{"id":26573,"date":"2025-03-05T08:13:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T08:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-news\/?p=26573"},"modified":"2026-03-13T16:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:34:10","slug":"immigrant-voices-in-times-of-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2025\/03\/immigrant-voices-in-times-of-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrant Voices in Times of Fear\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alexandra McLaughlin \u201916<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sociology course deepens classroom knowledge through voter outreach and community engagement. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been incredibly fulfilling to be part of real-world activism, while at the same time engaging in rigorous academic discussions.”
\u2014Peiwen Wang ’28<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her first month at Macalester, <\/span>Lena Gordon \u201928<\/b> (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) found herself door-knocking in a Twin Cities neighborhood, practicing her Spanish through a class partnership with COPAL, a Minneapolis nonprofit that supports Latine communities. The initiative aimed to boost voter participation. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Students set out to canvas with support from COPAL.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy role involved using the MiniVAN app to manage voter lists,\u201d said <\/span>Peiwen Wang \u201928<\/b> (Xiangyang, China). \u201cWe\u2019d go door-to-door with a group, leaving informational flyers and having conversations about voting with those who answered. It was physically exhausting but very motivating.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordon valued connecting with residents and hearing their stories. This work is part of Immigrant Voices in Times of Fear, a sociology course led by <\/span>Professor Erika Busse-C\u00e1rdenas<\/b>, which examines the U.S. immigration system and the experiences of unaccompanied migrant youth from Central America.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe course focuses on unaccompanied minors crossing the border,\u201d Prof. Busse-Cardenas said. \u201cWe explore this issue through the lens of my first-year students, mostly 18 years old, who recently transitioned from being minors themselves. They\u2019ve all moved away from home, whether from other countries, cities, or just across the river.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students consider the parallels and contrasts between their own experiences and those of unaccompanied minors. While her students came to Macalester for education, many unaccompanied minors left home to seek a better life for themselves and their families back home and escape violence. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They study migration through the memoir <\/span>Solito<\/span><\/i> by Javier Zamora, a firsthand account of a child\u2019s journey across the U.S. border, and sociological research on the barriers unaccompanied minors face. Students discuss questions such as: \u201cWhat motivates people to migrate?\u201d and \u201cHow do immigrants adapt to the new country?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSociology forces you to make connections,\u201d Dr. Busse-Cardenas said. \u201cIf you were born somewhere else, your life would be different, even if you were the same person. This skill, called the sociological imagination, helps students understand that their own biographies can only be understood in the context of the history and society they exist in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another focus of the course is exploring why U.S. citizenship is defined by legal documentation rather than active community participation.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy, out of the four elements that compose citizenship, are we so attached to the document alone?\u201d Prof. Busse-Cardenas said. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The course brings in guest speakers, including D.C.-based experts, immigration attorneys and activists, scholars, and local partners, such as COPAL MN.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has greatly enriched our learning experience and opened up discussions that go beyond traditional lecture formats,\u201d Wang said. She expressed appreciation for the hands-on opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been incredibly fulfilling to be part of real-world activism, while at the same time engaging in rigorous academic discussions,\u201d Wang said. \u201cThese experiences have broadened my perspective on social justice and shown me how theory and practice intersect in powerful ways.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sociology course deepens classroom knowledge through voter outreach and community engagement.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":26577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,26],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-26573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-community-engagement","tag-sociology","mediatype-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"fields":{"article_type":[8],"flickr_photoset_id":"","youtube_id":"","square_thumbnail":false,"press_photos":false,"story_title":"","story_caption":"","rotations":false,"maps":false,"marker_title":"","marker_text":"","geographic_location":false,"feature_embed":"","custom_link_url":"","news_icon_name":"","image_options":false,"main_feature_story":"","custom_image":false,"custom_feature_title":"","custom_feature_caption":"","custom_markup":"","custom_markup_link":"","custom_markup_title":"","custom_markup_caption":"","byline":"","post_thumbnail_style":"default","press_downloads":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26573"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29419,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26573\/revisions\/29419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}