The Complicated Details of Migration and Refugee Law: Primary Source Collections to Educate the Development of Immigration in the United States

Authored by Puanani Luhia

Photo of a primary source document in the Center for Migration Studies of New York’s Arthur P. (“Skip”) Endres Papers Collection. Congressional Record – Extension of Remarks: Equitable Relief Asked for Haviv Schieber, submitted by Honorable John M. Ashbrook of Ohio in the House of Representatives, May 13, 1974.

The Extension of Remarks is part of the Congressional Record which serves as the official transcript for the House and the Senate. The Center for Migration Studies (CMS) also offers works from the Arthur P. (“Skip”) Endres Papers Collection to serve as “primary sources of how migration and refugee law is made and how that process might be improved for future generations of immigrants” (CMS 2015, 4).

Continue reading

Amnesty International Correspondence

Authored by Danielle Manri

 This is a digitized document from the Endres Papers Collection. It was created by Stephanie Grant, Amnesty International’s Washington Office Director

Amnesty International Correspondence

This document, which has never before been seen by the public eye, showcases the development and revision of the Refugee Act of 1980. Most importantly, it provides a context for analyzing the inequities in previous refugee legislation that created the need for a more humanitarian law. This widespread injustice among the admittance of refugees stemmed from the somewhat discriminatory definition of the term “refugee.” In the end, this narrow definition imposed undue suffering on the hundreds of thousands of refugees who sought protection in the United States during the 1970s.[1] On top of dealing with painful memories of a lost home, many of these refugees were not even sure if they would be able to stay in the Land of the Free.[2]

Continue reading