Throughout the course of “People on the Move,” professor Duquette has done a tremendous effort in guiding the class through the various stages of the immigration process. Starting with the theories that try to explain why people migrate, what the process of immigration is like, and how do immigrants assimilate once they arrived. What kind of social capital do immigrants acquire and transform back to their countries of birth. To end this course, I conducted an interview with my father to understand what immigration was like for him. My father’s name is Mohamed and he was born and raised in Yemen. He went to school and after completing high school he was unable to find a job that offered him economic mobility, therefore, he made the decision to emigrated to the United States 25 years ago.
25 years ago, Yemen was just out of the 1990s war that united North Yemen with the South. Consequently, finding a job was extremely hard at the time, Yemen just had a war and jobs were scares. My father’s decision to emigrate was because of the lack of the labor market in Yemen. The war in the 1990s have left Yemen impoverished and jobs were very limited. This phenomenon is explained by the Neo-classical economic theory which states that “Individuals and families emigrate in response to changing circumstances set in motion by political and economic transformations of their societies.” (massy e. Douglas) My father’s decision to migrate was caused by the war in Yemen; the war left Yemen
Immigration can be justified by many reasons. Some say immigration can be a positive change in someone’s life or a negative change in one’s life. Many people leave for similar reasons. They are fleeing a negative phenomenon in their current home or they are seeking another opportunity in another place. While progressing through these 3 stories, I was able to feel and understand what was happening during these times, not only regarding the move from one place to another, but the effect immigration had on these people, whether it was an immense impact or a minor impact.
Simply put, America is the land of opportunity. In the past, immigrants have left most of their family, memories, and familiarities with their homeland in search of a better life in America, where jobs were easy to find and the economy was booming. These immigrants formed almost the entire American population, a demographic anomaly in which people from nationalities separated by land and sea; these people come from countries separated by expansive distances can live within the same neighborhood. Both Anna Quindlen with her essay “A Quilt of a Country” and John F. Kennedy with his essay “The Immigrant Contribution” have documented the story of these immigrants and
Since Amin Ahmad immigrated into the United States from India, he has real life experience that contributes to his claims. He is able to connect specific occurrences he faced with immigrants like himself, and their comparable situations. He explains that, “my passport tells the story of my immigrant life: my student and work visas; all the entry and exit stamps as I traveled between India and the United States” (Ahmad 38). His passport is a constant reminder of the journey he has traveled and the experiences that define him as a person. Ahmad demonstrates a perspective of immigration that is unique to many. Not only has he made the steps towards leaving his country, he has successfully created a life for himself. He has lived in the United States for a long period of time and even has an American fiancé. With this unique situation, he can connect with a vast amount of different people, both citizens and immigrants.
Immigrant groups take refuge in America in hope of starting a better life for themselves and their ongoing generations. They take on the belief that upon coming to America, they will be presented by the riches and freedom granted by the “American Dream”. However, these opportunities are not easily achieved. Many immigrant families are challenged with the initial obstacles of having to adapt to the new languages and the customs of their environment. For example, without the basic knowledge of the standard English language, immigrants will not be able to apply for a majority of the jobs available. This puts immigrant parents at disadvantages because then they will not be able to provide the sufficient funds needed for allowing their children
Immigration has existed around the world for centuries, decades, and included hundreds of cultures. Tired of poverty, a lack of opportunities, unequal treatment, political corruption, and lacking any choice, many decided to emigrate from their country of birth to seek new opportunities and a new and better life in another country, to settle a future for their families, to work hard and earn a place in life. As the nation of the opportunities, land of the dreams, and because of its foundation of a better, more equal world for all, the United States of America has been a point of hope for many of those people. A lot of nationals around the world have ended their research for a place to call home in the United States of America. By analyzing
Immigration is both a domestic issue and global concern. It involves economics, politics, and culture. Unlike other current issues, it has been at the center of the American experience for hundreds of years (Tirman, John). Every year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants from around the world, come to the United States. These immigrants have many different motivations as to why they leave their home country; but as currents events indicate, it is injustice, poverty, and violence in their own country that generally make people move to save themselves and to ensure a better future for their families. Many of these people believe the United States is the best place to go, because there is more freedom, protection, and benefits,
