Migrants’ Rights Dialogues
2 Units
Nancy A. McNee
ESL Instructor
City College of San Francisco
Teaching Human Rights in a Global Context Workshop
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Stanford Humanities Center
ESL Language Dialogues for Migrant Rights
Unit 1
Nancy A. McNee
ESL Instructor
City College of San Francisco
Introduction
In March, 2007, ICE (Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement) agents took more than 60 immigrants from their homes in the Canal area of San Rafael in the early morning hours. San Rafael is a city in Marin County, north of San Francisco. The Canal is a neighborhood in San Rafael of mostly Latino immigrants and roughly 11,000 people live there. The people of the Canal are hard workers. Many of the men work in construction and landscaping and many of the women are domestic workers in the homes of the wealthy people of Marin.
Around 5 a.m. on that March morning, while it was still dark and most families in the Canal were still asleep, ICE invaded homes and dragged parents away in front of their crying children. Many parents were not even allowed to get dressed, but were handcuffed and taken away in their pajamas, humiliated in front of their children. In the days and weeks following the infamous raid which caused irreparable damage to the families of the Canal, the Canal became a ghost town. Terrified and traumatized, children did not go to school (even though many children in the Canal are U.S. citizens). Remaining parents, although desperately in need of money (even more so, now that many of the main providers were gone) did not go to work. ICE had achieved its goal of spreading fear and paralyzing the community. If children could sleep, they slept with backpacks packed and ready next to their beds, in case ICE came again in the middle of the night to take them away. This was true of U.S. citizen children of immigrant parents and immigrant children alike- no one in the Canal was unaffected by the raid.
In fact, most immigrants in the Bay Area were terrified by large-scale raids like this one, which were taking place all around the Bay. Although San Francisco is a Sanctuary City and Mayor Gavin Newsom has asked law enforcement not to cooperate with ICE, the terror was no less present in the City. In the weeks following the San Rafael raid and other large raids which were conducted in the Bay Area cities of Oakland and Richmond, few of my Adult ESL students dared to come to class. My classroom was eerily empty, as were the streets in immigrant neighborhoods.
At the same time that all of this was happening, I was taking a class called “Human Rights Education” as part of my doctoral program at the University of San Francisco. Our professor, Dr. Susan Katz, was teaching us about human rights conventions and covenants. For me, the most meaningful and important document that we studied was the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Created in 1990 and entered into force in 2003, I was not surprised to learn that the U.S. had not ratified this convention.
In 1996 the current anti-immigrant, xenophobic hysteria began. That was the year when three of the most punitive laws ever (or at least since 1920) were passed against immigrants. Since then, the situation for migrant workers and their families in the U.S. has rapidly deteriorated, with the border becoming highly militarized, the criminalization of innocent people, racial profiling, and the passage of more and more punitive legislation. Eleven years later, the treatment of migrant workers in the U.S. had become so bad that Jorge Bustamante, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, was sent by the United Nations to conduct a three-week investigation into the situation. Published last month (and available at the Web site of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights), Bustamente’s 27-page report describes unbelievable human rights abuses suffered by migrant workers and their families in the U.S. In 2001, “From the Borderline to the Colorline; A Report on Anti-Immigrant Racism in the United States” was presented at the U.N. World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance. The recent publication of these international reports and others like them indicates that the world is aware of the serious and escalating human rights abuses against migrant workers in the United States. So why do we seem so unaware of what is happening in our own backyard? Amidst popular public rhetoric and myths about the American Dream and Colorblindness, it is easy to ignore the suffering all around us.
For the human rights education class at USF I was required to develop curriculum for teaching human rights. I decided to create this unit of dialogues for my Adult ESL students (please note that I wrote dialogues 1-8 but dialogues 9-11 were created by the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition). The wide variety of settings for the dialogues are meant to reflect the unfortunate truth- that human rights violations of migrants are taking place on a daily basis in every sphere of existence in life in the U.S.- at home, at work, and on the street (at the bus stop) and in every region of the U.S. in urban, suburban, and rural areas. I wrote Dialogues 7 and 8 (about rights violations in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and Southern California after the fires, respectively) after reading Jorge Bustamante’s report to the U.N., which he wrote after a migrant rights investigation tour of the U.S., which included several days in each of these cities. Bustamante interviewed migrant workers in each of these cities and met with many immigrants’ rights organization leaders in the same cities.
