Immigrant Integration in the United States
Policy, Practice and People
HS 307A
Meets Fridays 9:00am-11:50am
Susan Eaton, Ed.D.Jessica Santos, Ph.D.
781-736-3918781-736-8680
Course description:
Immigrants and their children comprise more than a quarter of the U.S. population. Since the nation’s founding, federal immigration policy and national-level advocacy work has focused mostly on how and whether people may enter and stay in the United States, pathways to citizenship and legal status. This course is rooted in a different perspective that explores the ways in which state, local and federal governments, social institutions, and ordinary community members can best respond to immigration and refugee resettlement so as to promote well-being, belonging, prosperity and stability for immigrants and the communities in which they live.
“Immigrant integration” is a new and rapidly evolving policy and practice area and viewed by many scholars and practitioners as an effective counterforce to exclusionary policies and practices. This course deeply explores both efforts designed to exclude and expel as well as efforts to welcome and work toward shared power and co-created pathways toward integration. We consider the historical roots of our federal immigration policy as well as the social constructions, dynamics and processes and intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender and shifting definitions of what it means to be “American.” We explore and critique qualitative and quantitative measures of integration in employment, education, health, and other sectors. We explore the influence and potential of government, non-profits, research, social movements, philanthropy, the private sector and popular culture on policy and practice.
Students will leave with a core set of theoretical frameworks, data sources, and critical policy analysis tools that will enable them to apply an immigrant integration lens to national or local research, or policy/advocacy work in a wide range of sectors.
Course objectives will provide students the opportunity to:
1.Identify and understand a range of theoretical frameworks and data sources from which to engage in intellectual and public dialogues about immigration and immigrant integration in a range of policy and practice sectors.
2.Learn about historical and contemporary constructs of race and gender and structural manifestations of exclusion (racism and nationalism) that affect immigrants in the U.S.
3.Develop in-depth knowledge about 1) integration in at least one U.S. community, 2) the experiences of at least one immigrant/refugee community from a particular sending nation.
4.Apply critical policy analysis tools to understand how the marginalization or inclusion of immigrants operates within in a specific sector (health, education, workforce, criminal justice, etc.), and recommend innovative solutions.
5.Gain general knowledge about contemporary practices in immigrant integration and alternatives to exclusionary, punitive policies across the United States.
Overview of course:
Date / Topic / Key activities/ assignmentsSection 1: Policy History and Theoretical Frameworks
- 1/12/18
2. 1/19/18 / American = white? Theoretical foundations and contemporary policy and practice / Come prepared to represent one theory/reading in class discussion
- 1/26/18
- 2/2/18
- 2/9/18
Section 2: Policies and Strategies to Advance Integration
- 2/16/18
2/23/18 Midterm break
- 3/2/18
- 3/9/18
- 3/16/18
- 3/23/18
3/30/18 & 4/6/18 Spring Break
Section 3: Synthesis and Wrap-up
- 4/13/18
- 4/20/18
13. 4/25/18 / Final presentations / 5-minute in-class presentation
Assignments:
1)Portrait of community change:
A demographic portrait of a changing U.S. community, state or region in the form of a two-page memo to a public official (mayor, county executive, governor, school superintendent) and an incorporated visual. This memo will include recommended areas of inquiry that the public official might want to consider in light of changing demographics.
Ex: To what extent do the office personnel and teachers in our public schools reflect the race, ethnicities, and primary languages of students? Is city hall staff aware that they should not ask people about their immigration status? Are trainings necessary? Students will use publicly accessible online data sources and policy resources to create their portraits. [Due class 4]
2)Midterm presentation:
Give a 5-minute oral presentation to the class on a sending nation, with attention to the ways in which issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and the expressions and variations of social identity affect integration for members of this community upon arrival to the U.S. and for subsequent generations. [Midterm – due class 5]
3)Open letter, memo, or Op-Ed:
Identify a current active discourse/debate around a policy or practice related to immigration or refugee resettlement within a specific sector. Write a 4-5 page open letter, memo, or Op-Ed outlining the status of a specific policy problem and identifying next steps for research and policy, with a particular focus on the role of philanthropy and where you believe strategic investments will have the greatest impact. [Due before class 11]
4)Final presentation:
Present your open letter, memo, or Op-Ed in a 5 minute class presentation.
