Auld Lang Syne

This is my version of a Christmas Letter.  Here's to the good times gone by of 2012!

January:
Started the year off 'easy' with my family in OR.  And, returned to MD with little adventure along the way.

February:
Included Road Trippin' to Savannah to celebrate my bestie Kate's 25th.  Included first trip to Savannah and first stay in a B&B.

Also went to Las Vegas for my cousin's wedding (no Elvis sadly did not make an appearance).

Celebrated Valentine's day with some of my girls and a splendid pot of chocolate fondue. 

March - April:
Included my first trip to Africa, Ghana to be exact.  An epic time with great students and meeting great people.

April - May:
I attended a rally in front of the Supreme Court to support immigrant rights and celebrated Cinco de Mayo on the national mall.  I also brought my dear roommate Emily for her first Oregon experience.  And, I road a motorcycle for the first time.

June:  My baby sis graduated from High School.  I ran a half marathon with mi madre.  I got to return to El Paso/Las Cruces to visit my border friends.  I drove/road across much of Texas to go to Austin and Celebrate the wedding of my friends MaryMeghan and Jeremy and catch up with my entire Border Servant Corps crew.  Then, my parents and sister came out to Washington, DC to see the sites.

July:  I was a part of the official launch of Engage Globally.  I went to see the fireworks over the National Mall and attend the Folk Life Festival (highlight was seeing the AIDS Quilt).  I also was able to welcome the Nuns on the Bus back to DC. 

August:  I officially became a Maryland Resident.  I went up to Pottstown, PA for my friends' Dave and Kim's wedding (apparently I don't have a picture with them).  And, I broke a bone for the first time.  Celebrated my dad's Birthday.

September: I went to my friend Lacey's Wedding (thanks to my lovely mother who drove me all the way to Roseburg.  I wallowed and watched lots of documentaries and TV (Doc Martin - TV show, Half the Sky - Documentary, Big Bang Theory- TV Show, The Voice - TV Show, Avatar - TV Show) were a few of my favorites.  And, was entertained by my lovely sister, her boyfriend, and many, many, many friends and family members who drove me around, included me in plans, and came to chat for hours.  I got to attend the first day of first grade for the first time in ten years. AND, I got to move my sister into college, attend my brother's charity run, and celebrate my grandpa's birthday with him.

October:  I started an awesome internship at Mercy Corps.  Spent  a weekend in Sunriver with my first grade teacher, her husband, and my parents.  I had some pretty epic Halloween Costumes.  AND, I got off crutches!  I also participated in a Just Peacemaking group with some folks from church.

November:  I started P.T.  Celebrated Thanksgiving with my extended family for the first time in three years and celebrated my mama's birthday.  AND, I got out of my walking boot and walked in matching shoes for the first time in three months!

December:  I ran again for the first time in almost four months.  Turned 26.  Celebrated Birthday and Holidays with lots of family and friends.  Did some wedding dress shopping with my sister, took her engagement photos, and got to see some potential reception locations.  We also did some sibling ceramic painting

That is my year in summary!  I look forward to the next year being better and more exciting than all that came before.  Thank you, to all of you who made this year great.  I am glad we have met and stayed in touch.  I hope to see many of you this coming year and to have phone, Skype, or even facebook chat dates with all the rest of you!  If you come to DC area, let me know!

Lean on me... I'll help you carry on.

Thanks for expanding your immigration knowledge this week.  Below are a few agencies that work across the US providing support to immigrants and refugees.  There are also many smaller agencies that are not working across the country that provide great services but due to the wide-spread nature of my readership, I wanted to highlight the nationally serving agencies.  I also included a few additional links and reading suggestions.

Agencies:

Lutheran Social Services
"Every year, LSS/NCA is proud to welcome hundreds of refugees from around the world to the United States. From the moment a new family arrives at the airport, our staff is at the gate waiting to provide guidance and encouragement. While each family’s story is different, their collective dreams are the same: to rebuild their lives in America and regain a sense of security after years of strife. At LSS/NCA, we support our clients during this important transition by mobilizing community partners and offering a comprehensive range of services to newcomers."

LSS also assists with legal services for immigrants already present in the US at a more affordable rate than most immigration law firms.

Catholic Charities
"Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services (CCILS) provides high quality immigration legal services to low income immigrants and refugees, and engages in public education, training and community outreach in order to promote justice for all newcomers and conditions for their full participation in American society.
Founded in 1996, CCILS focuses on family reunification and assistance to the most vulnerable immigrants, including domestic violence victims, crime victims, refugees, and certain persons needing deportation and removal defense."

