Immigration Struggles In America

An immigrants is someone who moves to a new place permanently. A new culture and a new start of life is just the start of the challenges that are faced by immigrants along the way. Some of them can be overcome with some hard work, others are harder to resolve. Throughout this essay I will be looking at the different struggles immigrants face to see if there are any ways in which they can be overcome. As the number of immigrants increase year by year it is important that there are ways for them to start of a new life in America with fewer challenges to face and that there are opportunities for them to seek help. The different areas that immigrants find it hardest are: trying to get a job, getting educated, trying to afford a home to live in,
shopping, transportation, health care, being in a different culture and the language barrier (Garrett, (2006)., Nunez, 2014).

One of the biggest challenges that immigrants face is known to be the language barrier (Garrett, 2006., Nunex, 2014). Not being able to speak English in an English speaking country is believed to make life for immigrants very difficult. It appears that this factor effects a lot of areas in an immigrants life. Furthermore, trying to get a job, get educated or to receive health care are three points that immigrants struggle with for many reasons. However, an issue they have in common is the language barrier (Nunez, 2014). It makes communicating with other people much harder. This quote is given by Garrett (2006:5) from a Chinese Immigrant, “Just because I don’t know English, I can’t handle even the simplest errands.” That shows that the things that people think are so simple, could be so much harder for an immigrant because it is all new for them. However, in some areas there are ‘English as a Second Language’ (ESL) classes available. Rong and Preissle (2009, p.57) shows that due to the rise in immigrants arriving to America, schools have started to provide ESL classes for the students and that makes it more convenient for them to be able to learn English as well as getting an education. The main aim of those classes are to help people improve their English. This opportunity appears to help immigrants overcome the challenges that they face and to help them have an easier life in America. Having said that, those classes take up a lot of time and for anyone trying to work to earn a living for their family it is discovered to be difficult for them to attend them seeing as they are working so much. (Garrett, 2006). Another issue may be that not only do some not want to learn, but they may not have the level of education needed to be able to learn a new language.

It does not matter where you go in the world the culture will be different in some way. For immigrants there is quite a large culture barrier which makes it difficult for them in situations such as the work place, school or even the local shop (Zugel, 2012). Colloquialisms, the way people act and talk can be difficult to get used to if the person is not familiar to the language or culture (Nunez, 2014). Someone could be offended by they way you act or by what you say and be unaware that it was offensive. A way in which an immigrant can overcome the change in culture is by canvassing other colleagues or classmates’ actions and see what their reaction are like in daily occurrences. This is a situation when being able to speak English would be very helpful to communicate which others and to learn the way others act. If the immigrant is able to speak the language other ways that they could be helped is if there were people there to make them feel welcome and help them settle is as the culture and experience will still be very new to them. The way people take the change can be different depending on the person and it is difficult for children as well as older folk as change at a young ago is difficult to process in their mind.

“Most [immigrants] believe they cannot improve their lives and get a better job until they [learn English]…” Garrett (2006:6).
For them trying to get a job to be able to provide for their families is a struggle. A lot of places of work do not take them on due to the language barrier, having no documentation, being uneducated or their lack of experience. This is difficult for them as in order to be able to buy food, have a roof over their head or get anywhere money is needed. In saying that, there are jobs that they are able to get but are low-pay jobs (Garrett, 2006). That suggests that to be able to afford to survive and provide for a family they would have to work extra hours which would put more strain and stress on their lives for working hard for long hours only to get little in return. There are cash in hand jobs they could do also which means documentation is not always needed if they were in a situation where they did not have any. Some may even work a few jobs just to be able to get some income in. This puts a lot of pressure on them also and may leave them isolated or feeling down. If the immigrant is not a English speakers then learning English would be very helpful for them when trying to finding a job. If they have English it is believed that more jobs would be available for them that would presumably pay more which would make life slightly easier for
them.

Health Care is an important aspect in which everyone will require at one point.
This is another of the countless tribulations that undocumented immigrants have to face. ‘…[Immigrants] are afraid of being deported.’ Nunez (2014), also points out that, ‘…people will avoid seeing the doctor or reaching out for services such as legal guidance when it is needed most.’ This just shows how dangerous it is for them if they would not even try and seek help because they are trying to avoid the chance of being deported. Immigrants who have the correct documentation are normally able to receive health care just like other citizens, except with more paper work, but it is a lot harder for undocumented immigrants to. A lot of immigrants will also have the struggle of not being able to speak English and in this situation that would add to the challenge as there could be mis-communication between the specialist and patients (Nunez, 2014). That could lead to misdiagnosis which could lead to more damage than good. This is an issue that can be overcome to some extend for documented immigrants by learning English. However if they do not have any documentation it would be a struggle for them to receive any
help.

As Garrett (2006) wrote, immigrants believe, ’A good education is the key to success for their children.’ It is hard enough for children and teenagers to move to a different place but trying to get their education makes situations a lot harder. Some of the challenges that immigrants face are highlighted in schools, the language and culture barriers (Suarez-Orozco, Suarez-Orozco and Todorova, 2008). This may lead to them getting bullied or laughed at, that would not help the situation they are in at all (Hilburn, 2014). For non-English speaking pupils some schools do offer ESL classes for them to improve their English whilst being in school, this makes it easier for them to be able to communicate with their classmates and be able to succeed in getting the education they need (Garrett, 2006). However, there are school that have not yet started to offer those services and a way to help the children overcome their challenges is by offering them in a wide variety of schools (Rong, Torstensson and Hilburn, 2011). Another worry is that the trauma and hurt that the immigrants may have gone through could have a bad affect on their lives which could lead to behaviour problems which would make teaching them difficult (Rong and Preissle, 2009). Extra help for students who have gone through a hard time is available in some facilities and school and that is an opportunity to help the child be able to move on and start their new life and be able to get their education with fewer troubles. It is also hard for children to move to a new school anyway but with the added troubles of trying to adapt to an American school which is a different culture than they are used to and a different way of learning makes it really challenging for them at such a young age (Zhou and Bankston, 1998).

To be able to have a roof over your head you need money. If a lack of money is an issue, which it is with most immigrants, it would seem difficult to be able to purchase a house when you immigrate to another place. If a family were able to put enough together to purchase a house then there is a large chance that it will not be in a safe area. That is a big struggle for immigrants, to be able to find a home that is affordable for them and to keep their family safe (Nunez, 2014) . In some areas immigrants are given a place to stay but in most places the immigrants are not catered for like that which makes this such a big challenge. Most would presumably be on low paid jobs and being able to maintain a home or apartment on a small income would be a challenge (Garrett, 2006). A way in which this could be overcome is if there was more help offered to immigrants when looking for somewhere to stay. Also, if there was somewhere they could be accommodated therefore they would have a home to bring up there families and start fresh (Gaytan, Carhill, and Suarez-Orozco, 2007).