Unit 3: Lesson 3.3 How are public policies on immigration shaped?

Standard(s):

1. Democratic government depends on informed and engaged citizens who exhibit civic skills and values, practice civic discourse, vote and participate in elections, apply inquiry and analysis skills and take action to solve problems and shape public policy.

8. Public policy is shaped by governmental and non-governmental institutions and political processes.

Benchmark(s):         

9.1.4.8.2: I can evaluate the role interest groups, corporations, think tanks, the media and public opinion play in the political process and public policy formation.

9.1.1.1.3: I can evaluate sources of information and various forms of political persuasion for validity, accuracy, ideology, emotional appeals, bias and prejudice.

Essential Question(s):         

What are interest groups, think tanks and the media and what role does each play in the formation of public policy?

Is the information I can access valid and factual? How do I know? Are bias and prejudice present in the information I access? Is there an ideological agenda present in the information I am accessing?

Immigrants are people who come to the United States, or any country for that matter, from a different or foreign country. People leave for a myriad of reasons. Some are refugees seeking asylum from a political or religious persecution situation. Some immigrants are simply seeking a better life for themselves or their families. Immigration collectively refers to the system of all the people coming to the United States, under whatever circumstances, from a foreign country.

For as long as our country has existed, immigration has been part of the national dialogue. Late Senator Edward Kennedy’s words frame the history in a nice way:

"Immigration is the story of American history. From the earliest days of our nation, generation upon generation of immigrants has come to be part of a land that offers freedom and opportunity to those willing to do their part. Immigrants built our great cities. They cultivated our rich farm lands. They built the railroads and highways that bind America from sea to shining sea. They erected houses of worship to practice their faiths. They fought under America’s colors in our wars... over the centuries, immigrants came to America from every part of the globe and made the American dream. They created a nation that is the envy of the world."

- Edward Kennedy, archived in Immigration Daily

So long as immigration has existed, so have the debates surrounding immigration. Interest groups such as Amnesty International have created global connections to promote immigrant rights. Conversely, the Political Action Committee Americans for Legal Immigration speaks out against amnesty and all forms of immigration other than completely letter of the law legal immigration. Meanwhile, the think tank Center for Immigration Studies tries to cut down the middle to research and inform both sides of the debate. All these groups hire lobbyists that lobby tirelessly to members of Congress hoping to persuade members to vote in favor of legislation that is supportive of their subjective views. All groups claim to know what to do to set public policy that is in the best interests of the nation as a whole, and claim to be “non-partisan.” Do the groups have biases? Of course they do. It is in their groups identity to be completely one-sided as it comes to immigrant issues. Each group presents facts in their arguments, but can we rely solely on interest groups for objective news? Our founding fathers felt the answer to this question must be a strong “no.” The desire for protections of a free press in our first amendment suggests that our founders believed the media to be the only true way for the public to attain ideologically-neutral, unbiased reports on the news of the day. Done deal, right? Free press checks all the facts, we can completely believe everything we read. Not so fast. According to an infographic done by Business Insider, it seems about 90% of the media we consume is controlled by 6 companies. What if the leaders of the corporations hold biases, or worse yet prejudices, that are anti-immigrant? Will these views drive their media output? Will public opinion be shaped by corporations that are more subjective? How do we balance all the information we have at our disposal regarding immigration?

 While the questions asked are large in scope, if we take a meaningful view of immigration from an objective viewpoint we can come up with reasonable ideas that hold true to our country's founding. After all, we are a nation of immigrants. To say anything to the contrary would be to deny our history. If, instead, we embrace our shared past and consider meaningful and factual approaches forward we might be able to come up with public policy that lives up to the promises made by our founders.

In the activities that accompany this lesson, you will try your hand at evaluating the role that the stakeholders in the immigration debate play, while also evaluating all sources of information you are viewing for its’ objective validity. You can now go on to Unit 3: Activity 3.3 and follow instructions from there.