The purpose of this study guide is to present various issues facing immigrant and refugee communities in St. Louis, the U.S., and internationally.
An immigrant is someone who makes the choice to leave their home country to permanently settle in another country, often for the purpose of education or employment opportunities. Immigrants are able to return to their home country if they choose.
A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee their home country to escape war, persecution, or political unrest. A government or international body determines who is eligible to receive refugee protections under international law based on “well-founded fear” and the inability to return home.
Video
- Separation of Children from Families Drives US Immigration Debate
- A Dreamer’s Life
- Immigration in St. Louis
- The Truth About American Towns That Welcome Refugees
News Publications
- New Kids’ Books Put A Human Face On The Refugee Crisis
- Trump Retreats on Separating Families, but Thousands May Remain Apart
- How Immigration Became So Controversial
- The ‘Double Punishment’ for Black Undocumented Immigrants
- Families Divided: President Trump’s Travel Ban Strands Some U.S. Citizens Abroad
- The facts about Trump’s policy of separating families at the border
Resources
- Tell Us: Being Muslim In America
- Refugees and Social Instability – The Society Pages
- Refugee Crisis– Database
- What Does It Mean To Be A ‘Nation Of Immigrants’?- NPR Podcast
- DACA 101
Academic Journals and Books
“Legal Violence: Immigration Law and the Lives of Central American Immigrants,” by Cecilia Menjivar and Leisy J. Abrego. American Journal of Sociology (2012).
Fox, Cybelle. 2012. Three Worlds of Relief: Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State from the Progressive Era to the New Deal. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Refugees Unwelcome? Changes in the Public Acceptance of Immigrants and Refugees in Germany in the Course of Europe’s ‘Immigration Crisis.” Christian S Czymara Alexander W Schmidt-Catran European Sociological Review, Volume 33, Issue 6, 1 December 2017, Pages 735–751.
University Courses
L98-202 section 01 — The Immigrant Experience
L98-371A section 01 — Sociology of Immigration
L98-4373 section 01 — Immigration, Identity, and the Internet
L22 History 3165 — Chinese Diasporas: A Social History of Global Migration
S31-4100 — Social Work Practice with Immigrants and Refugees
S50-5064 (S55-5364) —Refugee Empowerment, Physical Activity and Urban Development
S55-5364 (S50-5064) —Refugee Empowerment, Physical Activity and Urban Development in Berlin, Germany