[Due class 13]
5)Class participation:
Students are expected attend all classes, read all assigned readings, finish all small and large assignments, and come to class prepared to contribute to class discussion. We aspire toward a low-tech, high-engagement classroom. We kindly ask you to use your laptops for note-taking purposes only and request the courtesy of closing your laptop when not actively taking notes. Even better would be if you took notes by hand. The use of a laptop to do email, chat with friends or to do other class assignments during the class period is both obvious to and distracting to the instructors and your fellow students. Thanks very much for your cooperation.
Section 1: Policy History and Theoretical Frameworks
Class 1: Then and Now: Policy, Practice, and Integration
Who's here? How has immigration transformed our cultural landscapes? From where have immigrants and refugees come? Why do people move to the U.S. and how do they get here? Where have immigrants tended to settle? What conditions did immigrants find when they arrived? We will explore the contemporary political, policy and practice landscape with regard to immigration and more specifically, immigrant integration in the United States. We will consider recent federal actions including deportation, detention and deferred action executive orders.
Required Reading:
- Cebulko K. & Alexis Silver. (2016) Navigating DACA in Hospitable and Hostile States: State Responses and Access to Membership in the Wake of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. American Behavioral Scientist. Vol 60, Issue 12, 00. 1553-1574.
- Gonzales, R. (2015) Lives in Limbo: Undocumented and Coming of Age in America. Los Angeles: University of California Press. Chapter 1. “Contested Membership Over Time.”1-34.
●Adichie, C. N. (2009). The Danger of a Single Story. Ted. Available at
Class 2: Defining “American”: Theoretical Foundations and Contemporary Policy and Practice
We will briefly explore how different forms of “othering” and “belonging” are expressed in contemporary policy and practice. For example, recent Executive Orders, and investments in national security reveal economic anxieties, persistent racism, “othering” and nationalistic populism. On the other hand, policies and practices at state, municipal, and institutional levels such as Sanctuary Cities, language access policies, and access to public education regardless of status reveal different values of inclusion, human rights, multicultural pluralism, and aspirations for shared economic prosperity and connectedness. We will review and critique dominant and emerging definitions and ideas about who and what is "American," and how this relates to definitions of "integration." The origins and expressions of intersectionality will be discussed as a theory and social movement strategy with particular relevance and application for immigrant movements and immigrant integration in the United States.
Required Reading:
●Bonilla-Silva, E. (2014). Racism Without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America (4th edition). Chapters 1 & 2.
●powell, j. & Menendian, S. (2016). The Problem of Othering: Towards Inclusiveness and Belonging.
Choose one of the following articles and come ready to discuss in class:
●Almaguer, T. (2012). Race, racialization, and Latino populations in the United States.Racial Formation in the Twenty-First Century. 143.
●Jaggar, A. M. (2005). “Saving Amina”: Global Justice for Women and Intercultural Dialogue.Ethics & International Affairs,19(03), 55-75.
●Hill Collins, P. (1990). Black Feminist Thought in the Matrix of Domination.
●Chun, J. J., Lipsitz, G., & Shin, Y. (2013). Intersectionality as a social movement strategy: Asian immigrant women advocates.Signs,38(4), 917-940.
ASSIGNMENTS DUE BEFORE CLASS:
1.Sign up for a U.S. city/state/region for your portrait of community change
2.Sign up for a sending nation for your midterm.
Class 3: Policy Advocacy for Integration and Welcoming
What barriers do immigrants and refugees face in realizing integration and human rights for them and their families? This class will examine the policies that address these barriers and the advocacy of the immigrant rights movement for the integration of immigrants and refugees. We will identify signs of integration in the stories of immigrants assisted by effective policy advocacy. We will discuss howcities have taken policy measures towards becoming more welcoming and the influence of social justice movements in this development. We will consider what federal and local governments and non-profit organizations are doing to promote policies and practices that create a shared sense of belonging for newcomers and acceptance from the receiving community.