In the United States, the cliché of a nation of immigrants is often invoked. Indeed, very few Americans can trace their ancestry to what is now the United States, and the origins of its immigrants have changed many times in American history. Despite the identity of an immigrant nation, changes in the origins of immigrants have often been met with resistance. What began with white, western European settlers fleeing religious persecution morphed into a multicultural nation as immigrants from countries across the globe came to the U.S. in increasing numbers. Like the colonial immigrants before them, these new immigrants sailed to the Americas to gain freedom, flee poverty and
The United States of America was a country founded by immigrants on the values of equality and freedom and the idea of a fresh start. Only American Indians are truly native to this country and the rest of us have some history of immigration in our ancestry. So what about today’s immigrants? Most people immigrate to the United States searching for simply searching for a better life. Immigration seems like it should be a simple and organized process, but many people who try to immigrate to the United States find that the process is not so simple. To better understand the immigration process, I have interviewed a friend who immigrated to the United States as a small child and now faces the
The changing environments throughout the ages have caused the movement of thousands of families out of their homelands. Whether forced to make such decisions or doing so by their own desires, all immigrants have had to survive the physical and psychological challenges encountered along the way. To speak about the experiences of all these different people using the same ideas and examples would be quite inaccurate. They all, however, had to live through similar situations and deal with similar problems. Many of them succeeded and found the better future they were looking for. Many others found only hardship and experienced the destruction of their hopes and dreams. All of them were transformed.
Immigration is the means for a individual that is not originally from an area or country to migrate to another area, “the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country” (Google, 2017). When an individual from a different country migrates into a foreign country they undergo “immediate stressors associated with meeting basic survival needs, losing the familiar, learning English, and meeting the demands of life in a new environment. They also soon face resettlement challenges of cop- ing with cultural change, mobilizing resources to meet their needs, and formulating future life goals” (Timberlake, Faber, Wall, Taylor, Sabatino, 2003) Immigrants usually rely on their spirituality, moral frameworks, culture framework and famility sustaining
Although most immigrants are Hispanic, at least 11% of the newcomers are from India, Vietnam and China. Immigrants from all over the world come for the same three things: economic, religious, and political freedom. The countries the people have escaped from are riddled with thousands of obstacles ranging from political unrest, religious persecution to poverty and oppression. Hoping for a better life for themselves and their loved ones, immigrants experience multiple trials and unthinkable horrors on their journey towards
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.
When most people think about immigration to the United States, they think of the U.S. as being the “land of opportunity,” where they will be able to make all of their dreams come true. For some people, immigration made their lives richer and more fulfilled. This however, was not always the case. A place that is supposed to be a “Golden Land” (Marcus 116) did not always welcome people with open arms. Even after people became legal citizens of the United States, often times the natural born Americans did not treat the immigrants as equals but rather as outsiders who were beneath them in some way. In some situations, people’s lives were made worse by coming to the “land of opportunity.” Often times people were living no better than they
When assessing the history of the United States, it is evident that migration has served as the foundation of this country. Migration is often revered as innovative or forward thinking therefore, many begin to see the displacement of people as imperative in order to live a successful life. However, Scott Russell Sanders makes a different case. In “Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World” Sanders responds to an essay by Salman Rushdie and makes the case for settling within geographical borders. In Sanders’ response, he utilizes effective strategies to successfully convince his audience that by creating a more permanent home within borders, life is more enjoyable.
“Remember, remember always,that all of us, and you and I especially,are descended from immigrants and revolutionists” by Franklin D. Roosevelt. This paper will explain what immigrants go through when they are trying to cross borders legally. I am writing to educators and not-for-profit leaders hoping to open their eyes to what is going on in this world every day. It all began with people wanting the American Dream.