I have been connected with Catholic Charities back in DC helping a friend through the legal process and have been impressed with their services.  They handle many of the same kinds of cases that I worked on while in El Paso and also have many refugee programs.  They are in dozens of locations around the US and each one does slightly different work.


International Rescue Committee
"The United States has a long tradition of offering refuge to those fleeing persecution and war. In 2011, the International Rescue Committee's 22 regional offices helped resettle some 7,000 newly arrived refugees and provided services to over 24,000 refugees, asylees, and victims of human trafficking. IRC staff members and volunteers believe that refugees’ greatest resources are themselves. We help them translate their skills, interests and past experiences into assets that are valuable in their new communities."

IRC (I think) is one of the best known agencies working on domestic, refugee issues.  If you want to volunteer in this field, they also actively seem to seek volunteers to assist in helping refugees transition to life in the US- I have a couple of friends who have done this and really enjoyed the experience.

Additional Resources:

Lost in Detention: Documentary on the US detention system

US Immigration Timeline and other resources: More details on a number of the issues I introduced this week, including videos.

Immigration in California: a short movie and information on immigration in California

Enrique's Journey: an awesome and eye opening book on the immigration journey for one young boy

Children of the Harvest: A dateline short on children of migrant workers.

New Immigrants in New York: book about immigrant adaption and challenges in NY.

Race, Rights, and the Asian American Experience: a book about the challenges specific to the Asian-American Immigrant Experience.

Native Speaker: a book about one immigrant's experience.

The Lost Boys of Sudan: is both a book by Mark Bixler and a documentary about the journey of a group of Sudanese refugees.

So You Think You Can Immigrate (the new reality show)

Family-Sponsored	All Charge-ability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
Unmarried, adult Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens	22DEC05	22DEC05	22DEC05	08JUL93	22DEC97
Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents	22SEP10	22SEP10	22SEP10	01SEP10	22SEP10
Unmarried, adult Sons and Daughters of Residents	08DEC04	08DEC04	08DEC04	22NOV92	15APR02
Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens	22JUN02	22JUN02	22JUN02	08MAR93	08AUG92
Brothers and Sisters of Adult U.S. Citizens	08APR01	08APR01	08APR01	22JUL96	15APR89

So, what is this?  Anyone?  Anyone? 

If you answered, a good example of why the immigration system is broken, you win! :)

Even though I haven't worked  in the immigration field for 2.5 years, I still look at this somewhat regularly just for fun or to get angry :).  It is called the VISA Bulletin and basically tells individuals when they are eligible for residency, based on when their family member filed for them and their country of origin (because the US has quota systems- some countries have specific quotas while others are just lumped together).

How it works, in the basic sense, you first have to submit a form called an I-130 (for the low cost of $420).   This is like the little ticket you take to reserve your place in line.  From there, you are given a priority date ( in 5 months to 3 years according to my sources).  Then, you have to wait until your priority date is current to file the appropriate forms to become a resident (get a green card).  This also involves more fees and proving that either you have enough in assets that you will not be a burden to the state or finding others who will sponsor you (basically saying they have enough assets to support you and prove that you will not be a burden to the state).  Side note here: As my sister and I were just discussing, this sponsorship piece can be a big challenge.  For example (not relevant to the bulletin but relevant to the topic of sponsorship), if I, as a US Citizen, was currently planning to marry a non-US Citizen, I do not have the asset base to serve as a sponsor so if that person were also asset poor, we would have to find others to take on the risk of serving as a sponsor.  That commitment lasts until that person becomes a US Citizen - so even if we got divorced, legally, my sponsoring family/friends would have to support that person if they needed it.

Back to the topic at hand, once you have your place in line, you check the Visa Bulletin, which changes monthly (above is Jan. 2013 edition).  To add an additional level of fun, this does not always move in the same direction or at the same pace.  I am sure there is a scientific way of figuring it out, based on how many people are 'in line' but from the outside it looks sporadic and can make jumps of six months in one month and then go back seven the next.

