ISSUE 1 IMMIGRATION The Constitution of the United States
guarantees all US citizens written rights. The Constitution is the
supreme law of the United States of America. The First Amendment
prohibits Congress from obstructing the exercise of certain
individual freedoms: freedom of religion, freedom of speech,
freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of petition.
The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits the federal and state governments
from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's
"race, color, or previous condition of servitude". Participating in
civic life is seen as part and parcel of being a good citizen in
the USA. Voting Rights USA
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THE USAS IMMIGRATION LAWS Only 85,000 short term visas for
skilled foreign workers are available in any given year. Around 1m
green cards, which offer permanent residency status are issued each
year. These are expensive and onerous to obtain.
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ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND MEXICO The USA more than most is a
nation of immigrants. The debate in the USA is about who should be
allowed in, how many should be allowed in and on what basis. Mexico
is a pressing issue. Roughly half of Mexico's population lives on
less than $5 a day. The US minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Its not
hard to see the attraction of El Norte.
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ECONOMIC MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES America has constantly drawn
strength and spirit from wave after wave of immigrants... They have
proved to be the most restless, the most adventurous, the most
innovative, the most industrious of people President Bill Clinton,
1998 As with all countries, it is important to distinguish between
economic migrants, who generally do not gain legal admission, and
refugees, as defined by international law, who can gain legal
status through a process of seeking and receiving asylum. Refugees
compose about one-tenth of the total annual immigration to the
United States. The issue in the US is how to deal with illegal
immigrants; either those in the country, working and living in the
shadows or those attempting to enter illegally. Illegal immigration
is one of the most charged political issues. Becoming a US
Citizen
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THE GROWING IMPACT OF HISPANICS At the moment, because many
Hispanics are either too young to vote or are not U.S. citizens,
not all of their population growth translates into immediate
electoral strength. Some 15.5 million Hispanic U.S. citizens are 17
years of age or younger and 12.8 million of all ages are not U.S.
citizens. Half of the babies born in the USA today are non-white.
No matter what happens with immigration patterns in the future, the
ageing of the US born and the Hispanic youth bulge ensures that the
electoral strength of the nation's largest minority group will
continue to grow in the coming decades. And much of that growth
will take place in states that have swing congressional seats and
key Electoral College votes.
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THE BORDER The USs border with Mexico is long. It bristles with
fences, armed guards, vigilantes and drones. It is 1,954 miles long
and stretches from Imperial Beach, California, and Tijuana, Baja
California, in the west to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville,
Texas, in the east. According to the Migration Policy Institute, a
think-tank, border enforcement costs $18 billion a year, more than
all other federal criminal-law-enforcement agencies combined.
Breaking into the USA
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THE USA NEEDS IMMIGRANTS Supporters of immigration point to the
contribution immigrants make to the US economy. They claim that new
immigrants work harder and they also add to the cultural melting
pot which the USA has always been. De-criminalising illegal
immigrants would also make financial sense. They would then have to
pay taxes, an estimated $48 billion over the next ten years could
be raised. President OBama! President Obama himself comes from
immigrant stock.
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STATE ACTIONS Federal attempts to resolve the immigration issue
have repeatedly failed. Democrats tend to be more sympathetic than
Republicans towards immigration but the balance of power between
the House of Representatives and the Senate leaves reform in
gridlock. President Obama has been frustrated with the DREAM
reform. In the summer of 2012 he issued an Executive Order which
gives legal status to the small subset of illegal immigrants who
were brought to the United States before they turned 16 years old,
are no older than 30, have been in the U.S. for at least five
years, have been convicted of no serious crime, and have a
high-school diploma, a GED, or a stint in the U.S. military. Some
states, therefore have gone it alone with their own laws. DACA
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ARIZONA LAW Arizonas state law on immigration, SB1070, signed
on April 23 2010, makes illegal immigration a state misdemeanour
(in addition to being a federal civil violation). It empowers local
police to make lawful contact in order to check the immigration
status of people who cause reasonable suspicion and to arrest them
if they lack documents. To the Hispanic community, this, in effect,
means that Hispanic looking drivers will be pulled over by the
police on potentially any pretext. Arizona Law
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ALABAMA LAW The Alabama legislation requires schools and
employers to find out whether their students and workers are in the
country legally. It also makes it a crime knowingly to give a lift
or rent a room to an undocumented worker. Alabamas state police
also has new powers. If, in the course of their duties, they come
across anyone whose status is suspect they are able to detain them
without question. Alabama Law
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THE GANG OF 8 BILL Gang of 8 Bill In June 2013 the Senate
passed, by 68 votes to 32, an immigration bill, organised by both
Republican and Democrat Senators, the so-called Gang of 8. It
offered to Increase number of visas for skilled workers Fund a
border surge to bolster border security Introduce a guest worker
programme for manual labourers Allow Illegal immigrants to
eventually become citizens if they pay taxes, pay a fine and stay
out of crime President Obama broadly welcomed the proposals but the
bill was defeated in the Republican controlled House of
Representatives. The Republicans are likely to maintain control of
the House of Representatives after November's mid- terms, and may
win the Senate, too. A federal immigration bill looks to be years
away.
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2012 SUPREME COURT RULING The U.S. government challenged the
Arizona law in the Supreme Court based on the concept of federal
supremacy. Immigration regulation, the federal government argued,
should be in the hands of the federal government, not the states.