Required Reading
●Pastor, M., De Lara, J. & Rosner, R. (Eds). (2016). Movements Matter: Immigrant Integration in Los Angeles.Unsettled Americans. Ithaca, NY. Cornell University Press.
●Rhodan, M. and Talkoff, E. (2017). We Are Americans Revisited. The Dreamers, Five Years Later. TIME magazine. Retrieved from
●Ortiz, R., Pastor, M. & de Graauw, E. (2016). Opening Minds, Opening Doors, Opening Communities: Cities Leading for Immigrant Integration. Part I and part II. Retrieved from
●Welcoming America:
●Muñoz, C., & Rodriguez, L.. The Task Force on New Americans. (2015). White House Task Force on New Americans: One-Year Progress Report. Retrieved from (SKIM)
●The Advocates for Human Rights (2014). Executive Summary. Moving from Exclusion to Belonging Immigrant Rights in Minnesota Today. 1-11.
ASSIGNMENT DUE BEFORE CLASS:
Play around with the following tools, which track, portray and in some cases frame demographic change.
National Equity Atlas
American Immigration Council (scroll down to "State Fact Sheets")
Diversity Data
Annie E. Casey – Kids Count Data Center
Using at least one of these tools, come to class ready to describe (in two or three sentences) some immigration-related data in a community you care about – ie: your home state, a place you've lived, worked or are curious about.
Class 4: Case Studies of Integration
The bulk of contemporary media coverage and popular understanding about immigration is rooted in a narrative of conflict and exclusion. This creates an unbalanced, incomplete portrait of responses to immigration across the United States. We offer a survey of far less dramatic, but more hopeful community-level responses to immigration and demographic change in a range of sectors and settings across the United States. We will critique these responses, highlighting their strengths, their limitations and too, the values that drive them.
Required Reading:
●Eaton, S. (2016). Integration Nation. New York, NY. The New Press.
- Introduction and Conclusion required for all
Choose one of the following chapters and come to class with informed questions/commentary/critique.
1)Chapter 1 -- Utah’s Bilingual Boon: A Red State Embraces Linguistic Diversity.
2)Chapter 3 --Same New Struggle: Building a Better Southern Strategy in a Changing Mississippi
3)Chapter 4 -- What is Found in Translation: For Bilingual Interpreters, a Path Out of Poverty; for Medical Patients, an Amplified Voice
4)2) Chapter 6: Wealth For Everyone: A North Carolina Credit Union Serves a Growing Immigrant Population and Creates a Safer, More Prosperous Community
ASSIGNMENT DUE BEFORE CLASS:
●Portrait of Community Change.
Class 5: Student presentations on sending nations
We will have food to celebrate all of you! Please let us know ASAP of any dietary restrictions. Bring your own beverages.
Assignment Due: Students give 5 – 10 minute presentations on their states/populations/nations. Submit PPT slides to instructors beforehand.
Section 2: Sector-based integration policies and strategies
Class 6: Employment, Entrepreneurship, Assets and Financial Security
This class will provide an overview of occupational segregation in the U.S. workforce by race and ethnicity, and the origins of inequality in the workforce and workplace. We will discuss how people end up in jobs in the U.S., and how these experiences differ for low-wage immigrant workers, immigrant entrepreneurs, and foreign-trained professionals. We will discuss policy strategies oriented around the development of human capital, who benefits from these strategies, and what other forms of capital are needed to succeed in the U.S. labor market. We will examine structural factors that affect family financial security, stability, and opportunity and contrast American models of economic security (based on credit, individual and family wealth accumulation, being banked, etc) versus community-based and collaborative models of wealth that immigrants often bring with them.
Required Readings:
●Steps to Success: Integrating Immigrant Professionals in the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved from
●Eckstein, S., & Nguyen, T. N. (2011). The making and transnationalization of an ethnic niche: Vietnamese manicurists.International Migration Review,45(3), 639-674.
●Carnevale, A. P., & Strohl, J. (2013). Separate and unequal: How higher education reinforces the intergenerational reproduction of white racial privilege. Retrieved from
●Joyce Pisnanont, Jane Duong, Imtiaz Hossain, Ben Lau, Lucy Pyeatt, and Hee Joo Yoon (2015) The Critical Moments of Immigrant Integration: A Research Brief of the Impact of Financial Education, Coaching, and Traditional Lending Models in Immigrant Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities. AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community: 2015, Vol. 13, No. 1-2, pp. 252-275.
