Immigration Law Essays
In Spring 2008, students in Professor Janet Calvo's Immigration and Citizenship class were assigned to write an essay discussing an issue related to immigration "reform" that articulated a thesis addressing current law and expressed an opinion and support for that opinion. Students drafted their essays in stages, working with the Writing Center at each stage in the drafting process.
Read five of these essays from Spring 2008:
- Untitled Essay, Ting Ting Cheng
- The Plenary Power Shield: National Security and the Special Registration Program, Nitin Goyal
- No "Affidavit of Support" For Low-Income Elderly Petitioners, Lian Kuang
- Untitled Essay, Samantha Thomas
- The Current State of Our Failed Border Policy, Brian Wolf
In previous years, students in Prof. Janet Calvo's Immigration Law class were given a choice of topics for their midterm exam. In order to emphasize the real-world effects of the laws and policies studied in class—as well as to give students an opportunity to explore their views on these issues—Prof. Calvo asked each student to find a newspaper article dealing with some aspect of immigration or citizenship law. With the article as a starting point, each student wrote a two- to three-page essay giving a well-reasoned discussion of her/his position on the issue. Students chose a range of topics, including a proposed reform to the U.S. guest worker program, issues surrounding refugees from various nations, and the immigration and labor difficulties faced by migrant domestic workers.
Read excerpts from five of the essays from previous years:
