Ryan T.

Shannon

Professor Joyce Barnes

English 1201

March 16, 2019

Annotated Bibliography

The essay I will be presenting will delve into the murky waters of U.S. immigration

policies. My goal is to interpret the reasons behind certain regulations while attempting to

understand the difficulties of those who are merely trying to become legal U.S. citizens. I aim

to answer the question; why is it so difficult for those who want to become citizens the legal

way to do so? Are there simpler ways for the U.S. government to allow immigrants a path to

citizenship?

“American Immigration Council.” American Immigration Council. www.immigrationpolicy.org.

The American Immigration Council’s primary goal is to provide facts on all elements

related to U.S. immigration. This non-profit, non-partisan organization takes the complex U.S.

immigration law and summarizes it in an easy to understand article. This site stays up to date

with current legislation making it an extremely valuable source for easy to understand

immigration policy information. This information is vital to my paper as it explains the

complexities of the many ways to citizenship.

Immigration Battle. Shari Robertson & Michael Camerini, FRONTLINE and Independent Lens,

2015.

Shari Robertson & Michael Camerini take us behind the political scenes in a

documentary meant to provide insight on how immigration battles are fought on Capital Hill.

The documentary shows how back room negotiations and compromises are shaping policies

that affect hundreds of thousands of individuals. While the documentary was done in 2015

and some policies have changed since then; it gives a great insight on where our country is

coming from in terms of emotions toward immigration. This documentary explores political

realities while not over simplifying the divisive nature of this issue.

Gutiérrez David. Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics

of Ethnicity. University of California Press, March 1995.

Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity

written by David Gutiérrez explores over a hundred years of immigration in the United States,

specifically along the Mexican border. Using many sources, he explains the differences in policy

as it pertains to immigrants coming from Latin countries and those who come from more

cultural accepted countries. Gutiérrez dives into the topic of our “melting pot” culture and how

all immigrants have a place in our society. While this book may have been written over a

decade ago, it gives great insight on where our society stood on immigration and the fear of

allowing people of different ethnic backgrounds into our country. This book is allowing me to

piece together the social aspect and the effects of our political atmosphere and how it affects

the way U.S. citizens view immigrants. These viewpoints from over 20 years ago is affecting the
way current policy is created as a handful of politicians then are still in a position to affect

legislation.

Jordan, Miriam. “Wait Times for Citizenship Have Doubled in the Last Two Years.” The New York

Times, 21 February 2019.

Miriam Jordan explains in her article how those looking to become U.S. citizens legally

through naturalization are now waiting even longer due to additional scrutiny of the

applications taken. Future regulations could lengthen the process even more, adding more

required information from applicants on an already daunting application. This article in the New

York Times gives strong facts while also sharing quotes from some who have or may be affected

by the new policies. Many of the sources I am using share statistics and opinions from the past

while this article looks at the present and potential future. It is a great counter-balance that will

add new insight into the debate.

Porter, Maria. Personal interview. 15 March 2019.

Maria Porter is a native of Peru who while only a child, cam to America with her family.

Her parents came with work visas and stayed long after they expired. They had tried,

unsuccessfully for some time, to become U.S. citizens, escaping their life of poverty in Peru.

Maria explains how their family finally became legal citizens and the hardships of attempting

such a feat while already being in the U.S. Her unique insight gives a look into the legal battles
as well as the emotional toll of feeling like an unwanted person. I truly appreciate the time she

took to share her family’s journey and it allows me to add the emotional element to the paper

rather than purely looking at facts and statistics.

“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. | USCIS,

www.uscis.gov.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is a certified Government website

dedicated to immigration and its policies. This site shares all the information needed to would-

be or soon-to-be applicants. Due to this site being created and ran by the U.S. government, the

information is kept up to date and is extremely reliable for use in research. This site will allow

me to pull policies and procedures straight from the U.S. government without any type of

political stance.

Yong, Caleb. “Immigration Rights and the Justification of Immigration Restrictions.” Journal of

Social Philosophy, no. 4, 2017, p. 461. EBSCOhost, doi: 10.1111/josp.12212

Caleb Yong’s academic paper decidedly aims to explain the justifications of immigration

restrictions and that free immigration should be rejected under most terms. Yong goes into

detail explaining the effects of allowing open immigration and how there is no strong individual

right to free immigration. While I disagree with Yong’s assessment, he gives a very solid
argument for his justifying of immigration restrictions. This article gives a great counter

argument to my own paper.