Weekly Immigration News

Undocumented Immigrants and the Health Care Debate
(New York Times "Perscriptions" blog, September 10, 2009)
The health care legislation is still being developed, and many of the details could change, so it is impossible to know at this point exactly how immigrants (both those here legally and those without papers) will fare if a health care overhaul is achieved.

As detention center shuts down in Texas, advocates worry about future for immigrant families
(Associated Press, September 9, 2009)
While advocates hail the Obama administration's announcement this month to stop sending men, women and children to the much disparaged Hutto facility, they also wonder how the government will decide which families to detain, when to release them, how they will be transported and whether they'll fare better elsewhere.

Literacy tutor of the year can empathize with her students
(The Island Packet / Beaufort Gazette, September 8, 2009)
When Susan Boyd began looking for place where volunteering would make the biggest difference, she chose Literacy Volunteers of the Lowcountry, an organization that works to teach Beaufort County, South Carolina adults how to read, write, speak English. Boyd was recently recognized as Tutor of the Year, and she thinks her status as daughter of immigrants helps her understand her students and be a better teacher. "My parents met in a class learning how to speak English," Boyd said. "My father did not speak French and my mother did not speak German, so their only common language was English." Boyd said she empathizes with those learning a new language because she's tried to learn Latin, French, German and Spanish and can't speak any of them.

Indian Americans Thriving In Connecticut
(Chicago Tribune via Hartford Courant, August 22, 2009)
The typical immigrant story in Connecticut starts with empty pockets and high hopes, segues into years on a factory floor, a rise to the propertied class and a better life for the second generation. Indian Americans, among the state's latest arrivals, have changed that story. Starting in the 1960s, they came already equipped with college degrees and the ability to speak English. In a relatively short time, these South Asians leap-frogged the struggles of their European counterparts, establishing themselves in the middle and upper reaches of the socioeconomic spectrum.

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum takes no opinion on these articles but rather encourages open dialogue on topics surrounding immigration.