Summary
Everyone’s immigrant experience is unique, and your own immigrant life begins when you take your first steps in the U.S. The first people you meet may be your family, or your friends…. As a large immigrant country, many people from different countries have immigrated to the United States, and the country is diverse.
The United States has people from different countries. In “Key Findings About U.S. Immigration” this article I learned that “Mexicans are the largest immigrant group in the U.S., accounting for 25% of all immigrants. Other top countries of origin include India, China, the Philippines, and El Salvador. ”In this passage I learned that Mexicans are the largest group in the number of immigrants, and the next is India, China, etc. The article talks about important information and trends about immigrants in the United States, such as where they come from, how long they have been in the country, how well they speak English, and how much money they make. However, the article mostly just shares facts and numbers without explaining why things are the way they are.
The answer to why you immigrated to the U.S. was more for the schools, but more families came to the U.S. because of the war in their country and their refugee status. “Life is a competition, but it is a competition between you yesterday versus you today. I always say tawakklatu ala-allah, which means in English, ‘I have trust in God.’ Just because things are hard doesn’t mean they are impossible. So, the only thing to do is [to] get the work done [and] try to learn as much as you can.” this sentence from Seth says in “Competition from Within” this article. As Seth was growing up she accepted a lot of negative energy, she did not gain respect in school and she became unsure of herself. The decision to immigrate and the process of immigrating is difficult for all of everyone, and in Seth's story I saw the reasons why she wanted to immigrate to the United States. After immigrating to the U.S. the warm environment at school changed her and she became more confident.
I spoke with five classmates: Mariana, Irem, Khar, Kurtush and Anibal. Mariana, she says “the decision to immigrate was my own and that my chose America because of my childhood dream”. She usually makes friends in her work in New York. She feels that the difference is that in New York people usually don't pay attention to what you wear and how you act, while in her country there might be who judges what. Irem, who decided to immigrate to the U.S. on her own because she wanted freedom and more opportunities. She made more friends through social media. She feels very fast and has more options in her life in New York. As I talked to my classmates I learned that when they first came to the U.S. they were embarrassed about their accents. This is one of the challenges I am currently facing and I often feel shame on my accent. But many people have told me that I don't need to be ashamed of my accent. Everyone is unique.
Why we stay here? is also challenging in the process of immigratio. In Fang Zhou’s story I learned Fang pursued her career in journalism in the United States after graduating from Kansas State University. She was hired by an international compliance firm and the business agreed to sponsor her for an H-1B VISA, which allows her to work temporarily in the United States. She encountered issues when renewing her H1-B visa for the third time but eventually received her green card in January 2022, after which she began volunteering and public speaking to bring awareness to the struggles immigrants face in the United States. Fang's perseverance paid off, and she now has a voice to speak out on immigration issues. She went through a lot of difficult moments in the process, but she says " "That essentially motivated me to speak out more on immigration. I can talk about it now that I have a I can talk about it now that I have a voice." She used her experience as a voice.
I haven’t been an immigrant for very long, so I learned more about immigrant stories through articles and interviews with classmates, and obviously, everyone’s story is different. I saw bravery in Seth, I saw persistence in Fang, and I saw hope in the interviews with my classmates. This is what immigration meaning.
