Human Rights, Sociology, and Immigration

A project under construction, by Molly Kilian

Resources and Annotated Bibliography

Who we are

Our website address is: http://mkilianhis252.digitalscholar.rochester.edu/blog.

Annotated Bibliography – initial version

Title: Human Rights, Sociology, and Immigration

Primary Sources

2010. “After GOP Blocks DREAM Act, Where is Immigration Activism Headed?” 

democracynow.org. December 23. Accessed April 11, 2020. https://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/23/after_gop_blocks_dream_act_where.

This video is a primary source as it is a sort of documentary published during the time where this issue of the blocking of the Dream Act was relevant. It includes footage of Barack Obama speaking of these issues and incorporates interviews with various people on the issue. I may use this on my website, in the section on modern immigration sentiments, as an analysis of responses to the blocking on the Dream Act, or in a sort of a timeline.

Jeanne Batalova, Brittany Blizzard, and Jessica Bolter. 2020. “Frequently Requested Statistics on 

Immigrants and Immigration in the United States.” Migration Policy Institute (migrationpolicy.org). February 14. Accessed April 11, 2020. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states?gclid=CjwKCAjw1cX0BRBmEiwAy9tKHpYYiVOBZDlf0feeMqwpJ6dgAc3sphdgWiSOQF5BawX1FM2OYE2uJxoC4s0QAvD_BwE.

This article is a primary source full of statistics on immigration. It is recent, relevant in multiple time periods, and will likely be used to support my arguments on my webpage through statistical facts.

n.d. nps.gov. Accessed April 11, 2020. Legislation from 1790 – 1900, Legislation from 

1901-1940, Legislation from 1941-1960, Legislation from 1961-1980, Legislation from 1981-1996. 

These lists of documents and legislation on immigrants will be used in a timeline feature. I will choose those I see as most relevant and include them. Unfortunately, they only go up to 1996, but this is a very good historical primary source. I can directly analyze legislation and help connect the dots. 

n.d. “Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) I USCIS.” U.S. 

Citizenship and Immigration Services (uscis.gov). Accessed April 10, 2020. https://www.uscis.gov/archive/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca.

This article is an overview as to how to submit a DACA request. It is important in my research as it looks at what you need to be considered to be an “acceptable” immigrant, and can help me understand the struggles that the DACA children face(d).

2008. “Federal Register Volume 73, Number 144 (Friday, July 25, 2008)].” govinfo.gov. July 25. 

Accessed April 10, 2020. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-07-25/html/E8-17123.htm.

This is again a document focusing on immigration restrictions, which will be used in the timeline section of my webpage. 

2009. “H.R.1751 – American Dream Act.” congress.gov. May 14. Accessed April 10, 2020. 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/1751.

This is again a document focusing on immigration restrictions, which will be used in the timeline section of my webpage. 

2002. “H.R.3525 – Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002.” 

congress.gov. May 14. Accessed April 10, 2020. https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/3525.

This is again a document focusing on immigration restrictions, which will be used in the timeline section of my webpage. This particular one was enacted in response to 9-11.

2002. “Homeland Security Act 2002, Public Law 107-296.” Department of Homeland Security 

(dhs.gov). November 25. Accessed April 10, 2020. https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/hr_5005_enr.pdf.

This is again a document focusing on immigration restrictions, which will be used in the timeline section of my webpage. 

Napolitano, Janet. 2012. “Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who 

Came to the United States as Children.” Department of Homeland Security (dhs.gov). June 15. Accessed April 10, 2020. https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/s1-exercising-prosecutorial-discretion-individuals-who-came-to-us-as-children.pdf.

This is a more recent primary source, which is a letter written by the Secretary of Homeland Security. It would be used in the modern section of my website, and it is useful because it is from the Secretary of Homeland Security. Many of my other sources are from the Department of Homeland Security, and it will be interesting to have a first-hand account that provides more insight as to why these legislations are passed.

2010. “S.3992 – DREAM Act of 2010.” congress.gov. 09 December. Accessed April 10, 2020. 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/senate-bill/3992.

This is another source focusing on modern times and is the legislation of the DREAM Act. It connects to many other of my modern sources, and thus, it will be used as a connection. 

