Deck 37: Social Membership and the Right to College

Question 1

Erica Rodriguez and Martin Chamorro focus mostly on the reasons why DACA students should be allowed admittance to college. As they mention, though, there have been conversations about eliminating the DACA program completely. Using some of the concepts that they discuss, along with others that you think are relevant, present an argument about what we would have to say about the morality (not legality) of a move like that one.

Answer 1

-Successfully apply concepts related to the morality of eliminating the DACA program to that issue.
-Include a thesis that's focused and appropriate given the assignment.
-Clearly and succinctly state the main argument for the thesis.
-Correctly identify and defend the argument's controversial premises using sound reasoning, well-chosen examples, insightful analogies, etc.

Question 2

While this isn't true of DACA students, some people send significant parts of their lives split between different countries. In your essay, talk about a person like this. How would the concept of social membership apply to this person? Does social membership only apply to people who have spent most of their lives in one place, or can it apply to people who move between different countries?

Answer 2

-Apply the concept of social membership to a case where a person spends significant amounts of time in different societies.
-Include a thesis that's focused and appropriate given the assignment.
-Clearly and succinctly state the main argument for the thesis.
-Correctly identify and defend the argument's controversial premises using sound reasoning, well-chosen examples, insightful analogies, etc.

Question 3

Erica Rodriguez and Martin Chamorro say that both in Yanet's and Grimmond's cases, viewing them as foreigners to the countries they grew up in is problematic. Do you agree? What do their stories tell us about concepts like belonging and group membership? And how can thinking through this question help us to figure out how to shape public policy?

Answer 3

-Discuss how we should understand concepts like "foreigner" and "belonging" in light of cases like Yanet's and Grimmond's.
-Apply this discussion to the issue of public policy, perhaps specifically the DACA policy in the United States.

Question 4

Rodriguez and Chamorro argue that ________ gives citizens and documented immigrants the rights they currently hold.

A) Expressing nationalism and loyalty
B) The country of their birth
C) Being related to native-born residents
D) Being members of their societies
E) Having moral status

Question 5

Rodriguez and Chamorro affirm that most people don't view ________ as being the fundamental reason that some person is entitled to rights and privileges in a country.

A) Bloodline
B) Race or ethnicity
C) Birthplace
D) Social membership
E) Socioeconomic status

Question 6

Which of the following best fits the definition of "social membership?"

A) The status that is automatically conferred on an individual after one lives, works, and engages in some country for more than half of her life
B) The birthright of a person who is born into a bloodline of citizens who have claimed residence in some society for at least three generations
C) What develops over time as you reside in a place and form relationships, acquire interests, engage politically, and participate in activities with other members of the country
D) The extension of in-group status to a foreigner by the members of some country who decide that this individual deserves to be considered a member of their community
E) The legal status that foreigners must attain through due processes, legal avenues, and appropriate wait periods if they desire to have the legal rights and protections of other members of the country

Question 7

The argument to respect social membership entails an argument for an open border policy.

Question 8

Why do Rodriguez and Chamorro think that if we restrict legal rights to anyone with legal status, this would be too exclusive?

A) Most of the countries in the developed world do not behave this way, and the United States ought not be any more exclusive than these countries
B) Most of the provisions at the state level apply on the basis of moral status rather than on the basis of citizenship or legal status
C) Most of the provisions in the U.S. Constitution apply on the basis of bloodline or ancestral heritage rather than on the basis of citizenship or legal status
D) Most of the laws in the United States are in tension with each other, and adhering to any one of them lends to a very narrow understanding of legal status
E) Most of the provisions in the U.S. Constitution apply not on the basis of citizenship or legal status but rather personhood and jurisdiction

Question 9

Which Supreme Court ruling said that it was unconstitutional to deny the legal right of public education to children on the basis of their immigration status?

A) Reno v. Flores
B) Yamataya v. Fisher
C) Thompson v. Hebdon
D) Plyler v. Doe
E) Rotkiske v. Klemm

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT true of DACA?

A) Any childhood arrival can qualify for DACA
B) DACA recipients are granted work permits
C) It's meant to make life easier for young people who have made the United States their home
D) It calls for immigration officers to prioritize enforcing immigration laws against undocumented immigrants who didn't arrive as children
E) You have to prove that you have been an upstanding member of society to qualify for DACA

Question 11

What do Rodriguez and Chamorro have to say about state legislation, like Georgia's, that seeks to deny college admission to DACA students?

A) It singles out and causes unnecessary harm to documented immigrants
B) It is a form of systemic racism
C) It's inconsistent with the state's economic goals
D) It is successful in protecting the state's fiduciary interests
E) It's a way of masking nefarious political aspirations

Question 12

Rodriguez and Chamorro affirm that the DACA memorandum implies that, morally, lawful presence shouldn't be the only thing that protects people from deportation

Question 13

Rodriguez and Chamorro argue that it is not citizenship but social membership that provides the basis for ________ to most ________:

A) Financial claims / economic goods
B) Moral claims / legal rights
C) Ethical claims / inalienable rights
D) Social claims / public goods
E) Legal claims / moral rights