Jose Alvarez Interview Analysis

When I was deliberating topics for my case study ethnography report I was inspired to examine some one very close to me who is "undocumented", someone whose experience I have seen first hand, some one who has affected my life and understanding of immigrants with his situation; my partner, Mario. This class has exposed us to many writings on the subjects of migration, immigration and emigration. I began to compare the concepts and information in the readings to Mario’s personal situation. I was curious if his answer would be "In search of a better life" when asked, "Why did you come here?"

Kandiyoti, Dalia. 2004. “Host and Guest in the ‘Latino Contact Zone’: Narrating Solidarity and Hospitality in Mother Tongue.” Comparative American Studies 2, no. 4: 421–46.

I wanted to look at how he transitioned from one country to another. I also looked at if he felt in racial tension or hostility as an immigrant in the south. I also focused on the concept of community in the US compared to Guatemalan community.

Jose Vargas tells the story of his life; from coming to America, finding out that he is residing here illegally, learning how to live with that, and finally to sharing with everyone that he is an undocumented immigrant. Jose has a difficult task in front of him, though. He must win his audience over to his side so that he can further his agenda of developing an easier path for undocumented immigrants to receive citizenship. There are many ways he could go about this, trying to skirt the topic of his illegal activities, but Jose is an intelligent man and knows how to influence his audience. He uses the story of his life to connect with others, and in connecting with them wins them over, even if only indeterminably so. In My Life as an

Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, shares his life-long journey as an undocumented immigrant in his text, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” As the title suggests, Vargas attempts to convey to his audience, who likely never has and never will experience anything similar to what he has, what it is like to live as an immigrant in the United States of America. Skillfully, Vargas details the perfect number of personal stories to reach the emotional side of his audience, which is anyone who is not an immigrant. Through the use of his personal accounts Vargas is able to effectively communicate that immigrants are humans too while simultaneously proving his credibility, as he has experience and a vast amount of knowledge

Immigrants are never fully welcome in a new place because people form small “in-groups” and ignore those in the “out-groups” in most cases. Smith starts this essay with a brief story about a fourth grader, Rodrigo Guzman and his family being deported back to Mexico, focusing on the reaction from his classmates when

To begin I will talk about Latino Americans, Native Americans and Asian-Americans immigrating into the United States and the many differences in the journey though it all. I will focus on the relationship to the new social policies

This is a narrative of one Mexican American woman’s experiences and her views on the importance of passing down the cultural beliefs of her ancestors. In the section of the country in which I live there is a large population within the community of Mexican American culture. Although I have frequent contact with people of Mexican American heritage either through employment or interaction out in the community, I have a limited understanding of their culture. For this reason, I chose to learn more about the population of people I have frequent contact with and as a professional work with as clients in the field of mental health counseling. The quest of finding someone knowledgeable to discuss the population, their cultural background and some of their necessities, as well as some past experiences, led me towards contacting a church. This took calling two different churches before the person at the second church informed me that I needed to speak with, Mrs. Socorro Garcia head of their Hispanic Ministries. Unfortunately, Mrs. Garcia was on vacation when I called, but I was able to speak with her over the phone the following week, setting up an interview in person at her office a couple days later. This was a relief because I was becoming concerned about locating someone for a personal interview.

During the Mexican-American War the border moved, but the people didn’t. History has shown us that no matter how thick the border might be Latino Americans have a strong connection to their culture and roots; instead of assimilating, Mexicans live between two worlds. The film, Ballad of Gregorio Cortez gave us a perspective of two cultures; “Two cultures- the Anglo and the Mexican- lived side by side in state of tension and fear” . Cortez is running for his life as he heads north, while the Anglo believe that because of his Mexican ethnicity, he would travel south to Mexico. Throughout the film there were cultural tensions and misunderstandings; language plays an important part of someone’s identity, and for many Latino Americans Spanish is their first language. The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez also shows us that language plays an important role, and can cause confusion between two different groups. For example, Anglos refer to a male

