In my last post I focused on the housing and employment situations that immigrants encounter when they come to the United States. These situations are typically what adult would encounter, so this week I will be focusing on the education and medical experiences, which I feel affect the children more.
https://www.danburyisd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1606102&type=d&pREC_ID=1802903
I am sure that many immigrant children and child of immigrants have experienced ESL, or English as a Second Language. I myself have gone through the program and depending on who you had as an instructor it could have been a good or bad experience. For many foreign-born students, school can be a really scary place where they could face bullying and discrimination, with their accents being the main target.
A school should be a place where a student comes to learn, not be harassed. According to UNESCO, “data from Europe and North America show that immigrant students are more likely to be bullied than their native-born peers”, and this can affect their academic accomplishments greatly. When considering the effects of bullying overall, “children who are frequently bullied are more likely to want to leave school after finishing secondary education than those who are not frequently bullied”.
https://brycs.org/schools/filing-a-bullying-or-discrimination-complaint/
Enough about bullying for now, I would like to focus on college and the struggles that many immigrants or children of immigrants experience when they experience college for the first time for themselves and their family members. As you can see in the graph above, the first and second generation with international make up a small percentage of immigrant-origin students. The reason why I left out third/higher generation is because at that point the family will most likely be “Americanized”. According to The New York Times, “Once immigrant-origin students are in school, their dropout rates tend to be higher because many come from poor households”. This is related with my last post, but I went over how these families are more likely to succumb to poverty or stay at low/ lower-middle class because of the obstacles in their way (housing, employment, etc.).
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https://www.thebalancemoney.com/is-it-better-to-finish-college-faster-or-debt-free-2385737
This being my first year in college, I have felt an immense amount of pressure to do well academically, personally, and financially. I focus on my studies, apply to scholarships, and have been working in order to support myself and my family at home; I know that the majority of students in my position are doing the same. There is just so much to do and a lot to think about, which leads to immigrant-origin students dropping out of their post-secondary education. Ms. Batalova, a senior policy analyst at Migration Policy Institute, shared, that “if there is a health or family emergency, they lack a safety net to fall back on. That interferes with attending classes and completing assignments” (Jordan).
https://centerforhealthjournalism.org/resources/lessons/story-immigrant-health-care-policy-changing-fast-it-pays-stay-flexible
This brings me to my next point: the issues that immigrants face medically. Personally, I have seen my parents and grandparents deny medical attention due to their mistrust of the American HealthCare system. I feel like this is a huge problem in immigrant families, especially since “In 2018, almost one-quarter (23%) of authorized immigrants and almost half (45%) of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. did not have insurance”, which is insane because these people are dying silently, leaving children, siblings, parents behind. Whereas my sister and I are in the Medicaid program, my parents and grandparents do not have health insurance; the main cause of this is because they are not able to afford it, so they just go around hoping that they do not get terribly sick.
As discussed in my previous blog, immigrants are a great contributor to the U.S. economy, this also includes the health care system. Despite not having health insurance, they help support it financially and even reduce the cost of care by paying taxes (Health). Not to mention that another reason why immigrant families are hesitant to go to seek medical help is because of the racial discrimination and stigma that they themselves encounter. Depending on the area that the families reside in, “U.S.-born immigrant children may not have full access to the benefits afforded to them by citizenship because of their parents’ status or challenges such as language barriers” (Misra). This leads to inequities for these children health-wise, all because there was nobody that spoke their language at that facility.
https://www.texaschildrens.org/departments/program-immigrant-and-refugee-child-health
Overall, the United States should make the effort to provide for the immigrant population, especially considering that they and their children are the future of America.
Citations:
“Behind the Numbers: Ending School Violence and Bullying.” Unesdoc.unesco.org, UNESCO, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000366483.
“Health Coverage and Care of Immigrants.” Published: Dec 20, 2022. KFF, 3 Mar. 2023, https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/fact-sheet/health-coverage-and-care-of-immigrants/.
Jessica Hill a, et al. “Immigration Status as a Health Care Barrier in the USA during COVID-19.” Journal of Migration and Health, Elsevier, 20 Mar. 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666623521000039.
Jordan, Miriam. “Children from Immigrant Families Are Increasingly the Face of Higher Education.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Oct. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/us/immigrant-families-students-college.html.
Misra S, Kwon SC, Abraído-Lanza AF, Chebli P, Trinh-Shevrin C, Yi SS. Structural Racism and Immigrant Health in the United States. Health Education & Behavior. 2021;48(3):332-341. doi:10.1177/10901981211010676
“National Data on Immigrant Students: Higher Ed Immigration Portal.” Presidents’ Alliance, 2 Feb. 2023, https://www.higheredimmigrationportal.org/national/national-data/.
