Dan-el Padilla Peralta (also Dan-el Padilla) is an associate professor of classics at Princeton who researches and teaches the Roman Republic and early Empire, as well as classical reception in contemporary American and Latin American cultures. [1] An immigrant from the Dominican Republic, he rose from poverty and homelessness to show promise, according to one faculty member, as "one of the best classicists to emerge in his generation." [2]
Padilla and his family entered the United States legally in 1989, when Padilla was four years old. [2] [3] Padilla's father returned to the Dominican Republic while his mother remained, raising Padilla and his infant brother in homeless shelters in New York City. [4] Padilla's younger brother, Yando, is a United States citizen by virtue of his birth in the United States. [5]
In 1994 Padilla, then living with his family in a shelter in Bushwick, Brooklyn, met photographer Jeff Cowen, who took an interest in the young boy. [2] With Cowen's tutelage and encouragement Padilla won a scholarship to Cowen's alma mater high school, Collegiate School in Manhattan. [2] At Collegiate, Padilla learned Greek, Latin, and French, participated in debate tournaments, and was described by an administrator as "one of the most powerful intellects" to ever attend the school. [2] [6]
Padilla applied for early admission to Princeton and was accepted in December 2001. [5] He admitted on his application that he did not have legal status in the United States. Princeton awarded him a full scholarship out of its own funds because his immigration status made him ineligible for federal aid programs. [2] At Princeton Padilla earned a 3.9 grade point average and was named salutatorian of his class. He majored in classics, studying ancient Rome and Greece. He often took twice the normal course load. [2] He was the 2006 Latin salutatorian of Princeton University, and at the commencement ceremony he delivered the traditional address in Latin. [6] [2]
In early 2006 Padilla won Princeton's Daniel M. Sachs Class of 1960 Graduating Scholarship, a two-year scholarship for a second bachelor's degree at Worcester College of the University of Oxford. [2] [6] [7] Attending Oxford would require Padilla to leave the United States, upon which he would likely be unable to return legally due to having no visa. Due to his having been in the United States unlawfully, if discovered, he would have been unable to apply for ten years. Further, without a work visa he would be unable to find work in the United States as a scholar and professor, his intended occupation. [2] Padilla raised $10,000 from his friends for legal support and, in early April 2006, applied for a visa under a United States program allowing visa grants to undocumented immigrants under "extraordinary circumstances". [2] Despite personal appeals from Senator Hillary Clinton (whose husband, Bill Clinton called President George W. Bush on the subject), Charles Schumer, Charlie Rangel, Jane Harman, Mark Dayton, and other members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate, the deans of the Harvard Law School and the Woodrow Wilson School, asking Michael Chertoff and Emilio Gonzalez to personally review Padilla's file, Citizenship and Immigration Services (the agency now responsible for issuing visas) declined to consider his application. [8] [9]
In April 2007 Padilla was issued a one-year H-1B Visa allowing him to work as a research assistant at Princeton while attending Oxford. [10] [11] He worked at Stanford also, before becoming a professor at Princeton. [12]
Padilla successfully defended his Stanford Ph.D. dissertation in Classics in June 2014, and that Fall became a Fellow in the Society of Fellows in the Humanities at Columbia University. As a Fellow he was a lecturer in classics at Columbia. Padilla Peralta was featured in the New York Times Magazine on February 2, 2021, in the article "He Wants to Save Classics From Whiteness. Can the Field Survive?". [9]
Along with his academic and political supporters Padilla campaigned unsuccessfully in 2006 for passage of the DREAM Act, which would have allowed high school graduates who had been undocumented immigrants since childhood, to become legal residents if they agreed to attend college or served in the United States Armed Forces. [8] The bill had been introduced several times since 2001, but never obtained enough support to overcome filibusters.
Padilla's story attracted the attention of Hollywood, leading to interest in movie rights and a book deal. [8] Padilla's memoir, Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League, was published by Penguin Press on July 28, 2015. [12]
A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. Green card holders are formally known as lawful permanent residents (LPRs). As of 2019, there are an estimated 13.9 million green card holders, of whom 9.1 million are eligible to become United States citizens. Approximately 18,700 of them serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Salutatorian is an academic title given in Armenia, the Philippines and the United States to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is traditionally based on grade point average (GPA) and number of credits taken, but consideration may also be given to other factors such as co-curricular and extracurricular activities. The title comes from the salutatorian's traditional role as the first speaker at a graduation ceremony, delivering the salutation. In a high school setting, a salutatorian may also be asked to speak about the current graduating class or to deliver an invocation or benediction. In some instances, the salutatorian may even deliver an introduction for the valedictorian. The general themes of a salutation and valediction are usually of growth, outlook towards the future, and thankfulness.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed by the 99th United States Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on November 6, 1986.
The Daily Princetonian, originally known as The Princetonian and nicknamed the 'Prince', is the independent daily student newspaper of Princeton University. The newspaper is owned by The Daily Princetonian Publishing Co. and boasts a circulation of 2,000 in print and around 30,000 daily online hits as of 2021. Managed by approximately 200 undergraduate students, the newspaper covers a range of sections, including news, sports, and opinions.
