Personal Narrative: A New Immigration Policy

Looking back to the past, before I was born, I never really knew where my ancestors came from or why they even came here in the first place. It was never made a big deal in my family to talk about our history and the reasons why they came to American. So, I decided to do a little research and find out a little bit about myself, my culture, and my communication styles. I asked for a little bit of help from my grandmothers from each side of my family. I got an abundance of information that opened my eyes to a new past that I didn’t even know about.

I interviewed a beautiful and courageous woman, of African descent. Born and raised in Monrovia, Liberia on May 20, 1969. In addition, she has one biological brother and three step siblings. Currently she resides in Loganville, Georgia, where she lives with her two children. By the same token, she and her husband been married for twenty-one years to her loving high school sweetheart husband. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she lost her husband in the line of duty. Causing her to become a widow, continuing to survive life without her husband. When I conducted this interview, had one topic in mind that I wanted to learn more about her life as an immigrant and how did influence her life.

We started off with a bang. We started with me thinking of what to do how to do it and what were my ideas. Then, a little later we actually started it and not gonna lie, it was scary. I didn’t know that much about my family, yeah i've heard stories but they're stories. Later on we went home i didn’t tell my family anything just unsuspiciously getting all the information and I learned a lot yes. I learned about my names and why they're my names, I learned about my dad getting lost a lot, I learned about my mom moving here to america when she was 14 and how her life was before she moved and why she moved. I learned about my uncle going to jail for crossing the border illegally which is kinda funny. All those I learned but i couldn’t find anything

I was always a precocious child, yet argumentative and rebellious. I did not want to accomplish anything following a pattern set for me. I wanted to forge my own way. This determination set me at odds with my mother, and has defined our relationship all these years. It has surely led me down my own irregular path in life, and placed me in position to be the family’s black sheep.

As I walked into the house, my parents were waiting for me in the living room. I did not know what was happening, but from the look in their eyes, I knew that was something wrong. My mother sat me down to tell me that my father had lost his business. The situation seemed so hectic; yet, the conversation felt like it lasted a lifetime. Finding out this news was detrimental to my family because my father had worked hard in America to build this business. I learned that my father had to give up his business and, as result my family had to start over, and find a new way to make a living.

I am from a country with beautiful landscapes that has turned into a warzone country.

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.

She is same, yet she is different. I don’t know how, it seems magical. She is borned in Sergeant of Law family, a lower class in the nobles. She loves to read books, she rarely smiles, always quiet and calm. It seems like no one can draw her attention. I always find myself focusing on her, I wish to know her better.

I woke up on the very edge of my bed my blankets tossed on the floor and my head buried into a pillow. I groaned as I pushed myself off the bed picking up the blankets and laying them on the mattress. I stretched my arms and yawned as I walked over to my bathroom and twisting the knobs trying to find a perfect temperature.

“Papa, no te vayas!” (Daddy, don’t go!) Those were the words that I said with tears streaming down my face every time my dad left our home in Mexico to return to California. I recall this fractured family existence, this inevitable sacrifice of separation in order to survive for seven long years, until my parents decided that it was time to reunite in the United States and finally become a stable family. While the United States was a new setting for my family, it was not a new place for me as it was my birth country. Yet, I remember feeling harassed and excluded, common emotions among immigrants to the U.S. and this new emotion created a fear I was unaccustomed to; I felt scared of this new lifestyle and of the limited possibilities.

Imagine going to a new country, knowing nobody, not even the language. How would you feel? What would you do? My family and I were in this situation thirteen years ago. It was difficult to completely start our lives over and build our family again piece by piece. Recently, people have deemed immigrants as ‘drug mules’ or ‘evil rapists’ and more and more frequently I see on the news the hate unleashed towards them. They are the ‘other’ and it is easy to say these things about people you don’t know. It is easy to generalize a group when you only know the crimes of one person. This country that was built on the hard work of immigrants has begun to hate them. As humans, we want to protect our family and those we love, even it it means saying horrible

I heard the faint high pitched beeping of my alarm clock as I opened my sleep covered eyes. I attempted to roll out from under my covers but immediately retreated as I felt the chilly spring air touch my skin. While I was mustering up the motivation to get out of bed, I glanced at my alarm clock. “11:00 AM” it read in boxy, glowing numbers. Had I really slept in that long? I finally rose from my bed, traveling down the stairs to make myself some breakfast. “Hi, girl!” I greeted my dog where she was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. I smiled to myself as I turned on some music, opened the fridge to retrieve some eggs, and turned on the stove. It felt like a fine Saturday morning until I remembered that I had a lacrosse game later

Today, I witnessed a young woman with her little daughter dropped multiple hundred bills in the parking lot prior to getting in her car. An associate saw the woman dropped her money and tried to get her attention, but was successful, so he puts the money in his pocket. I instantly approached the woman and briefly told her what I just witnessed. She asked me to go back to the store with her to vouch for her to the store manager. I agreed. Once we informed the store manager and confronted the associate who put the money inside his pocket instead of reporting it to security or his manger. She was able to procure her money back. Then, she told me I was a life saver. The woman explained to me she just got laid and really needed the money to support

I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock but also the smell of breakfast, the toast slightly burnt as normal. I dragged myself out of bed into my dress shirt and shuffled out towards the kitchen still half asleep.

I interviewed my uncle who is a 1.5 generation immigrant. He immigrated to the United States at the age of eleven, along with a few of his siblings and parents. To preserve his identity, I will use the pseudonym, Jose. Jose is from a small town called El Cerrito Colorado in Jalisco, Mexico. Learning English for Jose has been an ongoing struggle that he has been continuously working on. His experience moving to the Unites States and living here would be considered selective assimilation because in spite of the burden it has been for him to learn English, he has been able to become successful and gain a great education.