Social Education 82(6), pp. 307–314 ©2018 National Council for the Social Studies Teaching Controversial Issues Rethinking Immigration as a Controversy Dafney Blanca Dabach, Natasha Hakimali Merchant, and Aliza K. Fones Banning refugees. Building a wall along intensified.2 Moreover, presidential Although some educators may avoid the U.S.-Mexico border. Separating policy decisions that have momentous immigration as a discussion topic,3 oth- children from their parents. Detaining consequences for minoritized groups ers enthusiastically choose it precisely and deporting immigrants at higher rates. and, more broadly, for U.S. society are because of its relevance.4 Further com- Immigration is front-page news. While currently being implemented. plicating decisions about whether and immigration has historically been a divi- As the U.S. and other nations grapple how to teach about immigration is the sive issue in the United States,1 debates with the boundaries of inclusion at a question of who is in the classroom. surrounding immigrants—particularly time of increasing political polarization, Under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling those from Latin America, the Caribbean, teachers face quandaries about how in Plyler v. Doe (1982), undocumented and Muslim-majority countries—have to address immigration in classrooms. students have the right to attend pub- REUTERS/Yuri Gripas REUTERS/Yuri Supporters of the Dream Act rally on Senate steps in Washington, D.C., December 6, 2017, to urge Congress to pass a bill that will allow Dreamers to permanently stay in the country. November/December 2018 307 lic K-12 schools.5 In addition to the ing a more inclusive society. Although undocumented students often remain estimated 11.4 million undocumented space constraints prevent us from elab- silent regarding their status.15 In other people currently in the United States, orating on this study here, we draw from situations, the epistemologies (that is, an estimated 5.1 million youth have this work and connect it to larger ques- the systems, frameworks, and ways of at least one undocumented parent.6 tions about immigration discussions in knowing) that emerge in discussions This means that undocumented youth, schools, including whether to frame are limited in scope such that even if and citizen children of undocumented immigration as a controversial issue. students speak, they may make asser- parents (who are also directly affected tions that repeat common discourses by immigration policies), are part of Immigration as a Controversy that objectify, essentialize, and mar- U.S. school systems. Discussions about Prior scholarship on teaching controver- ginalize immigrant populations—even immigration become more complex at a sial public issues (CPIs) reveals its many when the speakers are from immigrant time when the topic is hyper-present in benefits and significance for democratic communities themselves.16 Teachers societal discourse—yet these conversa- education.10 This work simultaneously may also focus on particular topics tions can be silenced in school settings highlights considerations surrounding (e.g., immigration and the economy) where students’ and families’ immigra- what should be considered an “open” rather than tackle broader social and tion status may be unknown, assumed, versus “closed” controversy. Open con- moral questions that transcend utili- or ambiguous.7 In what follows, we troversies are those that are framed as tarian functions; for example, should highlight our research study that inves- legitimately controversial; closed con- families be separated at the border?17 tigated social studies teaching in such troversies are those that are no longer If the terms of the debate are set up in settings. We then critique the teaching legitimately controversial (i.e., women’s narrow ways or ways that merely repeat of immigration from the framework of a suffrage in the U.S.), while others are common ideas, students miss learning political controversy, and we conclude in a limbo that Diana Hess describes opportunities that shape their under- by drawing from Elliot Eisner’s work as “tipping”.11 Specific topics are not standing and wider construction of the to suggest humanizing, contextualizing, inherently open nor closed, but shift issue of immigration. and agentive approaches to teaching over time and across contexts.12 Hess about immigration.8 By “agentive,” we further notes that “the decision about Larger Societal Framing: mean approaches that create space for whether to construct an issue as open Tendency toward immigrant-origin youth to imagine and or closed is, by definition, a form of Dehumanization act instead of being subjects of conver- position-taking on the part of the school The larger historical and contemporary