My Life After The United States

As a first-generation Latina in college, I could not be where I am without the help of multiple individuals. My parent’s sacrificed so much coming into this country. They left behind their family, their home, in order to one day provide a better future for me. Initially, my parents planned on staying in America for five years then they would go back to Ecuador. However plans changed once my mom became pregnant with me. The decision to stay in order to give me the best future possible greatly affected both my parents. They suffer greatly and lament leaving their family everyday. Only my mom has the slight possibly of returning to her home country but unfortunately, the only thing waiting her is her mother’s grave.

The first day in the United States is one of the best day and most thrilling days in my life. My father and my older sister move to Malaysia to get a job and support our family due to financial difficulty and lack of job opportunity in Burma. After a few years, my father and my sister were able to enter as immigrant and they were sent to the United States as immigrants through United Nation. After being apart with my father and my sister for more than a decade, my parents decide to move completely to America where more opportunities are available for a brighter future. My family faces many obstacles during the process of migrating to America. Despite all the struggle that are on our way, my family finally arrives in the United States and face major changes in life.

Many immigrants feel the same way about the things they leave. I know I did when I left my home country of Bulgaria. My parents were hoping to provide my brother and me with a brighter future by moving to the US, the country where anything is possible, or so everyone said. It was 1998 and I was thirteen. I still remember the day we left and how hard it was for my whole family. Through tears, I said goodbye to all my relatives and friends whom I cherished and loved. I felt as if the whole world was closing up in me. I was being taken away from everything I knew and everything I loved. The cool breeze of that autumn day rushed through me as if foreshadowing a hard and cold future. The moment came for us to get on the plane. I wanted to stop time and run away, back to everything I knew. But that was impossible; the choice of turning back did not exist. As I was going up the stairs of the plane, I looked around at the airport and its surroundings. I looked and saw the warmth and light of the familiar places. I took a deep breath of the air around me, knowing it was the last time I could sense it, and went in. It really was hard for

Everyone has a different story of how they ended up where they are. But in many ways, people’s stories are all similar. There are many hardships that every family has to deal with when immigrating to a different country that they are not a citizen of. There are barriers and pulls, but there are also bridges and pushes. Even though people are from different countries immigrating to the United States, they all experience almost all of the same hardships, as displayed in the Pechota Family, John, and René’s immigration stories.

As the plane slowly landed on the airport terminal in Washington D.C., my parents held their excitement. After the long fight of waiting on the list and doing all the immigration paperwork, they awed that they finally arrived here in the United States, the land of opportunity and freedom. My parents immigrated to the United States from Vietnam. They hoped to seek a better future for themselves and for future generations. When I was a young child, my parents put in many grueling hours of work to support our family. My mother worked as a waitress and a cashier at a Chinese restaurant while my father worked at a steel factory where he assembled parts for furniture. They both worked for minimum wages which made it more difficult to have extra money to enjoy and relax. As our family lived here in the United States, my parents received some harsh judgements and critiques from American citizens. My mother got some feedback for her limited English skills, and she got taunted for that. My father openly practiced his cultural beliefs which differed from American traditional values and customs. He prayed and meditated to his God with his special incense. This behavior received some backlash from others in his workplace. As we continued to live here in the United States, immigrants widespread such like my parents have received negative judgements and misconceptions from Americans. The topic of immigration has became more controversial due to border patrol issues and illegal immigration

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 happen merely by snapping their fingers; massive efforts are required, including working hard, learning English, resolving transportation issues, understanding of the culture, and getting

As a child, I lived most of my life in Mexico. My family was two sisters, my brother, mom, dad and me. We used to do everything together, trying to help each other in whatever was needed. While I was living there, my family was always united, except for my father, who was always traveling because of his job, therefore I never felt close to him. But when he was there for me, he taught me lessons having a big impact on me by changing the way I thought and the way I saw the world. The day I graduated from elementary, bad news came to my house. My father had lost all his money, leaving his business in bankruptcy. People in our town made jokes about him. They said he was a fool who didn't know how to handle a business. Even his parents went along with the town. But he never gave up and he kept working and working until he got over himself. He is the most hard working and caring person I know and I am lucky to have him as a father. From his experience, I learned I must never give up and always go forward. I need to let other people, who have more knowledge than me, help get me on the right track. But at the end of the day, I should always listen to myself, knowing that my decision will help me. I learned

