Health, Education and Immigration: Connection, Complications, and Complexity

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By Jordan Jewell, Page Gardner, Ashlee Taylor and Katelyn Burnsfield

Healthcare can be a cause of concern for anybody. Wrapped in political rhetoric, it’s getting increasingly difficult to discern what information is trustworthy, what laws are in affect where, and what to do about it – And that’s for American born citizens. For immigrants and other foreign-born citizens, the struggle is even harder. We examined the overlap between health and education for immigrants, and the specific struggles they may face.

The Latino Education Crisis

As of 2018, the Latino community is the largest growing minority population in the United States. The National Education Association found that in 2018, there were about 59.9 million latinos in the US, a 1.2 million increase from the year before. The same study that points out the intense growth of this population also cites the extreme disconnect between the number of Latinos living in the US and the amount of Latinos attending grade school and college and the amount of latinos graduating with a degree.

In addition to the lack of attendance, studies are finding that latino students aren’t thriving along with their white peers. A 2017 study from the Center for Literacy focusing on immigrant literacy found that Hispanic’s struggle the most with literacy, falling in the 8th percentile. The Latino Education Crisis stems from a lack of resources among the community. Many immigrant children who do not seek english fluently find it difficult to relate to their peers and are unable to get the appropriate attention that would be needed in order for them to move forward in the school system.

While the language barrier does create problems in communication among latino students and their teachers, it’s not the most critical cause of the crisis, according to the NEA. The most prominent reason that latinos are failing to receive a proper education stems from teachers not being properly equipped to meet the needs of their students. This institutional failure creates an increased anxiety among students and school faculty, and inevitably sets thousands of immigrant children up for failure.

The statistics of the Latino education crisis are staggering. In a 2008 study via the Current Population Survey, 12% of Latino’s had completed a bachelor’s degree in comparison to the 37% of White people and 21% of African Americans. An excerpt from the book “Meeting Students Where they Are” notes that the lack of Latino’s graduating from college starts at an early age. “Access to preschool education, of which Latino children have less than any other major group (NCES, 2009a) contributes to some, but not all of, this gap.” This is alarming when compared to a study from Gormley, which found that Latino students benefited from a Pre-school experience more than any other group. 

These articles offer up plenty of solutions to this long standing crisis. The primary need that must be addressed is hidden right inside of the schools being impacted. The quality of teachers being employed and the resources being supplied must be up to caliber in order for the Latino community to succeed in the classroom. In “Meeting Students Where They Are,” the suggestion is made that in order to get Latino students to excel through high school and college, the focus must be shifted to early childhood.

In addition to the encouragement to begin cognitive enrichment at an early age, the NEA also emphasizes the need for teachers to be better prepared. They include information from a survey of 5,300 California teachers which found that the inability to communicate properly with students and their families was the number one concern in the classrooms. When dealing with families that speak little to no English, a barrier is created between the school and the home, often times creating a volatile learning environment.

Healthcare for Immigrants: Podcast 

From their perspective…

College Junior and Criminal Justice major, Cassondra Curtis discuses the difficulties she has faced as a first generation college student at her home in Waterford, Michigan on Monday, November 11, 2019. Cassondra’s mother immigrated to the United States in 1994 from Poland.

Curtis describes her strategy’s for managing stress and anxiety at her house in Waterford, Michigan on Monday, November 11, 2019. Balancing school work with a full time job in order to pay her bills, Cassondra likes to make weekly lists of her assignments and any other important dates to keep herself on track.

Curtis tours the FANUC Robotics American Headquarters with her internship program in Rochester Hills, Michigan on Saturday, November 23. Through the criminal justice program at Oakland Community College, Curtis works with underprivileged students to help them build trusting relationships with adults in their community.

On Monday, November 11, 2019 in Waterford, Michigan, Curtis explains that keeping a separate and organized workspace helps her stay on track of all of her assignments and other work she needs to get done. As a first generation college student, she has been forced to navigate the world of applications and financial aid paperwork on her own.

College Help Centers for Student Success: Podcast

Hamtramck city in Wayne County, has the highest number of foreign born citizens in Michigan. Hamtramck Public School District, with a population of almost 4,000 students, is catering to their diverse population with the Hamtramck School-Based Health Center: a free clinic at Hamtramck High School. The clinic, run by social worker Sarah Peslar, is set up through the Children’s Hospital of Michigan and provides free health care services to all students enrolled in Hamtramck public school district. We sat down with Sarah to discuss healthcare and immigration in the communtiy.

Final Reflection Blog Post

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At the beginning of my JRN 4100 semester I knew very little about reporting in any sense other than writing. I’ve worked at the Oakland Post and Hour Detroit magazine for several semesters and the majority of the journalism classes I’ve taken were writing based.

My favorite unit that we covered in this course was the audio story unit. As an avid podcast listener, it was really interesting to hear about how podcasters decide on what stories they should cover. I especially liked our class discussion about how sometimes, you plan out a story, do all the leg work, and it doesn’t work out. I’ve always struggled with letting stories go when they don’t flesh out. Especially when working with audio stories, it’s important to make sure the story you’re telling is well planned out and interests the listener. When working on the lab, I was surprised how easy it was to record the audio and add music to it. I’m sure people who tell audio stories put more than a single class period length of time into their recordings, but it was reassuring to know that it’s possible for someone who isn’t professionally trained to dabble in podcasting.

