INB
p. 28
Name: ___________________________________
Date: __________
Sec.: ______
Immigration Policy Memo: Unaccompanied Minors
Instructions: Throughout this unit, we have been focused on many of the issues and problems
surrounding immigration of unaccompanied minors, mainly from Central America to the United States,
but now you are going to present some solutions! Using the format on the back of this sheet, you are
going to create a policy memorandum (memo) for an important politician in this country. Policy memos
are ways in which politicians get their information so they can make the important decisions! Your job is
to educate them on the ongoing problem of the migration of unaccompanied minors to the US, and then
to present your specific solutions to the problem.
Requirements: Student…
 Follows the policy memo format (on the backside of this handout) and is addressed to a real
American politician (i.e. President Barack Obama, Senator Elizabeth Warren, presidential
candidate Donald Trump, etc.)
 Creates the policy memo using Google Docs.
 Includes LOTS of facts, statistics (numbers), and other relevant information to make strong
arguments! You must make reference to what we have read in Enrique’s Journey, as well as
other information about immigration that we have studied, and any other research you have
done.
 Cites all work properly using the MLA format (can use EasyBib.com).
Checklist: Follow the checklist below to complete this project according to the directions and in a timely
fashion. This project is due on Saturday December 12, 2015 at 11:59pm via TurnItIn.com.
Complete draft outline of policy
memo on page 29 of notebook
(homework)
Create a new Google Doc (saved as
“LastName_FirstName_Immigration_
Policy_Memo”) and share with Mr. V
(with editing privileges)
Complete a peer review of another
student’s work and have your work
peer reviewed (in-class)
Your policy memo should be mostly completed by Friday December 11 for our Publication Celebration
Format: Follow the format below to properly create a policy memo for this project.
Header Format:
Memorandum
To: Name of politician
From: Your name, your title, and organization
Date: Today’s date
RE: A title that says what the problem is or how the solution could fix the problem
Sample Header:
Memorandum
To: President Barack Obama
From: Mr. Valenzuela, Teacher, Boston Latin Academy
Date: December 8, 2015
RE: How to fix our broken immigration system
Underneath your header is where you will write the policy memo. This should be divided into THREE
important sections, see below.
I. Background
This is where you will detail the problems facing undocumented immigrants, and especially
unaccompanied minors from Central America, when they try to come to the United States. You
should use LOTS of facts, statistics, and information from what we have studied in this Unit. You
must mention details from Enrique’s Journey to help illustrate the dangers these children face.
Help the reader really understand the problem. This section should be 1-2 paragraphs long.
II. Solutions
This section is where you present your ideas on how to fix the problems you wrote about in the
Background section. This is where you get to be creative! If you need inspiration, there are links
on the class website (the post is called: “Humanities 7 – Unit 3 Migration Policy Memo Project”
and the links can be found underneath the label “Solutions.” The links from Sonia Nazario
(author of Enrique’s Journey) can be very helpful. This section should be 1-2 paragraphs long.
III. Recommendations
This section tells the politician that you are addressing precisely what you would like him/her to
do to bring about your desired outcome/solution presented in the previous section. What
specific action step should he/she take in order to solve the problem that you presented in the
Background section? These recommendations could be written in a list/bullets format, but the
whole section cannot be written in a list/bullets format.
Bonus
If you think it is necessary to your argument, you may decide to include a relevant infographic,
chart, or image to help in presenting your solution or problem statement. If included, it must be
properly cited (like any other evidence) using the MLA format. In addition, you should explain
the infographic/chart/image in the text or give it a caption to help explain it.