The Challenges of Immigration Being an new immigrant in the United States, and in any other country, is extremely difficult. Whether it is by choice or forced, new immigrants have to leave their homes and settle in a new country they may know nothing about. Luckily there are organizations that are designed to make the transition a little easier for immigrants. I had the incredible opportunity of being able to work with one of these organizations and learn more about the immigrant experience. I volunteered at the Immigrant and Refugee Resource Village of Albuquerque (IRRVA) which is a non-profit organization that aims to help newly arrived refugees from South Africa make a successful transition into their new life in this country. IRRVA offers a variety of programs designed to refugees. I had opportunity to volunteer in their tutoring program and got to …show more content…
As a volunteer at IRRVA I was able to see the impact being a newly arrived immigrant has on the refugees. One of the major impact I saw was that the refugees were shy and timid and only talk amongst each other. This maybe a consequence of the linguistic challenges new immigrants face. Like most English language learners, the refugees are probably embarrassed by their accent and prefer to speak in their native language. Furthermore, another impact of being a new immigrant I saw with the refugees at IRRVA was that they were very evasive of the volunteer and prefered to be amongst themselves. This is probably a result of the cultural and social challenges new immigrant deal with. However, most of the refugees were interested to learn about their new culture. The children I worked were very enthusiastic and eager to learn English. The impact the challenges of being a new immigrant in a foreign country has on the immigract will also impact how well they adapt to their new
America is a land filled with immigrants coming from different corners of the worlds, all in hopes of finding a better life in the country. However, No one had an easy transition from his or her home country to this foreign land. Not every race thrived the same way—some were luckier than others, while some have faced enormous obstacles in settling down and being part of the American society. Many people have suffered
My essay focuses on discrimination as one of the main challenges that refugees face. I discuss some instances of discrimination that occurred in the book, whether based on race or culture,
In Chapter 8 of Major Problems in American Immigration History, the topic of focus shifts from the United States proper to the expansion and creation of the so called American Empire of the late Nineteenth Century. Unlike other contemporary colonial powers, such as Britain and France, expansion beyond the coast to foreign lands was met with mixed responses. While some argued it to be a mere continuation of Manifest Destiny, others saw it as hypocritical of the democratic spirit which had come to the United States. Whatever their reasons, as United States foreign policy shifted in the direction of direct control and acquisition, it brought forth the issue of the native inhabitants of the lands which they owned and their place in American society. Despite its long history of creating states from acquired territory, the United States had no such plans for its colonies, effectively barring its native subjects from citizenship. Chapter 8’s discussion of Colonialism and Migration reveals that this new class of American, the native, was never to be the equal of its ruler, nor would they, in neither physical nor ideological terms, join in the union of states.
Many immigrants have closer ties to their home country. This affects the people that they talk to in America and how often the talk to people that don't speak their native language. “Dawb was already attending...High School, … early fifty percent of the student body … many of whom were Hmong.”(Yang 56). If you talk a lot with other immigrants from your home country it is most likely that you don't want to go out of your comfort zones and want to with other people that are like you. “… Compared with results from 2002, more immigrants say that they spend time with people from their birth country and have closer ties there.” (Bittle 45). You are also more likely to spend more time with them. “ It is the 1960s … The men are huddled … overhearing. French, English, and Kreyòl commingle. French, I understand. English … is from that of an American child. Kreyòl, the language of my birthplace, is a mystery. Kreyòl predominates…” (Benoit 31). Immigrants also call their family and friends back in their home country a minimum of once a week. This has increased by 12 points, 40% from 28%. It is very difficult for many of the immigrants to get to know other people that aren't from their home country. If the immigrants were to be more comfortable and know these people, than the immigrants would learn the customs.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants, legal and illegal, from around the world, come to the United States. These immigrants come because they want a chance at a better life; others are refugees, escaping persecution and civil wars in their home country. Many people believe the United States is the best place to go. There is more freedom, protection, and benefits, which seems like a good deal to immigrants. But the large number of immigration is affecting the current citizens of the United States. Taxpayers are forced to pay for the welfare and schooling for many of these immigrants, some who are illegal aliens. Some citizens believe that immigration can be hazardous to the environment. Others blame crime, poverty, and overpopulation on immigration. About sixty-eight million immigrants have been added to the United States since 1970, and it is estimated that 130 million people will be added over the next fifty years. The government has tried somewhat to restrict immigration but the laws are still too lenient. Nearly every other advanced country in the world is moving quickly towards stabilized population or has already achieved it. The United States is moving towards it very slowly. This country would have to reduce immigration down to 255,000 a year to do this (Beck 1). If nothing is done to stabilize the immigration to this country, what will become of population in the next decade? The population will continue to grow even faster - not due to births, but to massive immigration to this country. Immigration can become a serious problem to this country if the government does not produce stricter laws.
