How To Become An Illegal Immigrant

For many people, it could be a challenge to become a U.S. citizen. For others, becoming a U.S. citizen was easy. Everyone has the dream to become a U.S. citizen, but not everyone has the privilege to be a U.S. citizen. For the people that do have the privilege to become a U.S. citizen there is a process that the applicants must take and get granted with U.S. citizenship. The steps for becoming a U.S. citizen are eligibility, applying for citizenship, and take oath of allegiance.

My mother, Norma, immigrated from Mexico in search of a better life. While here in South Carolina, she met my father, Hector, and got married shortly after. Unlike my mother, my father was a citizen. Whenever I reached the age of 7, my dad passed away. This struck us hard. Fortunately, my mom received a monthly check for my brother and I that gave her plenty of help. But she knew that wasn't going to be enough. She knew she would have to look for a job and that it wouldn't be an easy task. Being undocumented in the United States and in search for a job wasn't easy. But that didn't stop my mom. She was constantly changing jobs not because she was fickle, but because of her issue. Something about undocumented immigrants that many people are unaware of is the unjust treatment they receive. Because of their necessity and knowing the difficulty of finding another job, the only choice they really have is to say nothing at all. My mom was in a position like that and I couldn't bear it. I begged her to quit. She mentioned "being treated like slaves" and that just upset me. Upon seeing my anger, my mom constantly reminds me "that's why you have to study, go to college, and have a good job to avoid being treated like an animal". She is currently out of that job but she did have something to say about it before she left. My mother has proven to me that through hard work you can strive forward no matter

Mother needs to gain an understanding of how substance use affects her ability to parent. Father needs to support mother’s recovery, as well as cooperate with the department. The family’s strengths are their support system and ability to work diligently as a family. Mother has a natural nurturing trait to her baby and the parents have a strong bond tied to their daughter. Parents and foster parent (grandmother) have worked very well with the department. Grandmother has maintained excellent boundaries and has reported to us weekly on how well visits have been. Parents have been very cooperative and both parents receive two drug screens weekly. The department asked that father received weekly drug screens as well, even though father has no drug issue to our knowledge he still cooperated with the department.

factory work because companies he used to work for have moved oversees. His economic hardships

Father was at its all time low. With the struggle to pay the bills and lack of

everything he can to find a job or at least money. People are taking his money and

There was a loud bang on the door. I sat up right away along with the other 13 people in my room. A soldier dress in head to toe with his uniform along with a winter jacket. He threw five pieces of bread on the floor and told us to go to work before leaving. The bread only got split upon nine of us; I was one of those nine. I had noticed a young boy did not get a piece so I gave him mine. The boy looked at me with a blank stare and took the bread from my frangile bonny fingers. I stood up, buttoned my shirt and adjusted my shorts. Under that slats of wood I slept on, I hid a scarve that I stole from a dead woman. I pulled it out and tucked it in my shirt so no one would notice. As I stepped out the door frame I felt a chilling breeze up my

My father was born into a poor family in Jacksonville, Florida. During his childhood, his parents didn’t treat him the way most parents treat my dad the way children are supposed to be treated. One day while standing in the lunch line he was pulled out of the line because he owed so much money and was given bread and water as his meal.

have you ever wonder how it is to be an immigrant? Traveling over the border to actually be free? To have better job opportunities, to let your children be able to receive the education. Tuesday, November 8. Karla Rodriguez, a senior high school. She’s a regular citizen. On election day, a day to choose our president. Karla was ready. She was ready to go through what was expected. Karla got dressed on a Tuesday morning, getting ready for school. As she left her room, she went downstairs for breakfast. As she stumble down the stairs, her brother’s son started crying. She went back upstairs to go check on the baby. After she was done with the baby, she went downstairs and heard yelling in the kitchen. She heard her abuela and mom fighting over

This is what immigrants came to America for, but did not always experience. Some found persecution just by their race like in “The

June 2014 my father was incarcerated for one too many DUI’s and detained for being an illegal immigrant. My heart broke but I knew I had to be strong. Burying my emotional feelings I kept a smile on my face for my brother and sister.

and can no longer work to support his family.  The inability to work because he

Because they do not have the legal right to work in this country, undocumented immigrants earn very little. Unscrupulous employers are quick to exploit these workers, paying them considerably less than state minimum wage laws mandate. Thus, immigrant families are forced to live in sub-standard conditions and eek out an

The mold for an undocumented family typically consists of at least one if not both parents being undocumented and children who are natural born citizens. Families with mixed legal status have many hardships to face and overcome one of the most prominent and most fear inducing of all: deportation. The risk of one of their loved ones being deported and the chance of never seeing them again in the country is one that haunts millions of not only undocumented immigrants but their children as well. In a recent study conducted on multigenerational punishment Laura Enriquez stated the following, “In particular, scholars have shown how deportation policies impinge on the economic, social, and emotional well-being of family and community members in the United States and the country of origin” (Enriquez 941). Stating that immigration laws and illegal immigration status along with the risk of deportation tear families apart is an understatement; “…deportation threatens immigrant family stability. For fiscal years 2013 and 2014 (“ICE”) removed nearly 368,000 and 441,000 persons, respectively; making the total removed over the course of Obama’s presidency approximately two million” (Enriquez 940). A current web article by Derrick Rubenstein found most opponents argue that “…mass deportation would pay for itself in about four years. Plus, of course,

My parents did not come to San Diego with a lot of money, they only had ten million dong when they came, which to me sounded like a lot but my mom laughed and told me it was a thousand dollars in the U.S. For my parents, this meant they would go homeless in two months if one of them did not find any sort of work. For the first month, it was very difficult for them to find a job because they did not know how to find one. My mother would tell me how my father was a very strong man and yet no one would hire him because he would not know what to say during the interview. My mother would tell me how there were many nights she would fall asleep crying because she would think back to Vietnam when she was with her family and friends, where she did not feel limited or restricted by anything but money, and how now that she was here in San Diego, it was not only money but also her opportunity to socialize and communicate with many of the people around her. Even with my father by her side, she felt helpless and excluded from the community, like she no longer had a voice. Fortunately, near the end of the first month, one of the Vietnamese neighbors actually noticed my parents and greeted them. This man had a family and welcomed my parents greatly. He even helped my father find a job and get access to government services such as rent assistance, Medi-Cal and Food Stamps. Many immigrants share the same experiences my parents