While I found the photo story unit interesting, photography is something that I don’t see myself working in. I think it’s fascinating that some people have the eye to see something happening and frame it correctly to create a great story. I can hear about a topic and point out what would make a good story that people would want to read, but visually I would need a lot more practice. While I was happy with the way my photo story for the simple project turned out, I wish I would’ve gotten even more creative with it.

I was very surprised how much I enjoyed working on the data analysis unit of this course. When I read the syllabus, this unit sounded like it was going to be boring. I’ve never been a numbers person, but working on the lab for this unit was so interesting to me. I think it peaked my interest because there was no right or wrong answer. The data was provided and I was allowed to draw my own conclusions and analysis about what impact it would have on the topic.

Overall, I’m really glad that we covered immigration as our topic for the semester. It’s such a hot topic issue in todays news cycle, but it can be hard to get a clear idea of what’s really going on based on a simple google search. This class allowed for a deeper dive into this topic while exploring it from a journalistic stand point. By interviewing sources who have experienced immigration and being impacted by the immigration crisis themselves, I was able to develop my own personal understanding and opinions on the topic.

Lab 7: Immigration in Numbers

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Education in Oakland County: According to data.census.gov, approximately 12.7% of Oakland County residents did not graduate from high school. 55.1% received a high school diploma, while 32.2% went on to receive a Bachelor’s degree.

A news report from the Migrant Policy Institute shows that approximately 98,000 unauthorized immigrants graduate from high school in the United States each year. Divided equally among 50 states, that would mean 1,960 unauthorized immigrants graduate in each state.

In Michigan, according to data.census.gov, approximately 1,966,110 students graduated with a high school diploma in 2017. If you use the hypothetical 1,960 students per state, that means 0.0009% of graduates in Michigan are unauthorized immigrants.

Pewresearch.org estimates that as of 2016, there were about 100,000 unauthorized immigrants living in Michigan. Granted, most of these numbers are hypothetical, they are still discouraging. If only 0.019% of unauthorized immigrants in Michigan are graduating from high school, what is happening to the rest? Some of these 100,000 may be elderly, or too young to have graduated yet, but it is safe to say that there is an alarming number of unauthorized immigrants graduating from high school.

Despite the ever changing immigration policies in the United States, there are laws in place that protect unauthorized children to still gain an education despite their immigration status. Slyer vs. Doe was a Supreme Court case in 1982 which ruled that “because undocumented children are illegally in the United States through no fault of their own, they are entitled to the same K–12 educational opportunities that states provide to children who are citizens or legal residents.”

DACA was also created to protect undocumented children outside of the educational landscape. DACA provides relief and support to young people who have been directly impacted by the threat of deportation. Despite this policy being challenged by the current administration, it provides necessary support to young people who are being affected by decisions that were made for them, not by them.

As the data shows, not nearly enough unauthorized immigrants are completely high school with a diploma. Countless outside factors may affect the course from grade school to high school graduation, but it is still an opportunity that should be awarded to all children seeking an education.

Simple Story Project: The DuRivages and Their Journey from France

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The DuRivages, Art (47), Diane (42), Claire (24), Brendan (17), and Elise (5) live in Commerce Township, MI. Art and Diane immigrated from Arles, France in 1999, they have only returned to France four times, but their home is decorated with photos sent from their loved ones.

In 1999, Art and Diane DuRivage were a newly wed couple with dreams of living anywhere but France. They moved to Michigan from Arles with very little understanding of American culture and a two-year-old daughter to provide for.

“Do I think moving here was the smartest choice in the world? Of course not,” Art says, recounting the hasty decision. “But we were young, we were excited. The United States was a fresh start for us.”

The DuRivage’s are all acutely aware of how much the immigration process has changed since their move. It was before 9/11, before terrorism was an American fear, before a president was elected with the intention of sealing all boarders. “Being an immigrant used to be something I didn’t even have to think about,” Claire says. “Now, I can’t turn on the news without seeing how difficult it is to get in, and even to stay in.”

Arts work in a large construction company often takes him out of state. Last year, while overseeing a building in Texas, three of his employees stopped showing up for work. At the time, the company wrote this off as the employees quitting. Maybe, they were tired of working in the hot sun, maybe they found a better paying opportunity. The option that haunts Art to this day is one that he realized months later, maybe they had been deported. His workers in Texas were predominately Mexican, many of whom were undocumented.

“It bothers him a lot,” Claire says. “We have it really, really easy. I think that reminded him of just how simple our move here was. So many people have to live in these scary situations where they don’t know if they’ll be able to keep their families safe.”

In 2018, ICE deported over 256,000 people, raising 9% from 2017. Statistics like this are shown daily on television news stations. Claire’s younger sister, Elise, caught a glimpse of these reports. At five-years-old, it’s nearly impossible for her to fully understand the immigration crisis in the US. The entire family is able to recall instances of Elise crying, wondering if her French-speaking parents will be taken away by what she calls “president people.” Through the eyes of a child, the crisis can be terrifying. Through the eyes of a child in danger of deportation, it’s hard to imagine the horror.

