As the plane slowly landed on the airport terminal in Washington D.C., my parents held their excitement. After the long fight of waiting on the immigration list and doing all the paperwork, they finally arrived here in the United States, the land of opportunity and freedom. My parents immigrated to the United States from Vietnam. They hoped to seek a better future. When I was a young child, my parents put in many grueling hours of work to support our family. My mother worked as a waitress and a cashier at a Chinese restaurant while my father worked at a steel factory where he assembled parts for furniture. They both worked for minimum wages which made it more difficult to have extra money. As our family lived here in the United States, my parents …show more content…
They escaped from the political warfare, the economic collapse, and the poverty from the result of the Vietnam War. These were major factors that caused people like my parents to immigrate to the United States. The United States offered the freedoms unimaginable by countries with communist governments like Vietnam. While many immigrants saw the United States as a place for an opportunity, they faced obstacles from Americans. Many Americans viewed them negatively. There was a man named John Beard who strongly voiced his opinion about immigrants, “‘One of the biggest issues is they do not want to become an American,’ Beard said. ‘They want to keep their language, their traditions. If we don 't put our foot down we won 't get it stopped”’ (Moore). When Kurt Moore, a writer of the Marion Star, interviewed John Beard, he noticed that this exemplified the view held among many Americans. They feared that immigrants changed the dynamics of the American traditions and culture. I thought of things like what did being an American exactly mean? If Americans spoke English, enjoyed Football game nights, and had the freedom to express their religious belief in Christianity, then immigrants should have the exact same rights to do what they pleased. Immigrants were Americans as well. They were citizens after going through the process of paperwork to become …show more content…
Americans had a strong belief that immigrants drained the resources such as medical services and the education of Americans. This belief stemmed from how people felt the government was not doing enough with the issue of immigration as only 28% of respondents in the study above said they were satisfied with how the government handled the issue. They were unaware that a majority of immigrants took jobs undesired by most Americans, “Migrants usually take jobs that natives are unwilling or unable to do, thus complementing the local labour force rather than competing with it” (“Changing Public Perceptions of Immigrants”). Immigrants helped build the infrastructure of the American society. They did the jobs undesired by most Americans such as being a maid, a housekeeper, a janitor, and a taxi driver. Immigrants did not have much choice in terms of choosing their occupation if they do not have a high school or college degree. More jobs required an education path like technical school and college. The workforce had to accommodate the changes due to the growing and changing economy. As technology advanced, some jobs switched over to automated machines like cashiers. The older generation had more blue-collar
Quindlen and Kennedy expressed musings that were somewhat similar. “... there is a grudging fairness among the citizens of the United States that eventually leads most to admit that…the new immigrants are not so different from our own parents or grandparents.” Here Quindlen states that though reluctantly for some, most
As a result of their emigration, America was now viewed as “multiethnic and multiracial” and “defined in terms of culture and creed” (Huntington 1). On the contrary, when people traveled across the border from Mexico, their culture was not so widely accepted. Mexican traditions and values were seen as a “serious challenge to America’s traditional identity” (Huntington 2). The “original settlers” of America were incredibly open to people travelling from Europe, but when people came from Latin America, they were
My mom came to the United States with no money to her name. She came here in search for a better life. No one helped her, she did it all on her own. Not speaking the language or being educated it wasn 't easy raising a child in a place which is so unknown to you
“No pain no gain”, echoes in my mind, as the hot sweltering humid air engulfs my room, baking me in the unbearable heat early one morning, during the summer after my freshman year of college. The thought instantly brings me back to memories of my childhood, where whenever I complained, my dad would retort “no pain no gain”. Back then, I hated hearing it over and over again. To me it was just something my parents said to stop us from complaining, and I never stopped to think why that one phrase was so important to them.
Being a child of immigrant parents is not easy. You are constantly living in the fear that one day you’ll wake up and you parents won’t be there with you anymore. Specially now that we have a new president, things are getting more challenging. But don’t get me wrong, I live a happy life. I am proud to call myself a Latina.
For many immigrant families moving into the U.S the culture shock is significant. Families can easily be overwhelmed by their need to fit into their new surroundings. This is especially true for children in these families. It is easy for children to get caught up in the American way of life, and that can cause the original culture to be forgotten. That is why the adults in these families have to enforce their native culture on their children, so the adults can make sure that those customs are not forgotten.
Introduction Informative, contemplative, and different are three words to describe “How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” by Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco and Carola Suárez-Orozco from Rereading America. “How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” talks about unauthorized immigration. More specifically, this source talks about the other side of the issue of unauthorized immigrants; the human face of it all. “How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” depicts the monster from one of Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s thesis in the article, “Monster Culture (7 Theses).” The monster seen in the source “How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” is the one that Cohen talks about in his fourth thesis, “The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference.”
The United States was a growing, prosperous nation in the 1800’s. They were the shining example of democracy and freedom for citizens. As people watched the US grow, they wanted to be a part of a great country. Immigrants flooded in from everywhere around the world to become American citizens as shown in Document A where the US was compared to Noah’s ark and shows immigrants escaping taxes, kings and opression. The American citizens began to express frustration with the overwhelming amount of immigrants coming to the United States.
Ten years ago, I immigrated to the United States and ever since I have been an undocumented immigrant. Due to my legal status in the United States, I felt like I was restricted from certain situations and possessions and would never be able to succeed. I was not living the normal life of a seven-year-old. Instead, I had to learn to cope and adapt to a whole new culture. Even though the drastic change at such a young age was a challenge, it has shaped who I am today.
The way immigrants are treated in America impacts their success as citizen. In addition, one of the ways a former immigrant might feel like they have become a “fully-fledged citizen” is when they feel as though they belong and are integrated into the country they’ve come to. First, an example of how discrimination affects an immigrant’s success in the United States is
America is considered “The New World” to many. It is a new beginning for many immigrants. They look to this land to escape their past. They have a heart and soul full of hope. They were determined to have a new life.
Response to “Our Fear of Immigrants” In “Our Fear of Immigrants” Jeremy Adam Smith takes a neutral stance on the immigration and anti-immigration argument. Smith begins by telling the story of a 4th grade class at Jefferson Elementary School in Berkeley, California who try to fight back against immigration laws after a classmate of theirs was deported back to his home country. Smith then goes on to compare the 4th graders to the adults of their town who fight for stronger immigration laws asking his readers what qualities the children possess that the rest of the citizens do not to make them react so differently.
First generation immigrants sacrifice their adulthood in search of a better life for their family and for future generations to come. My father came from Peru to support his family. He was the first person in his family to come to America. He works in road construction from morning until night so that my family is supported. The desire to repay both of my parents is the belief that guides my life.
Immigration and The American Dream Immigrants from the mid 19th century and early 20th century consisted of mainly Southern and Eastern Europe, Asia, and elsewhere. Immigrants motivations, experiences, and impacts shaped what an immigrant had to go through being a different person from another country. Although Americans dislike foreigners who came to the United States, immigrants had a role in political, economic, cultural, and social aspects of immigrants because of their motivations, experiences, and impacts in America. New Immigrants did not have it easy and went through obstacles natives, political figures, bosses and others had thrown at them.
“Often referred to as ‘A Nation of Immigrants’ (Kennedy, 1959) the Unites States is far more ethnically diverse than most other nations.” (Bello, 2009) Diversity has shaped and formed America and the people who reside within it. “The vision of the nation’s founding fathers established a government