Immigrants have played a vital role in the cultural and economic growth of the United States. Many of these individuals view the US as a land of educational opportunities, some even considering higher education (Rivera, 2014). Although immigrants leave their native countries in hopes of a better life, they experience displacement from their native culture through physical dislocation (Fox, 2007). These immigrants are overcome with challenges pertaining to immigrant stressors, such as discrimination, as well as educational and political challenges. Specifically, those from Latin countries often lose their drive to better themselves and often times, accept a place in poverty (Arellanes, Viramontez Anguiano & Lohman, 2017). However, there are some Latino immigrants, who regardless of these negative circumstances, are able to showcase persistence in the face of adversity. This study will explore examples of these individuals, specifically, three Latina immigrants who persevered despite challenging obstacles and were ultimately able to complete higher education.
Latino Immigrants
From the beginning of its development, America has drawn in immigrants from all over the world. Between the years 1990 and 2000, a majority of these immigrants arrived from Mexico and Central America (Wainer, 2004). As of 2011, up to 40 percent of Latinos living in the US were foreign-born (Rocha and Matsubayashi, 2012). Due to this rise in the Latino population, Latino adolescents are the
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
The study highlighted how the viewpoints Latinos hold on subject matters such as immigration, abortion, self-identification, family relations, vary based on which generation they pertain to and the degree of assimilation they have undergone. A common trend pointed out in the study was that the more assimilated a Latino was, the more likely they were to hold conservative views on immigration, despite the fact that their grandparents were immigrants. The 2005 study found that those believing that, “’immigrants to the
Immigrating to America is a process in which many people all across the world entrust as their one way ticket to a better life. Whether they do so legally or illegally, coming to the United States ensures better opportunities, economically, politically, and so on, to people who would have otherwise been worse off in their countries of origin. Even so, the common understanding of being “better off” can be considered a misconstrued concept when it comes to living in the states. Many families that choose to immigrate to the U.S. fail to realize the cultural hardships that newcomers tend to face once on American soil. Anything from racial discrimination or bias at work, in neighborhoods, at school, etc., can all be challenges that people encounter when making a move to the U.S. Such challenges are described by Richard Rodriquez in his autobiography Hunger of Memory. In this passage, he explains how cultural differences between Mexican and American ways of life have shaped him into the person that he is today. He also chooses to highlights the problems that he faces growing up in a predominately white neighborhood, while attending a predominantly white institution. Much of his writing consists of the cultural differences and pressures he feels to assimilate to Western culture and how this process, in turn, changes him into the person that some may find to be unethical, but nonetheless, someone he is proud of.
One of the main the themes in Learning to Be Illegal is how an undocumented immigrant’s relationship with teachers, counselors or other adults could greatly affect one’s motivation to succeed, as well as their educational attainment. The author supports this argument by citing statistics and using interviews. Gonzales uses a young woman named Marisol as an example. “When Marisol began to exhibit decreasing levels of motivation, for instance, her English teacher was there to intervene”. Ultimately because of this relationship, she was able to attend community college
Growing up in a Hispanic household has shaped and built my values in life. At Appleton North High School, I am one out of the few Hispanic students. Knowing that my parents have migrated to America to give me a better future has motivated me to make it happen. Although, as a Mexican-American, I have felt out of place as a minority. However, with time I learned to accept my cultural differences. In fact, to this day, I thank my widowed father for the sacrifices and greater opportunities he has given me. My goal is to keep representing the few Hispanic students in college by working hard to achieve my career goals; not all Hispanics are fortunate enough to attend college. I also work to inspire young Hispanics to find their potential and follow
The thirteen original colonies were significant to U.S. history and most of them contributed to history in their own way, but Virginia, New York, and Massachusetts stick out the most. The U.S. might be completely different if these three colonies were never created or had never contributed to history.
The article “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” was written by Jose Antonio Vargas. In it, Vargas tells of the time when his mother brought him to the Phillippines’ Ninoy Aquino International Airport when he was twelve. His mother told him that she wanted to give him a better life so he boarded onto a plane with a man he had never met before and was told that he was his uncle. He arrived in Mountain View, California and moved in with his grandparents Lolo and Lola. Vargas says that he grew to love his new home and when he entered sixth grade that’s when he found his passion for language. He tells of his struggle of making a distinction between “formal English and
The immigrant population continues to grow in the United States. Of these arrivals, Latino immigrants make up the majority of this growth (53%) (Larsen 2004). Therefore, second-generation Latino youth will continue to constitute a large part of our population. However, their documented lower educational achievement play a large role in shaping our country’s economic future if left unaddressed.
