The implications of racial prejudice, and discrimination against immigrants are endless. Our systems are built and maintained primarily by the people who have privileges and power to rule others. The value of people of color, and immigrants have been subject to great skepticism.
Implications on the safety of Muslim immigrants
LeMay (2007) notes that there are about eleven million illegal immigrants now in the United States. The USA Patriot Act, legislation passed after September 11 and affecting the civil liberties of all American residents, and admission to the country, and surveillance of citizens and residents, has resulted in harassment of people of middle-eastern origins. People are arrested on the slightest provocation and can be detained for years, with some of them deported. They are not safe even when they are legal immigrants because of the biased attitude of many people.
Implications on Education
An organization defending the rights of illegal immigrants is speaking out about access to free education for children. The group Education Without Borders said that as many as 5,000 children in Quebec are likely to be unable to attend school because of their parent's current status as illegal immigrants. Education Without Borders argues children should not see their education jeopardized because of politics (CTV Montreal, 2014).
Shor (1993) refers to the Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy where he explains that Dialogic is the essence of education as the practice of freedom. Oppressed has the full right to educate himself and free himself from the oppression.
It is a sad truth that our education system does not support the marginalized people, like illegal immigrants. The policy makers, and curriculum designers always look for the interest of privileged class of the society. Education has been a platform for maintaining dominance in our culture. While the political stance has been to avoid controversial issues of race, culture, and religion in the education system, this has only led to “elevation and ensured continuity of this [dominant] group’s bodies of knowledge at the expense of others” (Ghosh & Abdi, 2013, p. 13).