Essay on Just Like Us

In his study, Gonzales sets his attention on two groups of undocumented youths: the early exiters and the college-goers. Both groups are similar in many ways; however, one group receives positive reinforcement from liable people more than the other group. Gonzales’s purpose in writing this book is to inform the reader the struggles of being an undocumented minor and/or

Growing up with parents who are immigrants can present many obstacles for the children of those immigrants. There are many problems people face that we do not even realize. Things happen behind closed doors that we might not even be aware of. Writers Sandra Cisneros and Amy Tan help us become aware of these problems. Both of these authors express those hardships in their stories about growing up with foreign parents. Although their most apparent hardships are about different struggles, both of their stories have a similar underlying theme.

Out of those million immigrants there are about one out of five children under the age of eighteen are either an immigrant or a child of immigrants parents. (Orozco, 2001). The majority of immigrants are from Latino or Asian origin. The United States has been experiencing a large wave of people coming into this country to start a new life from what they had before. Every region in the country is experiencing the growth of immigration every year. With this new immigration the U.S is witnessing immigrant children take over public schools. Today immigrant students are becoming the fastest population to grow in the child population in the United States (Hamilton, 2010). Many parents send their children to the United States and separate themselves from them because they want them to have a better life and live the American dream. Many kids go to school at a young age and get through high school and college and even start their careers. But many of them have to live in fear of being found out. They can’t trust many people, even the closest one to them (Vargas,

Cristina Henriquez’, The Book of Unknown Americans, folows the story of a family of immigants adjusting to their new life in the United States of America. The Rivera family finds themselves living within a comunity of other immigrants from all over South America also hoping to find a better life in a new country. This book explores the hardships and injustices each character faces while in their home country as well as withina foreign one, the United States. Themes of community, identity, globalization, and migration are prevalent throughout the book, but one that stood out most was belonging. In each chacters viewpoint, Henriquez explores their feelings of the yearning they have to belong in a community so different than the one that they are used to.

If we talk about undocumented immigrants in United States, we usually focus on the benefits and jobs they take from our country, but have we ever stood in their shoes and imagine what life is like for an illegal immigrant? To live as an undocumented immigrant is a bad situation, but I believe to be a child of an undocumented immigrant is even worse, because their choices are limited and they are unaware of their rights to attend colleges. In this research, I will focus on undocumented immigrant students, who are unable to afford for higher education, and the fear of their unknown future which is mainly cause by their undocumented status. The largest invisible group in America, to explore “what are the struggles and unsolved problems of

Immigrants come from different parts of the world in many shades of white, brown, and black. In extreme cases, some immigrants are stereotyped as rapists, thieves, drug dealers, etc. or at the very least seen as second-class citizens. Depending if they support the issue or not, even the red or blue side of the political party, people tend to blind themselves from the reality of why they actually migrate. Natives tend to deny seeing the humanity in immigrants’ individual stories and lives. They not only migrate to different countries for better opportunities, but to find jobs to support their families and give their children a better education than they would have had in their country. George Saunders’ short story, The Semplica-Girl Diaries, relates to immigration because the SG’s reflect the treatment of immigrant workers in our society. The SG’s display women who have lived in extreme poverty and don’t have a better choice but to sell themselves to the rich as lawn

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

Every year thousands of undocumented students graduate from high school with uncertainty about a post-secondary education. Many of these students do not have the financial means, and are often too scared about their legal status to continue their education. This issue is extremely prevalent in the state of California, hosting 2.6 million “alien residents”, it has the largest population of undocumented immigrants (Gonzales, 2006). Immigration policies have been controversial topics in the United States for a long time. Although there is still an ongoing debate about reforming the current immigration laws, there has been progress in making post-secondary education a possibility for undocumented students. This paper will focus

The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henriquez reveals the struggles that many immigrants face when coming to the U.S., focusing on the story and experiences of the Riviera family. The Rivieras moved the the U.S. to get a special education for their daughter, Maribel, who had serious brain damage. Previously in Mexico, Maribel fell off of a ladder and injured her brain, causing her to have mental instability. This moment changed the lives of the Riviera family, especially Alma and Arturo, Maribel's parents. After the accident, Arturo was quick to blame Alma for it, placing a strain on their relationship and obstructing their honesty with each other.