The history of Hispanic/Latino Americans extends the whole way back to 400 years ago and differs between the regions in the United States. Their existence is the second longest, right behind Native Americans. It is not unusual to hear Spanish being spoken while walking down the roads of an American city. Less than 4 million U.S. citizens were from Spanish-speaking countries in 1950. If we look at this number today, it has gone up to 45 million people. About 50 percent of Hispanics have backgrounds in Mexico, while the other 50 percent come from an assortment of countries. These countries include Colombia, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic. About 36 percent of Hispanics in the U.S. live in California. Many Hispanics populate states including
The main ethnic/racial groups affected by the health issue are non-Hispanic African American females, Hispanic females, and Native Americans/Native Alaskans. There were key study findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found that U.S. birth rates for adolescents vary considerably by race and Hispanic origin (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). Thus, this provides even more clear evidence on the difference of ethnic/racial groups. Additionally, in 2008, the birth rate for Hispanic adolescents was approximately five times the rate for Asian/Pacific Islander adolescents, three times the rate for non-Hispanic white adolescents, and somewhat higher than the rates for non-Hispanic African American and Native American/Native Alaskan adolescents (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011).
Tales of Survival 101 for Undocumented Latina/o Immigrant University Students: Commentary and Recommendations From Qualitative Interviews
Immigrating to a new country is difficult. One of the largest groups of immigrants that migrate to the United States are the Hispanics. There are approximately 11.7 million immigrants in the United States as of January 2010, and the amount continues to increase at a rapid rate (Warren, 2013). On average there are approximately 300,000 Hispanic immigrants entering the United States each year (Warren, 2013). Hispanics come from all Latin America including Mexico, the islands of the Caribbean, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, Central and South America (Warren, 2013). The United States has represented liberty and freedom to these individuals, and they often make critical decisions and take chances in the hope of a better future. Individuals often, leave their home country in hopes of a new beginning. The aim of this paper is to provide an extensive research on the current literature on immigration and acculturation among the Hispanic population.
Currently within the United States one of the fastest growing minority population (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) is the Latinos. In 2010 Census Bureau Brief ( Ennis, Rois-Vargas, & Albert, 2011) it stated how an estimated 15 million Latino individuals were living within the United States, which is approximately about 16% of the entire U.S. population. There is one big problem with addressing the Latino population, and that is the family patterns are either misrepresented or not properly understood, due to the label of Hispanic and Latinos being placed together. These two groups may share the same spoken language of Spanish and have similar cultural ancestry but the diversity among Hispanic and Latinos (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) make generalizations about their lifestyles difficult. The term Hispanic came to be used in the 1970’s by government officials (cdc.gov, 2011) in trying to provide a diverse label on this population that had connections to speaking Spanish and the Spanish culture. Latino became more of a termed to be used when distinguishing between Mexican (Hispanics) and Latinos who descendants from Latin America such as Cuba and Puerto Rico.
John’s gospel reveals many things about the Son, the Father, and the church. In chapter 17 of his gospel, it directly portrays the similarity of the son to the father and how the son is one with the father. John’s gospel states that the son is one with the father and the father is one with the son. This shows the close relationship between the two, and there is not much room for contradictory statements on whether or not the father sent the son to earth. Also, Jesus, the son, reveals many things about the church and its unity.
We all come from different places and ethnicities, and because of having a dream, people fled away from their home to seek for something to make their life better. Going to a country like United States, is not only a dream but also, an opportunity because many people think that America is the best place to settle in, where work, and education are an easy access. Though this statement is partly true, it is not that easy. Everyone envied because America is a great nation because it's a country of opportunity, but a part of it also is a mixture of feelings that are hard to explain especially if you are immigrant. Every day in your life, you are fighting for something in order to fit in and survive. However, in the process of fitting in or blending to a certain place, people, and culture, it requires a lot of personal choices and a lot of effort as an immigrant. It does not only affect you as a human, but also it draws a lot of attention, conflicts and tension between the government and community. Most immigrants have a harder time to adjust or assimilate even though they speak fluent English and eat American foods. Whenever you see a person of white complexion, people assumed that blue eyes and blonde hair are the characteristics of an American, though these are how we perceived American long time ago, this are still the standards of a few now and doesn’t make a big change at all. The judgement of how a person look physically and how they