My Immigration To The USA

金山 or Gold Mountain was the name given to the United States by the people of China looking for new opportunities. The immigration story on my mother’s side of the family begins with my great-grandfather’s journey to the United States in search for a better life for himself, his wife, and his four children. At this time, the majority of the population in China was living in poverty. Being able to come to America was the dream of many in the hopes they would be able to become wealthy.

I was all packed and ready for the journey. I was very frightened, because I was leaving the only place I knew. My family was not coming with me and I missed them. I was riding a stinky old steamboat to America. I was not excited for the long journey to America. The food smelled bad and I was uncomfortable, but I was going to America so I tried to keep my thoughts on that. At least I was waking up to a better life in America.

Hi, I’m Anna Sophia Wager and I am from Germany. I immigrated to the United States in 1908. There was a big drought and my mother and father were very ill. I was helping my parents and my other family. One day, my father pulled me aside after school. I was a teacher at Berlin British School. He talked very softly. “Anna Sophia,” My father said, “Here is a ticket to Americana. Go and find Ben.” Ben was my older brother. My parents gave him a ticket to the United States. I looked at the ticket. It was a ticket that was golden brown. I gave my father a hug and ran to my room. I started packing, I didn’t know what was ahead of me. It was finally my third week on the crowded boat. When I look own the steerage door I see the dirty faces, hard lumpy beds, and chunky slimy soup.

When I arrived to the United States I faced a challenging situation in my life, I didn’t know English. This challenging as I didn’t know how to communicate with any of my teachers or classmates, and I wasn’t able to do any of my work. Not being able to participate in class upsetted me because in Mexico I was use to doing all my classwork and homework. Therefore, I decided that I was going to do everything in my power to learn English quickly. So, when the my ESL teacher announced to my parents that they were going to have to take to school during the summer, I didn’t mind at all. When I was in summer school I learned a lot of English due to my determination and my hard work. Looking back I wouldn’t do things differently because I know that

I was about nine years old when I first came to the United States from Haiti. Although I was old enough to understand that we were moving, I did not quite understand the importance of the move and why my mom kept referring to America as the land of opportunities. In the beginning, I hated everything, I did not know the language, I missed my friends, I missed Haiti, I missed the familiarity of things. However, my mom constantly reminded me that this is for the best, that our lives have changed for the better. So, I nodded and continued to be unhappy until I started to understand the language, until I started making new friends, until I missed Haiti less and less, and until the United States became home.

When I was fourteen, I took the decision to move to Canada and lived with my dad, stepmother and my half-sister. I was going to leave my mom and everyone who I had spent my entire live. Also, I was just not only leaving everyone I loved, but I was making a huge changed in my life: new environment, culture, family and language. The moment I decided to live in Canada, I was using my critical thinking, making sure I was

I was a 5 footer in a 6 foot environment. A few months after I migrated to America on June 2009, my parents told me that I am undocumented. From watching movies and TV shows, listening to the news and hearing the comments made by the people around me, I learned that being undocumented came with many limitations: I cannot work, I cannot freely volunteer, I cannot get financial aid-I cannot gain necessary experience for my future. My immigration status kept me from developing my character, causing me to fall short compared to the average student.

I came to the United States on October 1st 2009. As an eight-year-old, I didn’t realize the changes my life was about to go through. I would always dream of coming to the united states because of the amount of opportunities that I could have here, that I could never have in El Salvador. Although, I didn’t comprehend that would mean leaving my whole family and making such a huge change in my life. Growing up in El Salvador I got used to depending on my family and having their support no matter what. After I moved the changes were really hard for me: Not having my family around, learning a new language, and getting used to a new lifestyle; took me some time to get used to.

There are many Asian immigrants that come to the United States in hopes of living out their American dream of becoming United States citizens. My parents came here exactly for that same reason, so they can give my sisters and I the opportunity to live a better life. We were fortunate enough to have our relatives help us get here, making it a little less difficult for us compared to other families that took a different path to becoming citizens. However, it was not always this easy for an Asian immigrant family like ours to become naturalized citizens. It used to be near impossible for immigrants of Asian descent to become a United States citizen, but in recent years, there have been a spur of people with Asian ethnicity who are

My transition to the United States was difficult. America was a strange new place to me, and my father was also a strange new man to me. My father migrated to the United States when I was only 2 years old. He came to the United States with hope to find a better life for himself and for his family. It was very common for fathers to leave their home countries to other countries, like the United Sates to work and make money to support family back home. My father had built a new family in the United States by the time my sister and I came to live with him. I had a new stepbrother and a stepmother. I did not feel comfortable to call my father, “daddy” because I barely knew him. I also don’t call my mother “mom” because I never got the chance to

Every time I drive through streets of Washington DC, I see the homeless people sleeping on the side walk, benches, and stairs ways. I always wonder what can cause someone to end up like this? The most likely reason that comes to my mind that lead to this situation is not having a purpose in life. I believe having a purpose in life is the fuel of motivation to do anything, without it there is no reason to try. Today I have a wife, a house, and a decent fulltime job; which five years ago I wouldn’t even see in my dreams.

New York City is renowned for its diverse cultural makeup, exemplified by the various ethnic neighborhoods scattered within its interior. As a result, it has consistently been deemed America’s immigrant capital. Similarly, I grew up in a country with over 50 different ethnicities, each with a unique culture and set of customs. I attended a Muslim elementary school and a majority Christian high school, all while growing up in a Hindu neighborhood. Between friends and family I celebrated Christmas, Eid and Diwali. I took my experiences from navigating different Arab, Indian and African cultures and used them to further broaden my horizons while living in the U.S. By traveling and living various parts of the world, I have developed life skills

Children oftentimes inherit physical traits from both parents, but I have inherited much more: tenacity and the ability to adjust to new conditions with ease. According to my observations, the older I get the more I am exposed to various people, places, and situations which lead to patiently adapting to certain changes. For the first fourteen years of my life, I have lived in the Philippines, but that had ceased when I had to immigrate to the United States. When I arrived here in the U.S, I knew very well that it was uncharted territory for me. This unfamiliarity gave me a considerable amount of discomfort, knowing that I am 7,000 miles away from home.

Here are some representative stories of immigrants during the time period of this book. I think you will enjoy reading them. Due to some sensitive matters, a few of these folks preferred to remain anonymous.

There is an amazing thing happened this morning when I woke up. Emoji I kinda of remember that you called me in my dream last night. You said that let us meet in GuangZhou with Harvey together. Lol.... The rest of the dream were unclear but only you are deep in my mind. I guess because I think of you and miss you during the daytime. :)