Secondary Sources

Cacho, Lisa Marie. 2012. Social Death: Racialized Rightlessness and the Criminalization of the 

Unprotected. New York and London: New York University Press.

This book focuses on immigration struggles and a sociological perspective of why there are restrictions on immigration. It cites white supremacy and the institution of race as important to understand. I will use it in my sociological analysis section.

Chomsky, Aviva. 2014. Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal. Boston: Beacon 

Press.

This book focuses on the changing rhetoric that made human beings be perceived as illegal. I will use it in my sociological analysis to understand changing rhetoric.

Fairchild, Amy L. 2003. Science at the Borders: Immigrant Medical Inspection and the Shaping 

of the Modern Industrial Labor Force. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press.

This book focuses on shaped rhetoric and how the disease was an institution that limited immigration. While that is not the main focus of the book, the parts of it that exemplify this idea will be used in my paper. This book will be included in the sociological section of my website.

Kraut, Alan M. 1994. Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the “Immigrant Menace”. 

BasicBooks.

This book ties into the last one but focuses even more on how disease was an institution leading to restrictions on immigration. This book will be included in the sociological section of my website and will be analyzed against the last one.

Lesser, Jeffrey. 1995. Welcoming the Undesirables: Brazil and the Jewish Question. Los 

Angeles: University of California Press.

This book focuses on Brazil and Jewish immigration. I am unsure if I will utilize this book for my website or not, but I think that there may be some good contributions I could find in it, including the factors that led to other nations excluding Jewish immigrants. 

Mehta, Suketu. 2019. This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto. New York: Farrar, 

Straus, and Giroux.

This book is one that I am the most to analyze and include in my research project. It is a memoir written by an immigrant very recently and it analyzes the importance of the immigrant narrative. As I believe that immigration restrictions are interwoven with restrictions to human rights and liberties, this book will be included in the human rights section of my webpage. It will help tie my research altogether and is important to me as a person.

Newton, Lina. 2008. Illegal, Alien, or Immigrant: the Politics of Immigration Reform. New York 

and London: New York University Press.

This book focuses again on rhetoric of immigration restrictions. It will be included in the sociological section of my webpage.

Ziegler, editor. 1953. Immigration: An American Dilemma. D.C. Heath and Company.

This book is a collection of essays written on immigration, particularly on sentiments towards immigration. Published in 1953, this source has a direct insight into essays of the rhetoric of this time. I included it as a secondary source because it was a collection of essays published by a different source, which could choose what to include and exclude. 

 Outline

I intend to make each of these numbers a subsection of the page. I hope to somehow implicate a menu so that each is easily accessible from anywhere 

  1. Main page
    1. Photo(s)
    2. Brief overview
    3. Links to subpages/articles
  2. History 
    1. Timeline
    2. Analysis of the primary source documents [the legislation. The mass amount of legislation I have to incorporate]
  3. Sociology
    1. Institutions
      1. Which institutions have continued to be important, and why?
      2. What do these institutions mean for immigrants?
      3. How does rhetoric fit with institutions?
    2. Why do some humans categorize themselves as inherently better?
    3. How does one justify barring others and stripping them of their human rights?
  4. Human Rights
    1. Insight as to how immigration restrictions are restrictions to civil liberties
    2. Memoir analysis
    3. Narratives
      1. Photos. 
      2. A connection to people’s stories. Maybe a connection to the Densho site?
      3. Videos
      4. Music? Art? Oral histories? Anything that can tell this narrative. 
      5. Maybe a connection to the legacy of Alexander Hamilton [Hamilton musical]
  5. Modern times
    1. Media perceptions
      1. Trump and rhetoric
      2. The Spongebob Musical
      3. Hamilton
    2. DACA, DREAMERS
    3. Modern legislation
    4. 9/11
    5. More acceptance, politicians who support immigrants
    6. “No human being is illegal”
  6. My purpose
    1. I feel as if I should talk a bit about why I chose to do this and why it is important to me
    2. Why should this be important to others?
    3. What is my goal here? Do I feel as if I accomplished it?
    4. Include a form for responses, or ask the intended audience
  7. Citations
    1. Chicago style. I will likely use footnotes throughout the subsections
    2. The in-text citations will be linked to the citations page