'Now We Are Here' follows 16 migrant families as their kids try to adjust to life in the U.S.

A new book takes an intimate look at the impact of American immigration policies on children.

"Now We Are Here" follows 16 migrant families from Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as their kids try to adjust to life in schools after their families arrive in the United States.

Author Gabrielle Oliveira spent years doing ethnographic research in the homes of these families. Oliveira joined The Show and said she was consistently amazed at how much these children understood about what their families were up against.

Full conversation

GABRIELLE OLIVEIRA: One of the things that, for me, was really interesting was to just hear 5, 6, 11-year-olds talking about policy and using the description and the name of the policy, right? An 11-year-old saying, "I was part of the MPP program," right, which is the Migrant Protection Protocols, which became known as the "Remain in Mexico."

Or a 5-year-old talking about ankle monitors, and Border Patrol and the food that they ate in the prisons ... how that is still such a vivid and important memory for them. But they were talking about structural big things like big policy, surveillance, control, government, power ... using their own words.

But I think sometimes folks may underestimate just how well children are sophisticated in their thought, and eloquent in how they describe things. And it's on us, on the adults, to understand their stories, right? It's not on them to be pushed to tell us a story with a full arc, but we've got to understand how they're telling that to us.

And for me, that has stayed with me, you know, and will stay with me forever.

SAM DINGMAN: Yeah, well, and it feels like part of what you're getting at there is this reality for at least some kids, right, that their parents have made the decision to make this journey. And it wasn't necessarily their choice. And now they are a part of this story and have to, to your point, contend with all of the realities that come along with that.

I guess that makes me think about, you know, in a lot of cases, people are leaving their home countries and communities in hopes of finding safety, more prosperity in this country. And then they arrive here, and there's racism and educational disparities, economic disparities. What did people tell you about being confronted with that and what it makes them feel and think?

OLIVEIRA: Yeah, that's a great point, too. ... How lots of parents articulated this to me is, especially when COVID happened, and in many ways these parents were telling me, you know, "This is another emergency in our lives," right? This is — because we live these multiple emergencies. So it puts them into this place where they're kind of, they had a better view on, "We'll be able to get through this" ... "This is not going to stop us. We've been through a lot."

Nobody portrayed themselves as victims, right? Everybody's like, "Don't pity us. Don't put us in this position. We're fighters. And that's even if we see inequality, even if we experience racism, discrimination, all of that — we're fighters because our mission is to provide a better life."

Like, that is the North Star. So that was so clear for these parents, that it was actually a huge learning — these folks are kind of saying, "No, this is how we've always lived. We've always faced complications. It was violence, it was poverty, it was lack of opportunity, it was, you know, losing people due to violence, all these different things. But that will not take our purpose from us. That's not going to deter us."

DINGMAN: In addition to having written this book, you are an associate professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. And I wonder if you have thoughts about ways for educators to think about the impact that they are having on immigrant kids in schools.

What do these kids need in order to succeed? What do teachers need to be mindful of? And what are the stakes of giving these kids who have come here under these circumstances that you're describing an education?

OLIVEIRA: Yes. So I think, you know, every child, especially in elementary education, is looking up to a teacher and is really hoping that the teacher likes and loves them, right? It's really what's in the minds of all these kids. They're looking up to this adult and hoping that they're loved and cared for.

And a lot of the times these children, you know, immigrant children, are sharing these stories in different ways — and I've documented this extensively — in how they bring it to different moments of the classroom. They bring it in a drawing, they share at circle time on the rug. ... But a lot of the teachers are nervous, and rightly so in this moment, to engage with any of that, you know, knowledge that comes into their classroom. And they end up kind of rerouting, skipping, or silencing, you know, something that a child is saying.

And our recommendation is really that seeing the child for their whole self, and listening to those stories, and engaging with the parents and understanding what has happened before, really increases the chances of building a trusting relationship between student and teacher. Which will make the student want to work harder, and will want to do better in the classroom, and come back and not drop out.

But if that part of the identity is not visible for the teacher, that will make the lives of educators a lot more difficult, in order to connect with these students, right? So a lot of the professional development work that I do with teachers is: know the population you serve. What came before they even stepped into your classroom? what was the the reality of their home countries, right? Or their parents' home countries? What happened to them?

So knowing that you're more able to connect with them and see the kinds of knowledges they're bringing into the classroom and use that, you know, in instruction and in pedagogy.

DINGMAN: Gabrielle Oliveira is Jorge Paulo Lehman associate professor of education and Brazil studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the author of the new book, "Now We Are Here: Family Migration, Children's Education and Dreams for a Better Life." Gabrielle, thank you for this conversation.

OLIVEIRA: Thank you for having me.