I created the dialogues based on community education resources prepared by immigrant rights organizations after the nation-wide, large-scale raids of 2006 and 2007 and on other legal research that I did (please note that I have listed resources at the end of this packet). My aim in creating/compiling this unit of dialogues was to teach the language and vocabulary needed for defending rights, teach about international human rights laws, and teach my students that they have rights in the U.S. (regardless of status).
“You mean, we HAVE rights?!” asked a student from Guanajuato incredulously. This was the initial reaction of my Adult ESL students to my introduction of the unit. The student asked the question in a joking manner and the other students laughed. Humor helped make a very serious topic enjoyable, and we employed it throughout the unit. The students enjoyed donning dark sunglasses and super-macho attitudes to play the roles of ICE agents. Although the students enjoyed performing the dialogues for each other in a light-hearted way, at the same time it was evident to me how important the issues portrayed in the dialogues were to the students. They were highly motivated to learn the useful English language in the dialogues and were very interested in the international human rights laws. In the U.S. the students are constantly criminalized and punished by the law. They were delighted to hear how the tables had turned and the U.S. was now being called to task by the international community for its treatment of them. My Mexican students especially loved hearing about Jorge Bustamante’s mission to the U.S. Learning that they had a champion for their rights at the U.N. who was also a Mexican was very empowering to the students.
Each of the eleven dialogues begins with a description of the setting, characters needed to play the roles, a list of important vocabulary for optional pre-teaching, and suggested props. It is my hope that other Adult ESL instructors will adapt the dialogues to the specific levels and needs of their students. I also hope that others will use the resources listed on the last page of the packet to create their own dialogues for migrant rights. Because of who our students are and the current climate in the U.S., Adult ESL instructors are necessarily immigrant rights advocates. We must inform ourselves about current international human rights laws and put pressure on the U.S. government to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families without further delay. Our students’ lives and well-being and the lives and well-being of their families depend upon it.
The current tactics being used by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security depend on fear, terror, and a general ignorance about the human rights of migrants and their families. They also depend, to great extent, on the imbalance of power created by the “language barrier”. In Wisconsin, immigrants who have completed a “Know Your Rights” workshop receive a sticker which says “I Know My Rights”. It has been reported that ICE avoids approaching homes where the sticker has been posted inside the front window or door. We need to make sure that the Know Your Rights cards make it into the hands of those who need them. Language teachers can no longer ignore the day-to-day realities of their students. We need to teach our students language that is useful, meaningful, and empowering. When our students know their rights and have mastered the English language needed to defend them, the tables are turned.
*Please note- most administrators see the value of teaching language in meaningful and motivating contexts. However, it is definitely possible to align dialogues like these with standards and outcomes if necessary. For example, a lesson on imperatives might involve a dialogue with phrases like the following: Open the door! Show me your ID. Sign this order of voluntary deportation. Tell me your neighbor’s name. etc. A migrant rights curriculum with a grammar focus would not be difficult to create. Noticing can also be used to call attention to the grammar in any dialogue.
Dialogue 1, Domestic Worker*
*Dialogue created by Nancy McNee, ESL Instructor, City College of San Francisco
Setting: kitchen of a large home, Anytown, U.S.A.
Characters: 2, boss (home owner) & domestic worker
Special vocabulary: documents, personal documents, passport, identification, ID
Recommended props: cell phone, boss may hold a bag in anticipation of getting the documents and cell phone
Instructor or another student: “Lights, camera, action!”*
Boss: I’m so glad that you’ve come to live with us and work for us.
Live-in nanny/maid/other domestic worker: Yes.
Boss: First of all, you will need to give me your passport from your country and any other legal documents or forms of identification that you have. We will also keep your cell phone for you.
Domestic worker: Why?
Boss: Why? …Well, umm…I will keep them for you for safekeeping! They could be stolen by someone! You never know when thieves may break into the house.
Domestic worker: I’m sorry. I have the right to keep my own personal documents. I don’t keep them with me. They are kept in a box at a bank and a family member keeps the key for me. Will that be a problem?
Boss: No…I guess not…
Instructor or another student: “The End.”*
*Verbal prompts like these are helpful for low-level and/or shy students. It is not necessary to use prompts with intermediate or advanced students.
Dialogue 2, Domestic Worker*
*Dialogue created by Nancy McNee, ESL Instructor, City College of San Francisco
Setting: entrance of mansion, Any City, U.S.A.