My story is very similar to many immigrants. Tsevie a small city in Togo is where I was born. Togo, my native country is a small country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east, and Burkina Faso to the north.  At the  age of ten my family felt the need to relocate to America for safety reasons. My father whose life was threatened felt that Togo was not the right place for us to live. Besides that like many African countries, life in Togo is restricting. Although my parents were far from poor, we still could not enjoy some of the privileges that certain government officials had. For example my siblings and I would not have the privilege of a quality education. Something that would be considered rights in other

An immigration story is not always a completely positive experience, but in this one story, my story, it was an extremely insightful one. I had everything in Puerto Rico. I had friends, most (and my closest) family members, a house, and a connection with other Puerto Ricans, among other things, all of which were left behind by moving to the United States. On account of certain dangers pushing my mom (my sister and I along with her) away from our country of origin, we began a rough journey to the US, which is most commonly referred to as “out there” in Puerto Rico. In the US, an uncle was going to welcome us in New York to live with him, his wife, and their then 3 children. Given that I personally failed to adapt to the new school system where

The toughest time I went through was saying goodbye to my friends and moving to Minnesota when I was in 2nd grade. When we pack up our house and left for Minnesota I thought I wouldn’t ever see them again. It turns out a few months later we went back to Illinois and we got to visit my school and friends again. It was After getting to spend time bitter sweet. I felt excited and very sad at

My mom and family mostly lived in Boston. She came here in search of love and happiness. There were a number of reasons for this sudden migration in puerto rico too. The continuing depression in Puerto Rico made many Puerto Ricans eager for a fresh start, and U.S. factory owners and employment agencies had begun recruiting heavily on the island. My mother did not believe in the American dream because she thought the goverment did not care about her. She found welfare and support to help her raise me and my 2 siblings. She encountered many struggles but to her America was somewhere that did help everyone and their were so many programs supported by the government she thought their was no way she would stay in the poverty line. She misses her home but not as much as she misses her land. If my mother never moved here to America my dad would of never got to meet her and I would of never been born. My sister's family would cease to exist and my brother would ethir. One path turns into many I'm sure my mom found happiness once she had a family in the U,S. My mom's journey here was not an easy task the first few

Good afternoon senators and representatives of the United States. I am here today to give a speech on the topic of immigration. I was born in Sonora, Mexico in a little hospital, in a little town. I came to United States at the age of 3 years old. I was raised in one of the most ghetto neighborhoods in Phoenix, Arizona. I went to a school with other students that had immigrant parents and some their selves were immigrants. My parents worked hard their whole life. It was little money that was made but it was enough to put food on the table. My dad worked in hard-cord construction and my mother worked in printing factory. Even though it was hard and long hours they worked to make the little money to give me everything I needed, they always taught

My life was split between two distinct cultures during my childhood and adolescence. My family immigrated to the United States in the early eighties and moved back to Syria two years after I was born. I completed first and second grade in Syrian public schools before immigrating to the U.S. in 2001. Here, I was placed in English second language classes, which I completed in 9 months. I then continued my fourth grade education in regular classrooms. These two years exposed me to people of various cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds, which cultivated my cultural awareness and shaped my identity. However, I was harassed several times because of my religion and ethnicity. A student once told me “go back to your country, we don’t want you here.” It had never occurred to me that I was perceived as a foreigner despite being a U.S. citizen.

My mother is the second of five children. When my mother was 15 my grandfather left my grandmother for another women. My grandmother had no income and depended on my grandfather. My mother had to leave middle school to help at home. The only job available was working in the clothing factories. My mother expressed that she will work many hours, in poor condition and low pay. One of her family members from the USA convince her to come to the USA. The family members describe the USA a place where she can make a lot money and help her family back home. My mother pack her bags and made the journey to Tijuana. Once in Tijuana my mother crossed the boarded illegally by car. My mother shared that she was inside car, she was hiding under the seats for 5 hours. Once in the USA my mother was able to get help from her family members to find a job. The only job that she could find and has stay is a clothing factory for the past 35 years. Both my parents’ journey to the USA were illegally but for good intentions. My parents came to this country to help their family have a better future. They were willing to leave everything behind and risk it all to find a better tomorrow. My parents had a difficult time adjusting in the USA, the traditions, language and beliefs. I learn that my parents didn’t forget where they came from. Their beliefs, values and norms never changed in the

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