What are you yammering about Karen you may ask?  I will give you an example.  Say, I am Filipino and a US Citizen.  If my sister filled for a a visa, she would have had to have done that on or before April 15, 1989 to be eligible to apply for her green card (2ish years ago, this was at 1986).  Why is this a problem?  Well, that was 23 years ago.  If I am an older person, and it was an older sibling, my fictitious Filipino sister could be dead by the time she is eligible to file for a green card.  There is not a good way to keep track of that so there could be hundreds of people that are no longer interested or alive taking up spots in line.

Another issue is the lag time for adult, unmarried or married children.  I encountered a situation where someone was not getting married because that would push them even farther back in the line to apply for a green card based on their mother's citizenship.

So, first, if you are still reading, I would love for you to comment why, as I am guessing most people will hit the 'I don't care' wall before here.  The Moral of the Story is that even if a 'legal' avenue for immigration exists for someone, they fall into one of these categories, it isn't as simple as it is often made to seem.

Pull Factors

We talked about what pushes people to leave their countries but what are some of the pull factors?

These are three of the key pull factors that come to mind.

Jobs: If there were not jobs to be filled, there would be less motivation for people to come.  Many jobs that most US Citizens I know would never take, provide a steady income and some level of job security that is not available in some home countries.  In the Mexican context, many individuals, sometimes a mother or father or oldest son, will travel to the United States to obtain a higher paying job and then send the money back to their families to give them a better shot at life - providing food, education, better housing, medical care, etc.  Remittances are a large part of the Mexican economy and many of those come from the United States.  This potential opportunity, or the promise of a job, pulls many to leave their homes.  Like it or not, we have in many ways come to depend on immigrants.  Side note here:  Some countries, such as Italy where the birth rate is less than what is needed to maintain the population, have an even stronger pull factor because the economy will cease to function without the influx of youthful labor.

Education/Opportunity: While the United States does not have the competitive education system we used to have in comparison to other developed nations, compared to much of the developing world, our universal, free education is a huge draw.  In the US, in most neighborhoods, all genders and kids from 5-18 can access education and learn as much as their intellect allows.  Higher education, I believe, is also one of the 'easiest' ways to get a visa to the US.  We actively recruit immigrants to study in our schools, while these immigrants are 'documented' it is still a form of immigration and worth including in this list.

Political/Religious Freedom:  I, personally, am at a loss of a good way to connect this to Mexican immigration (could be because it is the middle of the night).  Beyond the security piece, and the draw to live somewhere that the government is not on the cartel's payroll, I am not aware of this being a large pull factor relative to Mexican Immigration.  Many other countries around the world are a bit more challenged by a lack of political or religious freedom (therefore making the relative pull stronger)- these are actually both reasons one can file for asylum (if (s)he is persecuted due to his/her political or religious beliefs).  Side note: There are an ever growing number of individuals seeking asylum from Mexico, but that is more often due to membership in a particular social group - anti-cartel, anti-drug, journalists, etc. and not overtly for political or religious reasons.

Immigration Push Factors

When thinking about immigration, there are both push and pull factors that lead a person to cross borders (legally or illegally), entering a country not their own, and try start a new life.  Today, we shall talk about the push.  What are some of the reasons, Mexicans in particular are being pushed out of their own country?

1) Employment - I would argue this is the largest push factor in most immigration to the US.  When fathers and mothers can't feed their children, or pay their school fees, or provide them with shelter in their own country, they are pushed out to find a better life.
Many individuals in Mexico, historically, were farmers.  When I studied in Mexico, way back in my youth, we spent a couple of days talking about the 'Mexican' relationship to the land.  From my memory, it was very much the idea of Mother Earth.  The agrarian lifestyle was built around this principle of tenderly nurturing new life from the soil, of putting blood, sweat, and tears into the process of producing food for the family - particularly corn.  There was a relationship between the food people ate daily and the land from which it came.  In 1994, when NAFTA was implemented, US-Subsidized food products, particularly corn, flooded the Mexican market.  They were produced through huge agri-business in the US and subsidized to such an extreme that the small, earth respecting farms in Mexico could not compete.  In many of the families, for generations farming was the only way of life and now those jobs simply did not exist, there was no market for their food.  While the brief influx of factory work - through NAFTA- was meant to help offset the shifting economy, there were far fewer jobs and in drastically different parts of the country.  This pushed many people to both migrate internally, and to leave the country in search of work within their skill set, farming.
One report points out, "an average of 500,000 Mexicans migrate to the U.S. each year since the implementation of NAFTA, compared to 235,000 per year previously. Two thirds of Mexican born immigrants in the U.S. came after 1994. This estimated 4.13 million people arrived due, in large part, to the influx of cheap subsidized grains from the U.S, resulting in the decimation of at least two million farming jobs and eight million small farmers. The 1.3 million jobs created during the peak period of the maquiladora industry –assembly plants, typically foreign owned – have only provided a small portion of the jobs needed to cover the millions of workers pushed off their farms or forced out of Mexico’s devastated domestic industries."  It should also be noted, many of the maquiladoras have shut down because labor is much cheaper in China or Southeast Asia so these jobs have again moved.  Also, unrelated to the push factors but worth noting, the working conditions in these factories was often very undesirable. 