First of all, I love that you have interactive graphs in your post.
I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to go to university as a first or second generation immigrant or someone who doesn’t have English as a first language. I think I would have given up on the application process if I didn’t have my mom to help me. I know she was the first in her family to go to college, and I don’t know how she did it. Not being familiar with English or American universities would have undoubtedly made that harder. It isn’t even just a language or culture barrier, but social as well. My grandfather was an immigrant, but my mother wasn’t really raised with her father’s culture. She didn’t deal as much with the cultural or language discrimination, but she looked different than a lot of her classmates and has told me stories about how she was treated in school.
This has become a big part of her life. She now works at Penn State and runs the Hazelton campus’s student success center. A lot of what her department does is helping first generation students with the college process and helping people from different cultural backgrounds adjust and find community. The Student Success Center’s website is definitely worth a look, they have a lot to offer. ( Student Success (psu.edu) )
I like to see that Penn State offers these resources, but still not everyone knows about them or has access. Other universities might not have these. Not to mention, that is only at the university level. I have never heard of k-12 having things like this. My two Tia’s and their families recently moved to Florida from Brazil. The younger ones are really struggling in school. The thing is, they go to a fairly well off school in a predominantly immigrant-populated area. You would think a school like that would have better resources.
The medical aspect is a whole different monster. America is kind of famous for having a less-than-perfect healthcare system. I find myself having to fight to be listened to and be taken seriously, and my friends feel the same. If you are female, it’s just hormones/menstruation causing the problem. If you are overweight, it is your weight causing the problem. If you are a POC, the problem can’t be that bad. It is hard enough having to advocate for yourself if you grow up with the language.
First off, thank you for yet another amazingly thoughtful blog, loved reading it!
I completely agree with your thoughts. It is essential to create a safe and welcoming environment for all students, regardless of their background, to ensure that they can learn and develop to their full potential. Bullying and discrimination can have a massive impact on a student’s mental health, academic performance, and future opportunities. So schools should take necessary steps to prevent such incidents and promote inclusivity and diversity.
Furthermore, higher education is an great way to improve someone’s socioeconomic status and contribute to society, but it can be challenging for immigrant students. These students may face financial and personal challenges that may impact their academic achievements and future prospects. Therefore, colleges and universities need to provide support and resources to help these students navigate the challenges of higher education, such as offering financial aid and mentorship programs.
Access to healthcare is another significant issue that immigrant families face, with many lacking health insurance or mistrusting the healthcare system. Culturally sensitive and accessible healthcare services can go a long way in addressing this issue and ensuring that everyone has access to essential medical care.
We need to be providing support and resources to immigrant populations because it is crucial for their success and the country’s future. It is essential to acknowledge and appreciate the contributions that immigrants make to the economy and healthcare system, and take necessary steps to ensure that they have access to education, healthcare, and other essential services.
However, in schools providing support and resources exclusively to immigrant populations is sometimes damaging. While it is important to create a safe and welcoming environment for all students, singling out a specific group for special treatment can create resentment and division among the students. I saw this in my highschool in Texas, there were lots of resentment from some of the white students toward immigrant students and there were lots of racial division in the school. It’s a complex issue of providing them the resources they need in a tactful way to not cause issues.
Also, integrating into American schools can be especially challenging for immigrants who speak Spanish as their primary language. These students may face language barriers that can make it difficult for them to communicate with teachers and peers, as well as to understand lectures and assignments. They may feel isolated and excluded from social activities and interactions due to cultural and language differences. This can lead to feelings of alienation and disengagement from the academic community, which can negatively impact their well-being. It is important for schools to provide language support, cultural sensitivity training, and resources to help immigrant students overcome these barriers and integrate into the school community. This is another thing that caused a lot of racial divide in my highschool, there were quite a few language barriers that made making friends difficult for kids who didn’t speak spanish as some kids primarily used it.
One more kind of issue I saw was bias. A lot of latinx kids were especially targeted by searches and inspections for bad conduct. The APA talks about this as well. I think in the future really delving into racial bias and how they pose an issue for immigrant kids would be great. Here’s the link: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/11/cover-inequality-school. This mainly talks about black and white students but I think a lot of the ideas carry over to immigrant (especially Latinx) students.
Overall, amazing blog, this was such a fantastic journey to go on!
Hello Jacqueline!