Class 7: K-12 Education
We will explore and critique a range of policy and practice responses to cultural change and immigration within US public schools. We exploredeficit vs. asset models and their manifestations in practice and policy. We explore "integration" within schools and bring knowledge about child and adolescent development to bear upon practice and policy. This class will be informed both by “expert” reports and by the lived experiences of 1.5-generation students of Somali descent attending high school in central Maine.
Required Reading:
●American Psychological Association, Presidential Task Force on Immigration. (2012). Crossroads: The psychology of immigration in the new century. 53-60. Retrieved from
●Sylvan, C. (2013 Summer). Newcomer High School Students as an Asset: The Internationals Approach. VUE. The Annenberg Institute for School Reform. 19-30.
●Eaton, S. (2016). Stay Close to All Those Things. Integration Nation. New York, NY. The New Press. 179-202.
Class 8: Health and the Immigrant Paradox
This class focuses on the immigrant paradox, which causes us to question the benefits of assimilation. We will review how structural and environmental factors shape health and well-being. We will discuss how immigrants benefit from holding fast to cultural traditions (health beliefs, healthy lifestyles, and health practices) while learning how to navigate the U.S. health system, and how the American health system could benefit from incorporating some of these values and practices into mainstream systems. We will explore how race and national origin operate as determinants of health in the U.S. context and how health equity policy frameworks advance or inhibit immigrant integration.
●Green, T. (2012). Black and Immigrant: Exploring the Effects of Ethnicity and Foreign-born status on Infant Health. Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from
●Viruell-Fuentes, E. A., Miranda, P. Y., & Abdulrahim, S. (2012). More than culture: structural racism, intersectionality theory, and immigrant health. Social science & medicine,75(12), 2099-2106.
●Jones, C. P., Jones, C. Y., Perry, G. S., Barclay, G., & Jones, C. A. (2009). Addressing the social determinants of children's health: a cliff analogy.Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved,20(4A), 1-12.
●Braveman, P. A., Kumanyika, S., Fielding, J., LaVeist, T., Borrell, L. N., Manderscheid, R., & Troutman, A. (2011). Health disparities and health equity: the issue is justice.American Journal of Public Health,101(S1), S149-S155.
Class 9: Immigrant integration research and political power
Participatory and anti-oppressive research methods such as participatory action research, community-based participatory research, and methods that incorporate critical race theory, intersectionality, and feminist thought are effective tools in furthering immigrant integration scholarship and advocacy. We will discuss different methodological approaches to immigrant integration research and critically review articles that challenge dominant narratives about quality and rigor in social science research.
- Choo, H. & Feree, M. (2010). Practicing intersectionality in sociological research: A critical analysis of inclusions, interactions, and institutions in the study of inequalities. Sociological theory, 28(2), 129.
- Santos, J., Bhandari, D., Gautam, S., Mishra, D., and Niroula, B. (2013). Shaping our Future: Integration from the Perspective of Bhutanese Young Adults in New Hampshire. Available at:
- Hardy-Fanta, C. (2011).Discovering Latina Women in Politics: Gender, Culture, and Participatory Theory.Latina politics, Latino politics: Gender, culture, and political participation in Boston. Temple University Press.
Class 10: Advocacy Tools and Pop Culture
Music, visual art, dance, television, film and other types of media change long before our policies and our systems and institutions. Popular culture may offer a more accurate mirror of the nation’s diversity of thought, tastes, lifestyles and variation within defined cultures than can political or academic debate. Can the inclusive and accessible messages and material of some pop culture play a role in changing hearts and minds, affecting policy and reducing the use of immigration as a wedge issue? Can popular culture be used and purposefully shaped to counter stereotypes and improve attitudes and behavior toward immigrants and people of color? What would be effective uses of pop culture? We will explore campaigns and social movements that incorporate popular culture and talk about the power of particular examples from various mediums and art forms.