Becoming An Immigrant

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I remember walking into the first day of freshman orientation. Seeing the huge campus, the big scary seniors and my new teachers frightened me. High school seemed to be daunting. My experience so far has been far from that. Despite many challenges, I have learned so much, made many new friends, and grown as a person throughout my High School experience. Being an immigrant, combined with the absence of my father for half the year, has forced me to encounter and take on many unique challenges. These challenges are what shaped me to become the person I am today.

As an immigrant from China, I have faced the problem of my identity. The task of balancing the two very different cultures I am surrounded by has been extremely challenging. The foods I eat, the languages I speak, and the contrasting cultural norms are very hard to balance. I didn’t know whether I should try to blend in with the rest of my peers or try to be like the rest of my family members. Everything I did seemed problematic, as if I had to choose between my family and my friends. …show more content…
My father’s job forced him to be in China for half the year. Though technology allows us to communicate, the deep conversations, the laughter, the tears, and advice given just couldn't be replaced by a facetime call. I am forever grateful for my father’s hard work and sacrifice, but going through rough times without a father’s constant support and reassurance was extremely difficult for me. Helping my mother, parenting my little sister and filling in places where he is not gives me lots of

Becoming An Immigrant

One of my grandmother’s favorite stories about me, which she loves to recount to everyone, happened when I was 4 or 5 years old. I was sitting with my younger brother, Luc, reading a book out loud. I wasn’t reading very quickly or fluently, so my grandmother figured I just didn’t read very well yet. However, upon closer inspection, she realized I was translating the book from English to French so that Luc would understand what I was reading. French was my first language. I never thought much about…

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Becoming An Immigrant Essay

It has taken me a very long time to become open and comfortable with telling people about my family --who they are and what they’ve done--in fear of being judged or thought to have a similar nature. I am very sensitive when I talk about it. I do not hate my parents, but they have made or have been forced to make some especially negligent decisions during my life. When I was four-years-old, my dad was involved in a horrible accident with a drunk driver. He shattered several vertebrae in his neck and…

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Personal Narrative: Becoming An Immigrant

“Oye! Muchacho! Te puedo hacer unas preguntas?” a border patrol officer asked me on the street, and of course seeing he is an officer I reply, “Si.” This officer (I can’t remember his name) wasn’t very tall, but wasn’t short either, but I assumed he was Hispanic because he was tan and had black hair—but he had an accent with his Spanish…like it was his second language he learned after English. The officer asked me, “Hablas íngles?” which I replied to with, “Yeah?” I found it annoying that he assumed…

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The DREAM Act

those in need with their education. The DREAM Act would help illegal students attend colleges across the country. As long as the students meet certain requirements than they would be able to stay in America and go to school with the prospect of becoming an American citizen after several years (392). At first the DREAM Act would give conditional residency and then after six years they could become a citizen if they went to college or served in the military (392). Since the time of the Declaration…

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Pros And Cons Of Sanctuary Cities

cities are becoming a hot-button issue. Democratic candidate, Ralph Northam, has recently flip-flopped his position on this topic. While taking part in the Virginia state Senate, Northam supported the importance of reporting illegal immigrants to federal authorities. However, after becoming Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, his positions have changed dramatically, including his support for driver's licenses for illegals and his support of instate tuition for children of undocumented immigrants. Previously…

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Two Ways To Belong To America Analysis

hard work, determination, and enterprise. In America, a person can be an immigrant, or a citizen and rise from poverty to become a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Anyone can practice their religion without prosecution, or speak freely without the fear of punishment from the government. America has many types of immigrants who call this country home. There are naturalized citizens, green card residents, and illegal immigrants. A naturalized citizen is granted citizenship by fulfilling certain requirements…

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Mira Bharati Mukherjee Analysis

Mira and Bharati are two legal immigrants that faced unfair treatments because of new immigration law. Mukherjee talked about the challenges immigrants endure before and after establishing citizenship. Once and individual obtains citizenship any new laws should not apply. In fact legal immigrants should be grandfathered. Legal immigrants should not be punished for abiding by the law and being an asset to their residing country. In order for an immigrant to obtain citizenship the law…

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Argumentative Essay: Undocumented Immigration To The United States

around immigration to the United States. We have been cutting down on the amount of people that we allow to come live in this great country but there are reasons for these actions. Many people state that we’re a country that has always welcomed immigrants with open arms and ask why we are cutting back on immigration. Well the answer is that we are getting full. Over population is a big…

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Assimilation: Immigration to the United States and Immigrants Essay

Assimilation: The Reason Why Immigrants Have Been Advancing In the Past Years Have you noticed how assimilation is becoming a part of our society? All you have to do is walk down the street and you will see how immigrants are assimilating into our society. First of all, what does it mean to assimilate? Well, according the Merriam-Webster to assimilate to take in and utilize as nourishment: absorb into the system. When immigrants come to the United States, most of them come here in search of their…

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Essay On Being An Immigrant

the horrible situation that you left or worse. When an immigrant leaves a country behind, they experienced several hardships to get accepted into a new country, and to stabilize their possible new life. But none of that is guaranteed to any immigrant. They have to overcome multitudes of issues that most people can’t imagine. They need assistance, or at least a welcome to make the brand new start easier for them. Fleeing a past life, becoming accepted into a country, and starting a new life without…

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