The Supreme Court made it clear that immigration law is undoubtedly
a federal responsibility. But the court declined to rule on the
constitutionality of the most controversial provision in SB 1070,
which authorizes the police to verify the immigration status of
people stopped for other law-enforcement purposes. So the Arizona
etc police can, for the moment, continue to stop people for
jaywalking or driving with a broken headlight, and ask to see their
papers. Supreme Court ruling
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CHILD MIGRANTS In the summer of 2014 thousands of children many
of them fleeing extreme violence and poverty in Honduras, Guatemala
and El Salvador have been locked up in overcrowded US detention
facilities. President Obama has struggled to deal with this
humanitarian crisis. The President has requested $3.7 billion in
emergency funding. The money will pay for border patrols,
immigration judges, aerial surveillance and detention facilities.
Child Migrants
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THE MURRIETA MUTINY In July 2014 protesters succeeded in
turning back three federal government buses destined for a border
patrol facility in Murrieta. The buses had been carrying 140
undocumented immigrants most of them women and children who were
being moved from an overwhelmed Texas facility. Opposing them were
the Brown Berets a controversial Hispanic vigilante group
originally inspired by the Black Panthers. Murrieta Protest
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ISSUE 2 CRIME AND JUSTICE In February2012, Trayvon Martin, a
17-year- old African American was shot dead by George Zimmerman, a
white vigilante, inside a Florida gated community. The shooting
once again brought race to the nations attention as the local
police did not arrest the Mr Zimmerman, believing him to have acted
in self defence. The local police were accused of racism. In July
2013 Mr Zimmerman was found not guilty of manslaughter. In August
2014, an 18 year old African American, Michael Brown, was shot dead
by police in Ferguson, Missouri. George Zimmerman verdict Michael
Brown shooting
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YOUNG BLACK MALES Young black males remain in crisis. Depending
on the statistics you read it is still possible for there to be
more young black males in jail than university. Almost one in 10
young black men are behind bars. In 2007, one in every 15 black
children had a parent in prison. Americas jail population
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A NEW JIM CROW? Michelle Alexanders study of the American
criminal justice system alleges that African American males are
discriminated against by the criminal justice system. She concludes
that the old Jim Crow laws of The South which discriminated against
African Americans have been reintroduced. For example, in
Washington, D.C. three out of four young African American males are
expected to serve time in prison. In some states black men have
been sent to prison on drug charges at rates twenty to fifty times
those of white men. A New Jim Crow?
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A GROWING UNDER CASTE? The proportion of African American men
with some sort of criminal record approaches 80% in some major US
cities, and they become marginalized, part of what Alexander calls
"a growing and permanent under caste. There are now roughly the
same number of black men in American prisons as the populations of
Glasgow and Derby combined.
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EXPLANATIONS There are several reasons for this. Most jail
sentences for blacks are for non-violent drug offences such as
possession of crack cocaine. Crack cocaine is a relatively cheap
drug and is freely available in many African American housing
projects. Racial profiling has been shown to target
African-Americans for police stops and searches. And drug dealing
is more likely to be out in the open in poor communities, but
behind closed doors in suburbs. Poverty and dysfunctional family
life are other contributory factors.
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ISSUE 3: EDUCATION The US education system appears to increase
inequalities. Why? Firstly, there is the private option and like
all independent schools, you tend to get what you pay for; good
grades, facilities and out of hours opportunities. University in
the USA is expensive. There are scholarships and outreach
programmes but for many the cost of a degree is prohibitive.
Tuition fees for an undergraduate at the Harvard School of
Education are around $40,000 per year. Tuition Fees USA
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EDUCATION Compare, for example Harvard Westlake, in Beverly
Hills, LA and Young HS, just off Crenshaw Boulevard. Young HS has a
student population comprising 89.4% African American and 10.6%
Hispanic. 0.0% white. 88% of children receive free school meals.
Harvard Westlake is in Studio City, LA and overwhelmingly white.
99% of students go to university upon completion of school. Fees
for 2014-15 are $33,500pa, (another $2000 if youre a new applicant)
plus $2000 for extra curricular expenses and $2200-2400 if you need
bus transport.
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RE-SEGREGATION? Across the USA, wealthier whites have been
leaving inner- city school districts. In a 2012 report, UCLAs Civil
Rights Project noted: Nationwide, the typical black student is now
in a school where almost two out of every three classmates (64%)
are low-income. In New York state, nearly 50% of public school
students were low-income in 2010, but the typical black or Latino
student attended a school where close to 70% of classmates were
low-income. Conversely, the typical white student attended school
where less than 30% of classmates were low-income. New York
schools
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Only 1 in every 6 four year olds in the USA is in a public
pre-school programme. Early years, as we know in Scotland, are the
critical time for developing the human brain and emotions.
President Obamas 2014 budget seeks to close those gaps by including
$75 billion to expand high-quality preschool programmes. EARLY
YEARS
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A schools population reflects its catchment area. The catchment
area reflects the economic status of those who live there. Students
from schools in affluent areas tend to have better exam results and
experiences than those in poorer economic areas. Traditionally
minority groups have lived in poorer areas. This is one of the
reasons why school attainment has, on the whole, been worse for
children from minority backgrounds. They also are less likely to
gain the other valuable life skills in extra-curricular sports and
competitions which impress employers. There are often strong peer
group pressures to join gangs and drop out of school. CATCHMENT
AREAS Strawberry Mansions High, Philadelphia, PA
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YES WE CAN? In many areas, America is becoming more separate
and less equal. In 2008, 96% of African Americans voted for
President Obama. When Obama took office in January 2009, the
nation's unemployment rate stood at 7.6%. For African-Americans, as
a group, the unemployment rate was 12.6%. In July 2014 the USA's
unemployment rate was 6.2%. The rate of unemployment for blacks is
11.5%. More than half of African-American men without a high school
diploma are unemployed. Yet the nationwide rate for those without
high school diplomas is just 11.6%.
