An Immigrant’s American Dream by an anonymous De Anza College Student (February 2010) The United States was founded by a group of immigrants. The pilgrims left their native homes to form a better union in the new land, to form a country of equal rights and freedoms. Every group living in the Unites States, with the exception of Native Americans and the descendants of African Slaves, has migrated from their home countries to the Unites States to establish a better way of life with more opportunities. This better life became known as the “American Dream.” Everyone is entitled to reach for their dreams, but not the “American Dream.” Today, immigrants who founded this country are looking down upon other immigrants who are also seeking to live better lives than the ones they were living in their own country. Many people have the misconception that immigrants come to this country to steal jobs and live for free. But that is not the case. My parents brought my brother and me over from Mexico as children. They brought us to live a better life, to have opportunities that would not be available to us in Mexico. A lot of people don’t understand the great amount of work that comes from undocumented workers. We contribute to society, just like everyone else. We do the hard, low paying jobs that other Americans won’t do because they don’t pay enough or have no benefits, or are unsanitary. Since we’ve been here my parents have been working hard, paying taxes, contributing to society all while maintaining a clean record. We didn’t come to this country to cause problems. We came to better ourselves. As a Mexican immigrant, I live in a country where I am often not wanted, where I have boundaries I cannot cross for not being a citizen or fear of getting caught and deported. My family moved here when I was a child and my brother and I didn’t have much of a choice. Still, I grew up like any other American girl. As a child, the fact that I was undocumented didn’t really affect me. But now that I’m older, attempting to get a job and to continue my education is becoming a problem. I am restricted in many ways. Though I want to work, I don’t have a job because I don’t have a social security number. It’s harder now to get a college education because I cannot receive financial aid that helps with the cost of college. And, education is the foundation to a successful life here. Without a college education, I would not be able to get a reasonable good paying job with health benefits. Without an education climbing the wealth ladder becomes a nearly impossible mission. Buying a house or cars is difficult to do because you are asked for a valid social security number. Not being able to buy assets hurts my chances of building my net worth which I will need to help me in the future. I can’t travel or explore the world for lack of a passport. I can’t even get something as simple as a license for not having a green card or social security number. So, I am forced limit the amount of driving I do, because the risk of getting pulled over and getting my car taken away is too high of a risk and the cost of an impounded car is too expensive. And now days, driving is a necessity. It’s not fair to me and to the millions of other immigrants who have to live under these conditions. I never knew that a nine-­‐digit number would be so important in my abilities to succeed in life. There’s a lot stacked up against us-­‐-­‐ not being able to buy houses or cars, easily get educations, jobs—all of this makes it hard to climb the wealth ladder forcing us to live in the lower and middle class. It’s not just one thing, but instead like a big line of dominos— never ending obstacles I have to overcome to be something in life. It’s not a life I would chose to live if I had to, but we manage to make the best of it and “look at the glass half-­‐full.” I am lucky enough to be able to pursue my education. And even luckier to have employers who employ my immigrant parents and have kept them around because they are hard workers. All of their hard work has allowed me to not have a job and focus on school and live a middle class life. We might not be wealthy, but we’ve always had a roof over our heads and food on our table. Yes, America is the land of the free. Yet as immigrants we are constantly dealing with barriers that don’t allow us to succeed. 15% of the population in this country is Latino/Hispanic, that’s 45.5 million people. 60.6% of those have a high school diploma, 12.5% have a bachelor’s degree, and only 3.9% have advanced degrees. Seeing numbers like this discourages me. Yet, it also motivates me. It makes me want to go to college even more, and to motivate others to go too. But then reality hits that because of a lack of a social security number many schools wouldn’t accept me, forcing me to enter the work force with only a high school diploma. Some private colleges take “AB-­‐540 students,” which are basically undocumented immigrant students who went to high school here. But many only take a couple, so my chances of getting are slim. Once, let’s say I get accepted, I can’t really apply for financial aid to help with the expenses. If I finish school and get my degree, once I go out looking for a job, I am still not able to get a job because of my immigration status. Again, forcing me to look for any job that would take me just to make a living. Most immigrants are working back-­‐wrenching, low-­‐paying jobs with no health benefits. Working paycheck to paycheck, trying to move forward in life. The average Latino household is making $38,679 per year, and the individual is only making $15,421 per year. Net worth for Latinos is only $21,000, far below other races and the unemployment rate is at a high 21.5%. The level of education Latinos are obtaining isn’t very high, very many students don’t finish high school or even attend college. Since education is the main foundation for achieving success, a bad foundation doesn’t allow one to build on it. I could be working long hours and still earn little money. Many people make judgments and assume stereotypes that aren’t true. It’s funny to me that people see me, a young articulate Latina, a high school graduate, attending college, getting good grades, “doing something with my life‚”yet they would never guess that I am an undocumented immigrant. It just shows the ignorance of people, making assumptions that all immigrants are dirty, good for nothing farm workers. People jokes about how immigrants are farm workers, work in fast food or stand outside of Home Depot, when they don’t know. They don’t understand the hardships we go through, the struggles to achieve “the American Dream.” With the anti-­‐immigration laws and the harassment society practices, often our own people turn against ourselves. Internalized oppression makes people of the same group accept negative patterns that, while that are not true to their cultures, still become part of how they live their lives. These negative behaviors become a norm and then turn into systematic and institutionalized mistreatment towards immigrants. For example, immigrants have a belief that they are coming to this country to better themselves, but once they are here they see how difficult it is to come on top. So, these images of what illegal aliens can and can’t do come to see “normal.” Immigrants then limit their own goals and feel the need to work low paying jobs for little pay. Being afraid, they live in the dark away from the rest of society. They often don’t try to get educations to get ahead. And, they stay either uninformed or misinformed about their rights and the possibilities for their futures. But, many people have also been working hard to make things better. One proposed reform would allow undocumented immigrants to work legally and to become citizens. Other reforms would create a path to citizenship for undocumented students or those who serve in the armed forces. And one reform in California would allow undocumented college students who grew up here to get some kinds of financial aid. These reforms would really help out not only undocumented immigrants but also the whole country. More people would feel comfortable doing taxes, getting jobs, going to school without the fear of doing something to get kicked out of the country and back the native lands that don’t have much to offer. My family and I have been keeping up with the news on any updates about where this reform is going or could go. I have marched with millions of others to support these reforms. Only good things could come from this. If I ever do get a chance to become a citizen I know I will give back and help those that don’t have documents but deserve them. There is no stopping the voice of the Latino communities. We shall overcome. Sí se puede!