We spoke to three students who told us about their experiences as immigrants

The stories of three immigrant families who crossed the border for the American dream

For many of us who live in the U.S., chances are we immigrated here or our ancestors did it for us. We sometimes become settled in the American lifestyle, which leads us to forget where our families originate from and the obstacles they faced by immigrating to the U.S.

We spoke with two Ithaca College students and one alumna on the topic of immigration. They recounted the experiences of their families who immigrated to the United States and sacrificed a lot with the hope of living the American dream.

Lima Hossain is a junior studying Economics and Mathematics. Hossain shared how her family’s emigration from Bangladesh to the U.S. in 1990 came with difficulties and sacrifices that helped shape her family.

Tell me about your family’s experiences as immigrants in the U.S. and how they adjusted to the American life?

One story that has stuck with me was my father’s first day of work in Brooklyn. My father just started working for a Jewish construction company and at this time he had very limited English speaking and reading abilities. As lunch time approached, he didn’t know what to order and as a practicing Muslim, feared that it contained pork. Luckily, he pointed towards the turkey sandwich and that was his first lunch in the States. During the 90s, crime filled the NYC streets and my father and his friends had to hide their earnings in their shoes to avoid getting mugged. But that did not deter my father from fulfilling his dream of providing his family with a better life as he worked in construction for 15 years. Soon enough he petitioned for my mom, sister, and me to come over to the States, and in 1996 the rest of us joined him.

Lima’s mother and father

Growing up I was very rooted in my culture and spoke both Bengali and English at home. My sister and I attended public school and soon enough we realized that many of us came from immigrant families. The neighborhood that I grew up in was pretty diverse and though it was a struggle to find a mold to fit into, our struggles collectively allowed us to grow and understand each other. My father became a citizen before my mom, sister, and me.  At the age of eight, I became a U.S. citizen. My parents always stressed the importance of getting a good education, so one of my biggest goals as a kid was to attend college and make my parents proud. In 2007, my father fulfilled his dream of buying a house in the United States and my family relocated to our new house in East New York. It was satisfying to see my parents fulfill their dream, and my siblings and I help fulfill theirs.

This student chose to remain anonymous, spoke about his experience on both sides of the Arizona-Mexico border as a U.S. citizen, while also recounting the struggles that his immigrant family faced.

Tell me about your family’s experiences as undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and how it affected you and your family

 I come from a family of immigrants. While growing up in Arizona, I spent a great deal of time on both sides of the Arizona-Mexico border. I traveled back and forth often, and found myself in a strange place where I did not solely identify as American, Native American, or Mexican, but rather a mixture of all three. My Uncle Juan grew up living in our tribe’s pueblos near the Rio Yaqui but immigrated to the U.S. when he was still in his twenties. When he got to Arizona, he started a family and began working as a landscaper, house painter, and worked in construction. Nevertheless, he was undocumented and was deported and barred from ever attaining citizenship again. A year later, my uncle Cuko was deported as well. He was another undocumented immigrant from Mexico, but he is also my uncle, a father to a U.S. born son, and a human with many qualities that immigration policies seemed to ignore.

My grandma immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico as well as my step father, who raised me since I was six years old. He will become a U.S. citizen later this year. Sadly, while growing up, I was ashamed of my Mexican status. Kids would call me names like “dirty Mexican” or ask me if I had drugs to sell. It was experiences like these that made me question my identity and its worth. I now believe my love, pride and gratefulness for my heritage and my immigrant family/lifestyle was always there – being suppressed – but finally so tired of not shining that it no longer cared to hide.

 

Frances Johnson graduated from Ithaca College in May 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and International Politics. Johnson is a U.S. citizen who moved to her mother’s country, Taiwan, a few months before her second birthday, but faced a difficult transition back to America.

Tell me about yours and your family’s adjustment to the United States after coming back from Taiwan

I didn’t have any friends and english wasn’t my first language, so I was self-conscious of how I sounded whenever I spoke at school.  My mom had an easier adjustment because she had gone to graduate school in the U.S., but because I had no memory of living here previously, it was all new and foreign to me.  My dad is white, which raised a lot of questions from classmates and strangers. But I think it made my parents and I very close.

Frances and her parents

My dad hadn’t lived in the U.S. for almost six years when we moved back, so we all adjusted together.  We celebrate Chinese and Western holidays, which always allows me to know my roots and keep traditions. My mom became a citizen in 2004, and I remember the first thing we did after she took the oath was take family portraits.  It was the first time that all three of us in my family were American citizens, so my mom wanted to document that.

Frances with her parents on the day of her college graduation in Ithaca, NY

 

 

 

 

 

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