WRITING ASSIGNMENT: White- Paper Summarizing and Analyzing the Arguments about an Immigration Policy Proposal.
A number of the readings in this unit deal with U.S. immigration laws and policies. Research one recent proposal to change federal or state immigration laws (such as the federal DREAM Act, proposals for handling the crisis of thousands of immigrant chil¬dren on the border, or a specific element of comprehensive reform such as the E-Verify system or the H-2A Seasonal Agricultural Worker program) and read about it in both popular news commentary and scholarly sources. Identify and characterize the stake¬holders in the debate: Who are they? What do they stand to gain or lose? Then analyze the arguments used by these stakeholders. What are their strengths and weaknesses? Finally, write a white paper in which you summarize the proposal and the arguments for and against it for a citizen wanting to be better informed. You might find the following resources helpful as a starting place: the White House Web site on immigration reform at https://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/immigration, the Federation for American Immigration Reform site at www.fairus.org, the National Immigration Law Center at www.nilc.org, or the League of Women Voters Immigration Study at www.lwv.org