As the DuRivage’s attempt to educate Elise on immigration laws and the crisis itself, they are full of both sadness and gratitude. “I don’t know how else to say it, but I feel lucky that I don’t have to worry about deportation right now,” Diane says. “I can’t imagine what these families have to go through on a daily basis. I don’t know how to help and at this point, I’m worried that no one can help.”

Blog 6

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This lab was surprisingly fun to work on. I was worried about the prospect of filming an interview and editing it myself, something I had never done before. My partner was super helpful with understanding iMovie, but once I got working on it I found that it was fairly easy to use.

It’s really interesting to me that people do this kind of thing as a career. My Intro to Journalism course had a speaker once who worked at a local television station and he spoke to us about having to set up his own camera, film himself, and edit it. I don’t know if I could ever edit for a career because it requires such a strict attention to detail and visual creativity. However, I think that it’s a very important career in the journalism field.

As we discussed in class, the video needs to be interesting in order for audiences to tune in. With the political climate that we are currently experiencing, journalists are faced with a new challenge: get viewers interested in news that seems never ending and down-right depressing. Video editors are able to go in and create interesting, watchable coverage of topics that may seem mundane but deserve recognition.

Lab 5: Audio Stories

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For this assignment I chose to research and write a script about the definition of DACA and what it means to be a DREAMer. These were two terms that I had heard in the media for a long time, but never taken the time to research.

DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and DREAMer is another name for the recipients of this aid. This type of aid is extremely important in the lives of young immigrants because many of them were brought here illegally without their consent and are now faced with a constant fear of deportation.

As a part of Donald Trump’s immigration policy, he is attempting to repeal DACA by claiming that it is unconstitutional. As of October 2019, this repeal is on hold. It’s likely that a verdict will not be reached until 2020, leaving over 800,000 young people who are covered by DACA in suspense.

Sharing the stories of immigrants protected by DACA sheds light on the importance of the act as well as the necessity to keep it in existence.

Click here to listen to Defining Politics.

Blog 5: Audio Story Reflection

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Podcasting is something I’ve always found interesting as a listener. I have two or three podcasts that I keep up with regularly and I’ve always wondered about the recording process. Obviously, this project was a lot easier than editing an entire hour long episode, but it was still a really involved process.

The exciting thing about podcasting is the freedom it allows creators. I was able to choose any topic (related to immigration) and any background music, sound, etc, that I wanted. The process of editing it was also fairly simple. I tried to integrate music at appropriate times, which was difficult when covering a serious topic. A lot of the podcasts I listen to are more light hearted and I think a topic like that would be easier to edit music into.

When choosing a topic, I wanted to do a definition of something related to immigration. I felt by simply defining a term, I could expand on its relevance in today’s society and political climate. DACA is a term that I heard thrown around for years in the media, but had never bothered to actually research. It’s a really important program and I think that repealing it could have extremely negative consequences. When writing my script, I wanted to define the term but also explain the humanity behind it. By explaining the direct impacts of this act and the people it’s protecting, it adds an emotional aspect to an otherwise cut and dry story.

While hearing the sound of my own voice is a little annoying, I think this project was really successful in terms of helping me learn something new about the immigration crisis.

Extra Credit Post: Podcast

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True Crime Obsessed’s official logo as featured on their Facebook page.

Over the past week I have started listening to True Crime Obsessed. This podcast follows hosts Gillian and Patrick as they watch true crime documentaries and then recap them to their listeners. I thought that the format of this podcast was really interesting because instead of talking about these crime cases based off of a variety of sources, they examine it from one source: the documentary.

The hosts are hilarious and are able to weave their humor into these sad cases in a way that doesn’t feel disrespectful, but rather like you’re discussing the case with a friend over drinks. I will say, as much as I love the podcast so far, their voices can be a little hard to listen to at times. Most of the episodes are fine, but they occasionally get so fired up about a case that I find myself removing my headphones. I love the overall tone of this show, mixing humor with serious topics, but the tone of their voices could use a little work.

This podcast is perfect because you can listen to the episodes out of order and jump back in wherever you want. I think that they do a really excellent job of covering cases and documentaries that their viewers are interested in. They also are extremely active on social media and constantly take input from their fans and implement it in the episodes. My favorite episode so far has been their coverage of the documentary “The Disappearance of Maura Murray.”

Lab 4

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Claire DuRivage, student at Michigan State University, talks about her families immigration from Arles, France. Photographs taken by Jordan Jewell at Proving Grounds Coffee in Milford, MI.

Claire DuRivage is a child of French immigrants. Her parents spent the first half of their lives in Arles, a city in the South of France. While her parents didn’t have any difficulties in the immigration process, the news about the immigration crisis terrified Claire’s youngest sister, Elise (5 years old). Elise’s fear makes Claire emotional as she recalls the five-year-old coming into her room late at night worried that the government was going to come and take her family away from her. Claire recognizes that she has no chance of being deported, but is overcome with sadness for those who may be ripped from their homes and families.