For a unit increase in human capital the wage will increase by 13857 holding all the other variables constant. This further supports the human capital theory that higher education leads to higher financial returns in the job market. Assuming that the reference category for sex is female, males get 17436 more in wages than females. Age however showed to have a positive correlation with wage where for each year increase in age, wage will increase by 6528. This could imply also that experience which comes with wage contributes to higher returns in the job market. When we compare the estimates for Quebec, Alberta, and Ontario, the average wage is decreases by 3060 for residents of Quebec. It increases by 9167 for Ontario, and 12828 for residents of Alberta.
Immigrants must overcome many barriers to succeed in America. First, migrants frequently must learn a new language. Inability to communicate is a critical barrier for accessing the health care system (Urrutia-Rojas, Marshall, Trevino, Lurie, & Minguia-Bayona, 2006). Second, the processes of work and schooling for themselves and their families can be daunting. Lastly, immigrants use the established social network of longer duration residents for reference and knowledge (Nandi, Galea, Lopez, Nandi, Strongarone, & Ompad, 2008). For purposes of this report, there are three different types of immigrant: legal, undocumented, and refugees or persons seeking asylum. All three types of residents want to succeed and achieve their personal dream.
The United States has often been referred to as a global “melting pot” due to its assimilation of diverse cultures, nationalities, and ethnicities. In today’s society, this metaphor may be an understatement. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of foreign born United States residents nearly doubled from 20 million to 40 million, increasing the U.S. population from almost 250 million to 350 million people. With U.S. born children and grandchildren of immigrants, immigration contributed to half of this population growth. These immigrants, consisting of mostly Asian and Hispanic backgrounds, have drastically changed the composition of the U.S. population. In 2010, Asians and Hispanics made up 20 percent of the U.S. population, in contrast to a 6 percent share of Asians and Hispanics in 1970. It is predicted that by 2050, the share of immigrants in the United States will increase to one half of the entire population. With this rapid increase in diversity, many citizens have opposing views on its impact on the United States. In my opinion, an increase in immigration does contain both positive and negatives effects, but in general it provides an overriding positive influence on America’s society (“Population”).
Refugees like Ha suffer from lack of language skills when moving to a new country, making it a difficult time for these refugees. First off, in the article “Refugee Transitions”, Til wrote, “When we first arrived, my wife was unable to understand any English. Just taking the bus and going to the store was a challenge for her.”(Gurung). Til Gurung’s wife lacked many language skills which
Total inhalation of immigration would not be a healthy choice for the United States. However, setting out for stricter laws to become a citizen is in need. There are over 11.7 million illegal immigrants in the United States (poll 2011). Therefore, having restrictions on immigration overall can help the economy grow, security at airports, docs, borders, and on the streets would not only lessen the illegal immigrants around the country, but supply more jobs for Americans. Illegal immigrants not only live in the U.S, but are supplied jobs in which were made for American workers.
“They are willing to sell themselves in order to find a better life for themselves or
Canada, being recognized as one of the best destinations for immigrants, has been and will be attracting more residents through immigration. Meanwhile, with its accelerated development, an increasing number of Chinese residents decide to move to Canada to experience a completely new way of living. Along with these immigrants are the dependent children that are bought Canada by their parents. New immigrants face challenges from all aspects, such as English being the new language, different culture and traditions, and an unfamiliar way of living (Pottie et al., 2008). To help immigrants through this difficult transition period, the government offers free English lessons to adult immigrants and many communities and organizations offer help with administrative tasks such as applying for health care and registering in local clubs and community centre. From the tremendous amount of effort by different organizations and sectors, it is easy to see how difficult it is to face the impact for adult new comers can be.
America is often known as the land of opportunity, a place where you can be free. Many Immigrants came to America so that they could have a greater possibility at succeeding in life. Immigrants took a leap of faith when coming to America, for some it worked out well but for others they had a difficult time here. Despite the struggles that the immigrants encountered such as; standing out from others, being separated from their families, and breaking their culture, the immigrants are still grateful to be in America because they were in better conditions than they were in their home land. When viewing interviews or looking at an immigrant’s perspective you get many responses to being in America, some major things that stood out were the amount of freedom the immigrant had, and the age of the immigrant. These two things had a huge impact on the opinion of America from an Immigrants point of view.
There are many similarities between immigrants and refugees. Refugees and immigrants both left their home country, get menial jobs due to language barriers and they are both also looking for a better way of life. Refugees and immigrants are different in many ways. There are three differences between refugees and immigrants. Refugees have to flees their home country when immigrant get the choice of leaving. They both have a journey, but refugees have a journey over water and it is not luxurious, but immigrants have a safe, luxurious and plane journey to their new country. Immigrants plan to stay permanently when refugees plan to return home. Overall, immigrants
But their special identity and previous experience, it’s extremely hard for them to achieve the normality that they've been seeking. According to the article, “We started our new lives and tired to follow as closely as possible all the good advise our saviors passed on to us. We were told to forget; and we forgot quicker than anybody could imagine… the new country would become a new home.” Nonetheless, albeit the refugees’ willingness to forget their language, culture, their