Running head: MEXICAN BORN IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES
Mexican Born Immigration into the United States
Steven T. Boozier
TESOL 507
June 9, 2014
Nona Hall
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MEXICAN BORN IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES
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Mexican Born Immigration into the United States
The experiences of Mexican born immigrants in the United States strikes both a
professional and personal interest as I serve as an Athletic Director / Administrative Assistant in
a rural school corporation in Indiana. The Jay School Corporation is greatly lacking in student
and teacher diversity. According to Indiana Department of Education statistics for the 20132014 school-year, 93% of students and 100% of teachers are White. Hispanic students make up
3.7% of the student population with the next largest classification being multiracial students at
2.5%. From general observation most of the multiracial students are of Hispanic decent.
Interaction with the Hispanic students in our school corporation tells us that most if not all of our
Hispanic students are of Mexican born heritage. During my first year of teaching at Jay County
High School I had my US History class discuss what they each were doing on September 11,
2001. I vividly recall an Hispanic student named Aldo explain that it was his first day in the
United States as his family had just immigrated from Mexico. He remembered being afraid he
and his family would not be able to stay in the United States.
Aldo’s fear leads what I feel to be a major challenge for Mexican born immigrants in
the United States. Daily media reports documenting the anger and frustration of states such as
Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California in regards to immigration policy can lead to an
unfair stereotype of Mexican born immigrants. Another area of concern we experience in our
school corporation is the language barrier. As stated previously, Jay County is not very diverse.
The concept of using interpreters is still a fairly new idea to grasp. When I help with discipline
or sometimes need to communicate with a parent regarding athletics, I find myself having he
student translate for his/her parents in many situations. It become a challenge with the student
has proven to be less than trustworthy. We do have ESL aides and teachers in the corporation
MEXICAN BORN IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES
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who help when possible but few of these people are bilingual. A final challenge we face in Jay
County with the Hispanic population is legal immigration. As a practice we do not concern
ourselves with legal immigration status. It is our responsibility to educate the students we have
regardless of socio-economic condition. However we struggle with parents / guardians who are
afraid to interact with the school system as it is seen as a government entity. We must
remember to show respect and dignity to all persons regardless of language or economic barriers.
The visual created compares and contrasts Mexican born immigration in from 1910 –
1929 to major population centers where we find a large portion of Mexican born immigrants
living in 2011. According to Sierra Stoney and Jeanne Batalova (2013), 25% of all Mexican
born immigrants live in three major metropolitan areas, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas. I
adapted the second visual to demonstrate Jay County’s geographic location to Chicago. Mexican
immigrants have a similar experience as many other immigrant groups as they have experienced
inconsistent governmental policy that various with the existing economic conditions of the day.
As a nation the United States tends to tolerate and even encourage immigration in times of
economic prosperity however, when economic struggles occur governmental policies quickly
shift to restricting immigration and even sometimes extending to denial of civil rights from
minority groups.
It is vital educators encourage students to celebrate and teach others about their
respective cultural heritage. Social studies classes must break away from textbooks which can
be culturally biased and allow students to feel comfortable researching, learning, and teaching
about people who have similar experiences and hail from similar places as they do. Project
based learning can focus on practical learning which teaches students how to interact and
participate in a multifaceted society. Opportunities for immersion and exchange should be
MEXICAN BORN IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES
organized for students to experience life outside of what they already know. Immersion and
exchange may occur virtually when resources do not permit actual experience.
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