sation. and teacher, and therefore, controver- framing of immigration also poses chal- sial”.13 Planning for such discussions lenges for discussions of controversial The Civic Lessons and Immigrant is nuanced and involves professional public issues. Normative immigration Youth Study judgment. debates can have a tendency toward Through the Civic Lessons and dehumanization, with immigrant “oth- Immigrant Youth (CLAIY) study, we Classroom Dynamics, ers” characterized as fundamentally sought to learn from skilled and expe- Immigration, and Controversy different from existing “mainstream” rienced civics teachers in immigrant set- While discussing controversial pub- populations. One of many historical tings. Specifically, we wanted to know lic issues can serve democratic ideals, examples is Meat vs. Rice: American how they taught about elections in there are cautions in framing particular Manhood Against Asiatic Coolieism, mixed-citizenship settings where some issues as open controversies. As Lisa Which Shall Survive?18 The authors of youth had formal citizenship rights Sibbett insightfully notes, some domi- this 1902 work, Samuel Gompers and and others did not. Over six years, we nant voices become easily empowered Herman Gutstadt, argued that Asian gathered (2012–2013) and analyzed during discussions of controversial immigrants were so profoundly different (2012–2018) data from the classrooms issues, while non-dominant voices from White men that they could subsist of four U.S. government teachers who often remain unheard.14 Teachers have on rice, while White men could not and were selected from a pool of 39 nomi- to deal with the reality that unequal needed meat. This book became part of nated secondary social studies teach- societal relations underlie what is U.S. Senate records, forming part of what ers.9 From this research, we were able said—and what may be left unsaid—in was a legitimate debate at the time. This to better understand skilled teachers’ classroom discussions. The uneven- is an example of the process by which practices when working with immi- ness of underrepresented perspectives non-White immigrant groups become grant youth and to consider the broader is likely to be amplified on the topic framed as ontologically different. The implications of these practices for creat- of immigration, especially because trope becomes: they are different from Social Education 308 Engage Students of Today. Inspire Citizens of Tomorrow. Networks® 6–12 social studies promotes learning through curiosity NEW Networks® Inquiry Journal Powerful interactive content, compelling stories, personalized learning, and resources Sparks active learning to manage, organize, and customize your Strengthens source analysis classroom make Networks your best choice and evidence-based writing for social studies instruction. NEW SyncBlasts™ Supports student inquiry Builds critical-thinking skills A Social Studies Learning System Add the powerNovember/December of curiosity to your 2018classroom today. 309 Visit mheonline.com/inspirecuriosity us. And they are a threat to us, whether disease and intrusion. When immi- [D]on’t whisper about it be an economic, military, cultural, or grants are semantically linked to natural [undocumented status], you say it other societal threat.19 disasters, viruses, or literally termed out loud. I mean, don’t ever name Dehumanization also occurs through “aliens,” this undermines their human- a kid in terms of documentation the language used to describe minori- ity. Dehumanization easily becomes a but … openly talk about [it] tized immigrant groups. Sometimes this feature of how immigration is discussed. in a natural way, [recognizing] language is easily recognizable as inflam- When immigrants are dehumanized, the fact that not everybody has matory. For example, recent remarks by their legitimacy is simultaneously under- documentation and that’s a pretty President Trump linked immigrants from mined. And when their legitimacy is normal thing.23 Haiti, El Salvador, and Africa to fecal mat- undermined, this makes it harder to have ter, while he simultaneously described debates that occur on an equal footing. Normalizing the presence of undoc- Norwegian immigrants positively.20 One must ask: What is the starting point umented students through signaling However, there are also subtler aspects for debates surrounding immigration, practices helps provide a sense of of language that frame particular groups both in classrooms and in societies at safety and avoids the perception that of immigrants as problems. Linguist Otto large? And how are immigrants framed, undocumented people are outsiders Santa Ana analyzed years of immigra- either implicitly or explicitly? and “others” who were not in the room, tion coverage by the Los Angeles