disastrous for kids. 

Today’s conventional wisdom is that English language learners (ELLs) need to master English as quickly as possible. Everything else is secondary. If these students remain fluent in their primary languages, good for them. If not, no big deal.