Immigrant Interview Questions

ESSAY # 2 10/04/2017 Rough draft COMPARE AND CONTRAST MY LIFE BEFORE IN CUBA AND NOW IN MIAMI. My life before I came this country was in Cuba. But I decided to come for a better future for me, and my family.

Going into this interview project I was curious to learn more about the experiences that immigrants had to go through. My interviewee, Mario, is an 18 year old immigrant that migrated to America from Bolivia at the age of 10. I have known Mario since middle school and we’ve been friends since then. We have grown up around the same area too and now we both attend the University of Maryland. Being a 1.5 generation immigrant myself, I was interested to see if we shared similar experiences growing up in America especially since we’ve grown up around the same area. My interview with Mario has given me deeper understanding of the difficulties and challenges immigrants have to go through in their first few years in America. Through Mario’s experiences,

A specific piece of evidence that the author uses to support his case is the question of a young immigrant: “Why had I left home?... I looked

But other than that my life here is fine." She also plans on becoming a U.S citizen but she doesn't have the time to do it because she had to take care of her children. "Im not an American citizen, but I do plan on becoming one. Hopefully this year I could become one if I can afford to file a citizenship." Learning about my aunties past was an exciting experience.

When my dad told me that we were coming to the united states, I was excited but at the same time, I was mad that we were leaving some close family members behind. The people that I was mad about leaving behind were my grandfather, grandmother and my cousins. But I had to accept the fact that my education comes first and with better education comes a better life and that is all I want. Coming to America wasn 't hard at all financially because my dad was already here since he was a teen.

As a child I would always see my parents work hard for every dollar they made. When I reached my teenage years I realized that it was because they were immigrants to this country and took whatever job opportunity they could find. I also came to realize that I was an immigrant, and that life was tougher for not having the proper documentation. This year I fell into the biggest hole of my life. I learned that I was not going to get financial aid because of my legal status and my mother was also diagnosed with a tumer last month. I fell into a depression thinking I was not going to be able to go to college. My mother also could not get her surgery until she had insurance which she could not get because of her legal status. As I laid crying I came

Becoming a part of the United States has impacted my life significantly by giving me my ten amendments, by giving me a free education, and by giving me a home with everything I need. Overall, the United States has provided countless options towards being the best individual I can be in the land of opportunity. Remaining in Mexico would only lead to a life of struggle and

Pg 178. At this lodge he met an older gentlemen named Elroy Berdahl, Tim had spent a total of 6 days at this lodge, where he learnt a lot about himself, Throughout the stay, Elroy never asked much about Tim; where he had come from, what he was running from, anything about his family. On the last day, Elroy had taken him out to go ‘’fishing’’ where they crossed the Canadian border, here is where Tim lost himself briefly, He thought about jumping and swimming across, He looked for reassurance, thinking ‘’ What would you do, would you jump?’’ He did this in his head but acted like he was talking to a different person. He then visioned his family and how they opposed what he was doing, his friends and future family as well.

Having to move to America from a country whose native language wasn 't English, would be difficult, having the culture shocks and language barriers. But when Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved to America because of her father 's job, she experienced something she would never forget. Many people were curious as to where her homeland, Iraq, was and what it was like there. Although many children in her school often stereotyped the country, after finding out where it was, she was quick to inform them of what it was actually like there, surprising them. Upon their arrival to their new home in America, their neighbors and others had asked where they had come from.

Even though there was a great distance between some of their family members, they still provided honorable support. This occurred even though a study has shown that Latino family relationships are usually damaged after moving to the United States (Dillon, Rosa, & Ibañez, 2013). One of the most obvious reasons for this is because of how they were raised, especially

My father didn’t have familial issues, but the violence in the country made him flee El Salvador and leave his family members behind. He says even though they were poor he was satisfied with only having the necessary things in life. My father was the only one in his family who came to Los Angeles. All my aunts, uncles, cousins, half-sisters, nephews, and nieces live in El Salvador, and their personalities are humble,

His life on the border is what inspired him to write his poems and books to tell the folktales he heard and the pride he had towards his people. He was motivated to keep going and getting

1. What challenges did immigrants face upon arrival in America? Immigrants traveled a hard and long voyage across the ocean to America in hopes of better jobs and futures with less discrimination. When they saw the Statue of Liberty they knew they had arrived at Ellis Island, in New York.

During the World War II, his father joined the U.S Army and fought in the Europe. Also his father was involved in the Normandy Invasion in 1944. After the war, his father went back to HongKong and married his mother, and moved back to Seattle. However, the racial discrimination was very serious back to 1940s and 1950s, his father was hardly finding a job, and the only

After Mexico was defeated by America in 1848, Mexico made negotiations with the United States to give it ownership of California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and parts of Wyoming. Mexicans who were annexed in these states were given American citizenship with full civil rights. Blacks were granted citizenship in 1870 through another naturalization act, and along with Native Americans and blacks during the time period that the immigration quota was set by the government through the Johnson-Reed Act in 1924, Latinos did not have many problems towards naturalization. The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 exempted Mexico from the immigration quota, and Mexicans were also not excluded from citizenship, the law deemed them as white. Under the Johnson Reed Act, Mexican immigration policy differed greatly compared to policies on Asian