In 2006–2007, millions of people participated in protests over a proposed change to U.S. immigration policy. These large scale mobilizations are widely seen as a historic turning point in Latino politics, especially Latino immigrant civic participation and political influence, as noted in a range of scholarly publications in this field. The protests began in response to proposed legislation known as H.R. 4437, which would raise penalties for illegal immigration and classify illegal individuals and anyone who helped them enter or remain in the US as felons. As part of the wider immigration debate, most of the protests not only sought a rejection of this bill, but also a comprehensive reform of the country's immigration laws that included a path to citizenship for all illegal immigrants.
Foreign nationals, known as aliens, violate US immigration laws by entering the United States unlawfully, or by lawfully entering but then remaining after the expiration of their visas, parole or temporary protected status. Illegal immigration has been a matter of intense debate in the United States since the 1980s.
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, from poorer to richer countries. Illegal residence in another country creates the risk of detention, deportation, and/or other persecutions.
Anti-Mexican sentiment, is prejudice, fear, discrimination, or hatred towards Mexico and people of Mexican descent, Mexican culture and/or Mexican Spanish. It is most commonly found in the United States.
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 was a bill discussed in the 110th United States Congress that would have provided legal status and a path to citizenship for the approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants residing in the United States. The bill was portrayed as a compromise between providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and increased border enforcement: it included funding for 300 miles (480 km) of vehicle barriers, 105 camera and radar towers, and 20,000 more Border Patrol agents, while simultaneously restructuring visa criteria around high-skilled workers. The bill also received heated criticism from both sides of the immigration debate.
Jeff Cowen is an American art photographer. He is known for painterly silver gelatin photo murals and photo collages. Various chemical procedures, mark-making, brushwork, and post darkroom mixed media finishing techniques are often contained in his artworks.
The Princeton Tory is a magazine of Conservative political thought written and published by Princeton University students. Founded in 1984 by Yoram Hazony, the magazine has played a role in various controversies, including a national debate about white privilege. Notable alumni include United States Senator Ted Cruz and Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach for America. Four editors have gone on to be Rhodes scholars.
Illegal immigration in Mexico has occurred at various times throughout history, especially in the 1830s and since the 1970s. The largest source of illegal immigrants in Mexico are the impoverished Central American countries of Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and El Salvador and African countries like Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Guinea, Ghana and Nigeria. The largest single group of illegal immigrants in Mexico is from the United States.
Illegal immigration in Chile is a phenomenon that largely began in the 1990s as a result of economic growth and political stability in Chile. Most immigrants are South American, with the largest wave being Peruvian, although there has also been a significant amount of migration from the Caribbean. Illegal immigration is primarily caused by a lack of security or economic opportunities in the country of origin.
Catalina Cruz is a Colombian-American attorney from the borough of Queens in New York City. A member of the Democratic Party and former undocumented immigrant minor (DREAMer), Cruz has worked as an advocate for immigration rights, including as Director of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's 2016 Exploited Task Force. Cruz was elected as the Democratic candidate in the Fall 2018 election for the 39th district of the New York State Assembly, representing Corona, Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights, Queens.
Annunciation House is a network of shelters located in El Paso, Texas. It primarily provides assistance to newly arrived migrants from Central America. Their facilities provide food, sleeping accommodation, and referrals for legal and medical support. The organization has close links to local faith communities, particularly the Catholic Church. Annunciation House has received international attention and news-coverage as a result of incidents related to the 2014 American immigration crisis, the Trump administration family separation policy, the U.S.-Mexico border crisis, and the National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States. As of January 2020, Rubén Garcia has been Director of the shelter for more than 40 years.
Federal policy oversees and regulates immigration to the United States and citizenship of the United States. The United States Congress has authority over immigration policy in the United States, and it delegates enforcement to the Department of Homeland Security. Historically, the United States went through a period of loose immigration policy in the early-19th century followed by a period of strict immigration policy in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Policy areas related to the immigration process include visa policy, asylum policy, and naturalization policy. Policy areas related to illegal immigration include deferral policy and removal policy.
Craige B. Champion is an American historian and classical scholar. He has been Professor of Ancient History at Syracuse University since 2017. His research and teaching focus on Ancient Greek and Roman History, Religion and Politics in Ancient Greece and Rome, Greek and Roman Historiography, Greek and Roman Political Thought, Ethnic Identity Formation in Greek and Roman Antiquity, Politics of Culture in Ancient Greece and Rome, Citizenship and Empire in Greek and Roman Antiquity, Polybius, and Tacitus.
Joshua Timothy Katz is an American linguist and classicist who was the Cotsen Professor in the Humanities at Princeton University until May 2022. He is a scholar on the languages, literatures, and cultures of ancient and medieval history. Currently, he is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Sasha-Mae Eccleston is a classicist and the John Rowe Workman Assistant Professor of Classics at Brown University. She is an expert on reception studies and the works of Apuleius. She is the co-founder of Eos, an academic network which focuses on Africana receptions of Ancient Greece and Rome.