A mexican american girl coming from an uneducated family going to Stanford University was quite a surprise for many. Getting a full ride scholarship to Stanford university was was even a greater surprise. Who would've thought that she was going to be competing against the smartest kids of America. For many as well as for her getting a full ride scholarship to Stanford University was impossible, but to her surprise she was in and there she went not knowing what to expect. As she arrived her sympathetic nervous system kicked in. Her heart was beating like it had never before as she heard all the places people came from. Germany, Korea, England, Serie, Greece, Spain and many others. China the most common nationality. That mexican american girl is from Salinas were 72.6% of the

Undocumented students are becoming a growing outrage in the United States. It has been a constant battle amongst the students, the schools, and the Government. According to collegeboard.com, statistics shows that 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools each year (collegeboard.com).After graduating high school they face legal and financial barriers to higher education. This paper will address the importance of this growing outrage and discuss the following that corresponds to it.

Through interviewing my roommate Linda Wang, I have gotten the opportunity of hearing a first-hand account of what it is like being a young immigrant living in the United States. At the age of eight, Linda, along with her father, mother, and aunt, emigrated to America. Linda’s family currently resides in Bayside, Queens and she is a student-athlete on the St. John’s women’s golf team. Linda was kind enough to share her immigration story with me so that I may use it as a manifestation of what life as an immigrant, and the immigration process itself, entails.

Just like Us by Helen Thorpe was on systematic study of four young Mexican women growing up in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado with two of the women living in the country as legal residents and the other two living as undocumented. The definition of sociology is defined as “the systematic study behavior and human groups.” (Scheuble, 2014). Thus definition and can be directly applied the Thorpe’s novel and specifically to the illegal immigrant status of the girls. Throughout her novel she explores situations and problems that occur in America specifically relating to illegal immigrants. For example Thorpe goes on to write about how Yadira was forced into purchasing a fake social security card through the black market. After Raúl Gómez

“Legal Alien” by Pat Mora is a poem that describes the life of a Mexican American girl, she was born in America but her parents are Mexican. In the poem Mora mentioned that she is “Bi-lingual, Bi-cultural, able to slip from How is life to Me estan volviendo loca” (Mora 370). She is caught between two cultures. She feels that she does not belong to any society, people from America see her in different ways “viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic, perhaps inferior, definitely different” (Mora 370), but also Mexicans have a different opinion “ viewed by Mexicans as alien, (their eyes says “you may speak Spanish but you are not like me”)” (Mora 370). In this poem exists the cultural border, she does not fit either in America or Mexico “An American to Mexicans a Mexican to America” (Mora 370). She is confused about her culture, and has a cultural border problem.

“My parents have been keeping a secret from me” my best friend Katia told me one day during our Algebra II class. I looked at her in confusion I didn’t understand why she was so upset, or any idea what her parents would be hiding from her. Looking at her, her face ever so frustrated, she told me “I don’t have a social security, I wasn’t born here, I’m an illegal immigrant”. This was very heavy news, considering the fact that we were only sophomores in high school. I couldn’t imagine the devastation she had to face when she was told by her parents that she couldn’t do or participate in certain things because of her immigration status, that discovery of course, she told me, was very hard for her. Anxiety over deportation should not have been a constant fear for her or anyone’s high school agenda, failing a course, now this, should have been the only scary thing about being in high school. Being the child of two illegal immigrants,who had just received their United States residency, myself, I saw how much my parents struggled. Both of my parents come from underprivileged families who immigrated to the United States came from Mexico to achieve a better life as teenagers. They later met here, got married, and had me here in San Jose, where I became a first generation United States citizen. I saw the amount of time and especially money invested in obtaining their residency, something, by what I understand, a high schooler has a very limited supply of. Time