In 2001, my father crossed the border from Mexico to the United States through the desert in order to gives us a better life. Since Mexico 's economy was inadequate, my father was unable to find a job and talked with my aunt. My aunt suggested my father to come to the United States to work in her company that she had, but we never imagine that after two years my father was going to go back to Mexico to pick us up in order for us to not be separated again. In 2004, we came to the United States my parents knew what they were doing; however, my brother and I had not other choice than come with them since we had no voice at that time. Now that we are here, we questioned them, because we cannot do what every other person or friend can do instead of us. Although there has been a struggle from a lot of people in the United States protesting for an immigration reform and no action has been done, I agree that Obama 's Immigration Reform Plan using the “Executive Order” was the right action to take on immigration reform for several reasons.

I interview my father who arrive to the united states from Mexico The major problem that motive my father to migrate to the U.S.A were as he mention on pages (1-2) was an economically problem has he said since he was a child he grew up in a farm with his parents and brothers and sisters and had many struggles since the only one that work was his father. My grandfather did all he could to give him an education and a better life that he had that’s the same idea he view for me when he become a father he was young and money was like the priority to care for the necessary that a child has, but to get money you need to have a job. With salary he earned at my grandfather farm he knew was not enough to support himself and a child and he could

Here in the Rio Grande Valley immigration has become the hit. An immigrant in my own words is someone from a different country that travels to an alternative country permanently for a better life. I belief they are many unlike reasons why people live in their country but cross to another country. Actually, I’m not in immigrant, I’m a US citizen but I have experienced many stories and seen families struggle from this situation. Nevertheless, to my own experience, some people move to the US to find better jobs, but some move to different counties to look forward not only to better their education but their children’s as well. In this research paper I will be pointing out the important factors and expectations of illegal immigrants in the US,

For this reflection paper I asked my boyfriend Victor if I could observe his way of walking. I chose to imitate him because despite the fact that we are both Hispanic, he is Mexican-American and I am Salvadorian-American, and we both grew up in two different cities in Texas. Even though Dallas is similar to Houston in many ways, it is much smaller and there are stores closer to the neighborhoods whereas my growing up in Houston consisted of driving a few miles every time to just find a Wal-Mart. He has been to Mexico many times since his birth, and I have failed to go to El Salvador even once in my lifetime. My family’s culture is very American-patriotic, and even thought our roots are Latino our first language is English, while Victor has grown up listening to Mexican music his whole life, and addresses his parents in Spanish. I feel like our cultures are very different, and our environment has shaped our development in unique ways we might not consider. Like Deidre Sklar

Living a good life as an immigrant in America is a big challenge. In fact, getting a reasonable life is not easy in many countries around the world, but as an immigrant in the United States that involves huge determinations. Thus, anyone who decides to move to another place or community should expect to face many challenges. Most of the time, an immigrant’s reason(s) for leaving their country is based on a hard life for some without figuring out that life in the USA might be harder as well as a better life for others who may have a good life in their motherland. Generally, they are all disappointed by what they encounter. Denis Hunt, a director of Multi-cultural Human Services, a Falls Church, Virginia-based organization that helps immigrants adjust to life in the United States, said “the issues immigrants face can be even more daunting. Most immigrant parents who arrive in new communities are faced with immediate challenges to their survival, including securing a job, finding a place to live, buying food, and enrolling their children in school" (“US immigrants face new challenges”). Despite this situation, it is conceivable for immigrants regardless their origin, to live a good life in America. However, it cannot happened merely by snapping their fingers; massive efforts are required, including working hard, learning English, resolving transportation issues, understanding of the culture, and getting educated.

First of all, missing a piece of life for someone can be identified as one of the greatest emotional aspect that the immigrants have to face. They have to get away from their close relatives and the separation from these people can create a great sorrow and loneliness. It is not easy for the small children and females members to bear the sorrow of departing from the loved ones in their own place of living. For example, Muniz, said that her life was like a movie because she felt she walked into the theater right in the middle of a movie, and she afraid, as she not fully understand what is the beginning”. That shows how Muniz felt that she missing something about her life because she and her family came to the United States when she almost five years