how-do-migrant-immigrant-folks-experience-migration-to-the-u-s-southern-border-and-the-american-dream

Papers that do not address the bulleted themes will lose 5 points for each unaddressed theme

Papers that do not cite any of the bulleted references will lose a total of ten points

Papers that do not meet the page length requirement will lose a total of five points

You are also free to bring in outside sources, but they should be supplementary to the course readings. Papers should also be numbered and in a standard citation style (Chicago or MLA).

In Luis Urrea’s The Unwinding the author documents the death of 14 migrant Mexican men as they attempted to cross the U.S. southern border into Arizona. A confluence of social, economic, and political factors led to this catastrophe. How do migrant/immigrant folks experience migration to the U.S. southern border and the American Dream?

• What is the border?/What are the conditions at the border?
• What role has ICE played in the systematic oppression of migrant peoples?
• What conditions at home lead to migrant folks attempting to undertake dangerous border crossings?
• What role do the coyotes play in the oppression of migrants?

References:

• The Devil’s Highway
• Crossing Mexico’s Other Border (Available on YouTube)
• José Manuel Santillana’s lecture on migration

Please consider citing a selection from Gloria Anzaldúa’s famous Borderlands in your discussion of the border. I have linked it here and will attach it to the email. It is a short, poetic and beautiful understanding of the U.S. southern border and would aid in your discussion of the border (if you do cite it you will receive 1 point of extra credit)