asian-american-4

Use the current module’s assigned readings and documentary as context to examine issues of Asian immigration in the current political climate. The election year of 2016 saw GOP candidates vying for nomination and often addressed immigration: comments ranged from extending border walls to the mass deportation of undocumented populations to the danger of “anchor babies.”

As a part of Trump’s presidential campaign promises, Trump has tackled the idea of tougher restrictions on immigration, including imposing travel bans, building a border wall with Mexico and trying to rescind the Obama administration’s DACA policy. These issues are still being fought over as the nation moved toward the 2020 presidential election.

This discussion is specifically focused on the discourse around the attempted rescission. Undocumented youth are a population that has been seeking status adjustment with federal legislation for over a long time now. What’s important to note about these immigrants are that they generally did not have a choice in the decision to migrate (being either too young to understand and/or brought over by their parents and relatives) and grow up in all respects “typically” American, often with little ties to the countries from which their parents migrated. (A well-known example is the case of Filipino American Jose Antonio Vargas who became a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist before he revealed his status in a New York Times article.) However, as these youth grow up they realize that as undocumented immigrants they encounter numerous barriers in education and employment, as well as facing the constant threat of deportation back to a land that they are completely unfamiliar with.

While federal legislation is still pending, states (like California) have taken the initiative to extend opportunities to undocumented youth, allowing for in-state tuition and access to financial aid that they would have otherwise been denied. Moreover, the prior Obama administration’s Executive Actions were geared toward allowing youth some semblance of “normalcy.”

However, they are still considered “undocumented.”

For this module, discuss the specific problems that undocumented Asian Americans currently face in the United States. Who are they, and what ethnic groups are represented? Should such a population be granted a chance to adjust their status, if these immigrants are willing to get an education and find gainful employment? What elements of the articles or the short documentary did you find particularly worthy of discussion? (Include specific examples in your responses.)

Moreover, understand that there are also political differences within Asian American communities: who are some of the opponents to undocumented immigrants? Importantly, how do the issues referenced in this module also connect with material that we have discussed before?

at least 300 words