First off, I want to write a great civic issue blog this week! You continue to make me want to educate myself more on the employment and housing situations for immigrants in America. While researching I stumbled upon the Nation Council of Family Relations article, “A Place to Call Home: Housing Challenges Among Immigrant Families” they wrote, “Immigrant families face housing challenges including a lack of affordable housing, health hazards, and overcrowding. Family professionals can support housing by asking about immigrant client housing, connecting with resources, supporting culturally sensitive housing programs, and encouraging political engagement.”(NCFR 2020). While they have steps to stop such a struggle from housing immigrants some immigrants aren’t exposed to things like this. This also ties in with employment.
Employment for immigrants is that the unemployment rate for foreign-born persons in the United States was 5.6 percent in 2021, down sharply from 9.2 percent in 2020, the U.S. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Shockingly enough according to BLS, “65.7 percent of the foreign-born population aged 25 and older participated in the labor force in 2021, while the native-born rate was 62.0 percent.”(PGPF 2021). The fact that even the United States citizens /that are born here aren’t in the workforce more t/han the immigrants says something. But If the immigrants are working so hard why is it so hard to find housing. Your immigration status cannot be used against you, meaning whether you are documented or undocumented is irrelevant. Under New York State Labor Law, there are provisions for mandatory minimum wages and overtime compensation. The FLSA sets a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour or $2.13 for workers who earn tips.
I really was empathetic to your story about being the first generation in your family to go to college. My brother was the first one in our generation to go to college so I can imagine how stressful it must be with the amount of pressure on you just to not make a mistake. When you showed that statistic according to The New York Times, “Once immigrant-origin students are in school, their dropout rates tend to be higher because many come from poor households” I honestly don’t find this statement shocking. I read something on how the top three reasons why first generation students drop out is due to financial burdens, lack of support, and inequitable access to resources.
This Civic Issue blog has grasped my attention even more after doing our deliberation on immigration issues. I will continue to research more. Again I really enjoyed your blog!
Cites:
https://www.ncfr.org/ncfr-report/summer-2020/place-call-home-housing-challenges-among-immigrant-families#:~:text=Immigrant%20families%20face%20housing%20challenges,programs%2C%20and%20encouraging%20political%20engagement.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/forbrn.pdf
https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2022/11/the-foreign-born-labor-force-of-the-united-states
This was a really interesting read for me. All of my mom’s siblings and parents are immigrants, but their experience has never really affected my life directly all that much. But one of the things that I’ve noticed is the image projected onto immigrants. There’s definitely a certain color that people associate with immigrants. Like, one time we were talking to someone and it was brought up that my family were immigrants and people were like “oh really” versus another Hispanic girl who said the same thing and people just said “oh okay.” It’s not really anything major, but it is interesting how people perceive immigrants.
What I really liked was how you talked about immigrants in terms of college students. I think a lot of times many socioeconomic issues tend to get overlooked and can even make people uncomfortable. A lot of people assume that every college student can automatically afford to go to college and get an education, but that’s only partially true. I also think that by including immigrant college students in your post, you gave a voice to the voiceless. I kind of wish a lot of people at Penn State in general could see this post because it would open their eyes and raise a lot of awareness for the different types of people on campus. It may even foster understanding and start conversations amongst individuals who once may have not liked themselves.
I also loved how you included the graphs. As humans, we’re actually all visual learners so this definitely helped me better put things in perspective. I also really liked how you talked about the medical dilemma that immigrants face. I once had a Spanish teacher who told me “there’s no such thing as an illegal human being. I don’t know what it means to be illegal.” That always stuck with me, and I think you emulate this idea in your section about healthcare.
I found two sources that I thought really relate and tie into this post. This CNN article details how two Texas valedictorians are not only undocumented immigrants, but they’re going to highly respected colleges and universities on financial aid. What’s so sad to me is how some people reacted, telling them that they should “go back to their country” or that “they can’t be here in the United States.” These are students who have lives and dreams, and they worked just as hard if not harder as the kid sitting next to them in their classes. There’s so much more to immigrants and I wish people realized that.
The second article talks about how Arizona will give in-state tuition rates to undocumented immigrants trying to afford an education. This is especially interesting considering that Arizona once had one of the strictest policies on undocumented immigrant status (which showed as the movement barely passed). The article also talks about how one student, Erika Andiola, received a letter back in 2006 that told her if she couldn’t provide a social security number, she would lose all of her financial aid. And speaking of finances, the rates are crazy. Undocumented immigrants have to pay 150% more than other students to attend public schools (not colleges). Needless to say, Erika was very happy to hear about this new legislation.
Overall, I really liked your post and thought it was thought-provoking and interesting. Like I said, I wish more people could read it to gain a better understanding of the people around them.
https://money.cnn.com/2016/06/17/news/economy/undocumented-students-college/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/us/arizona-prop-308-undocumented-students-cec/index.html