2) Violence is also a huge motivation to migrate and can take many forms.  Much of the violence in the Mexican context does stem from the drug trade and drug cartels.
For a while now, Mexico has been getting progressively more violent, largely due to the waring drug cartels.  Around 2008, Mexico received funding through the Merida Initiative, as Mexico's recently elected president sought US assistance to fight crime and drug trafficking.  In theory, this is a great idea fight crime and drug trafficking.  However, the consequences have led to extreme violence in many areas because of the drug cartels fighting for power.  Additionally, when the leader of a drug cartel is 'taken out' other members of that cartel start competing for the leader position, which increases the violence.  The cartel La Familia, which is the one headquartered largely in Morelia - where I studied in college - had just that happen.  I have had a number of friends tell me, returning to Morelia now would not be a wise idea because the violence has gotten so bad.  Also, the high levels of corruption within the military and police forces have also escalated the situation.  When normal citizens can't depend on the police force to protect them, because they are on the cartel payroll, that is a scary situation.  When it is not safe to walk down your own street and you constantly fear your children will be caught in the crossfire, migrating becomes worth the associated risks, again, pushing many from their homeland.

To learn more about the Merida Initiative, here are some links:
NPR on Merida
Witness for Peace on Merida

Citizenship Test

Unfortunately, I could not find a 'could you survive as an immigrant game' and I am not savvy enough to create one.  An example citizenship quiz seemed like a good alternative.  So, what do you actually need to know to pass that test...  You can see how you would do on the US citizenship test.  I will be honest, I tried one of these in High School and would not have been able to pass it.  Now, I got 92% (I blame the missed questions on watching TV while taking the quiz).  Should we revoke your citizenship? ;)

To put this in perspective and have a more true immigrant experience, imagine taking this for another country in the world, in a language that is not your first language...(to my Mexicans and Brits, this part will be easy for you :))

Came you pass the UK's test?

Or this part of Mexico's test?  (I put it in English)

1. Name ten Mexican states and their capitals
2. Who or what was Quetzalcoatl?
3. Name 3 ex-presidents of Mexico
4. What is the official name of Mexico?
5. Who was Francisco Villa?
6. Name 3 heroes of the Independence of Mexico
7. Name 2 Aztec emperors
8. Name the place where Hidalgo made his famous "El Grito" speech on September 16, 1810
9. State the names of the writers of the lyrics and music of the Mexican national anthem.
10. How many peninsulas are there in Mexico?


Just some thoughts :)  And, no I could not pass any of these other tests.

Jesus was an illegal immigrant

 

For those unfamiliar with the term "Anchor Baby" it is a negative term for a baby born in the US to non-US citizen parents.  The term comes because based on US immigration policy, which recognizes Juris Solis, if you are born on US soil you are a US citizen.  Therefore, when that baby turns 18, as an adult US citizen, they can apply for a green card for their non-US-Citizen parents (if they meet certain financial requirements to sponsor their parents, pay application fees, there is no criminal background, their parents are not barred for having entered the country and been caught too many times, they are still speaking to their parents, the moon is full and the stars align, etc, etc).  The baby is anchoring the immigrant parents to the US.

A little discussed concept is the fact that Jesus was in fact an anchor baby.  Bethlehem was not Mary and Joseph's home.  Due to the census, and Joseph's lineage, that was where they had to go to report but that was not their home - as one commentary states this should be clear since they had no family to stay with when Mary went into labor and had to stay in the manger.  The whole family again became immigrants when they had to flee to Egypt - to avoid king Herod killing Jesus.  Jesus then returned with his family to Nazareth where he is not a legal resident, having been born in Bethlehem.  Here he works, as a carpenter, as an illegal immigrant.  That is a different spin on Christmas from what many of us probably hear in church services, no?

For more christian immigration perspectives, check out the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.