Characters: 2, boss (home owner) & domestic worker
Special vocabulary: status, undocumented, free time, day off, time off, raids
Recommended props: key/s (boss may pretend to attempt to lock employee in)
Instructor or another student: “Lights, camera, action!”
Boss: Oh…you can have Sundays off but we don’t want you to leave the house on your day off.
Domestic Worker: Why?
Boss: Well, you know, this is not a safe city and something might happen to you. We feel responsible for your safety and we want to protect you.
Domestic Worker: But on Sundays I need to go and visit my relatives in (Fresno). They are a very important part of my life and they are my only connection to home right now.
Boss: I’m sorry, but with the recent I.C.E. raids we just can’t let you put yourself in danger like that. You never know when the Migra will grab you!
Domestic Worker: I will not accept employment in which I am not allowed to come and go as I please during my time off.
Boss: But the homicide rates in this city are going up…we only want what is best for you…
Domestic Worker: No matter what my status may be, undocumented or otherwise, I have the right to come and go as I please during my free time. I’m sorry, I cannot work for you!
Instructor or another student: “The End.”
Dialogue 3, Day Laborer*
*Dialogue created by Nancy McNee, ESL Instructor, City College of San Francisco
Setting: any work site where day laborers do hard labor, Every City, U.S.A.
Characters: 2, contractor & day laborer
Special vocabulary: job site, work site, engaged to be waiting vs. waiting to be engaged
Recommended props: watch or clock, cell phone
Instructor or another student: “Lights, camera, action!”
Day Laborer: Excuse me…
Contractor: Yes, what is it?
Day Laborer: You paid us for only six hours of work.
Contractor: That’s right. You worked at the job site from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and that’s what I paid you for.
Day Laborer: But you contracted us for work at 6 a.m. and we spent an hour traveling to the work site and then two hours waiting for your partner to deliver the tools. During those three hours we were “engaged to be waiting” under the law. We were not “waiting to be engaged.” We were not able to earn money by working for other contractors during that time. You need to pay us for nine hours of work.
Contractor: You are illegal aliens and you have no rights in this country. I am going to report you to I.C.E. and you will be deported.
Day Laborer: Regardless of our status as undocumented workers, we have the same rights as other workers and we are protected under the law. I.C.E. may not become involved in any situations in which there is an active labor dispute. I have my cell phone and I am going to call the Labor Commission right now so that this will officially become an active labor dispute.
Contractor: Here, just take your pay for the nine hours and get out of here. @#*^% illegal aliens!
Instructor or another student: “The End.”
Dialogue 4, Day Laborer*
*Dialogue created by Nancy McNee, ESL Instructor, City College of San Francisco
Setting: job site (not in the city where the laborer lives), American Suburb, U.S.A.
Characters: 2, contractor & day laborer
Special vocabulary: deduct, deductions, wages, minimum hourly wage, equal pay for equal work
Recommended props: a piece of paper to represent a pay stub, cell phone, pen, notepad
Instructor or another student: “Lights, camera, action!”
Day Laborer: Excuse me…
Contractor: I’m really busy. Your job is finished so you need to leave now. The van is waiting for you to take you back to the City.
Day Laborer: I noticed that you took a lot of deductions out of our pay for this job. We have been working for you on this job here in (Sacramento) for three weeks and our pay should be much higher.
Contractor: Yes, well…I had to deduct from your wages for the cost of transportation, housing, tools, meals, safety equipment, and check cashing, so what did you expect?
Day Laborer: All of those deductions are legal unless the total amount of the deductions brings our pay below the minimum hourly wage in the state, which they do…
Contractor: Yeah, well, you aren’t really in a situation to tell me what’s legal and what’s not, now, are you?
Day Laborer: Actually, any worker in the U.S. has a right to legal protections. Receiving equal pay for equal work is guaranteed by international human rights law. I have the phone numbers of (the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition and the National Network for the Rights of Immigrants and Refugees)* and I am going to call them on my cell phone now. They work closely with the Labor Commission. I know people from both of these organizations personally because they came and spoke to my English class.** I have their business cards in my pocket. Shall I call now?
Contractor: No…@#%^*!...just wait…oh man…(sweating)…I will ask the accountant to cut some of the deductions in order to bring the pay up to minimum hourly wage for all of you.
Day Laborer: Thank you. It has been a pleasure working for you. I have written down your name and the name of your company in case I need to contact you.
Instructor or another student: “The End.”