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Sidharth Kumar

Dr. Sinha

EGL 100

September 30 2018

What happened to those who left ?

Immigration is a cornerstone of what it means to be American. The founding

fathers of this nation were Immigrants or the direct descendants of those who had come

to the the new world. President Woodrow Wilson said on immigration, “We came to

America, either ourselves or in the persons of our ancestors, to better the ideals of men, to

make them see finer things than they had seen before, to get rid of the things that divide

and to make sure of the things that unite.” Immigration has become one of the most

dividing issues in the United States. Lisa Ko in her book, The Leavers , examines the life

of Deming, renamed Daniel by his adoptive parents, as he searches for his birth mother to

as what became of her after she disappeared while he was still young. Peilan, also known

as Polly, Deming’s mother initially came to the United States illegally searching for a

better life after working her way out of China. Immigrants to the United States have to

persevere through a variety of road blocks from adverse conditions in their home country

to the sheer difficulty of entering and assimilating in the US.

Immigrants look for a better life in the US fleeing from less than ideal conditions

at home. Historically conditions such as famine have driven people to move to the more

prosperous (at the time) United States. The encyclopedia Britannica states that nearly 2

million Irish emigrated from Ireland, a large portion of which ended up in the United
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States. Another condition that has pushed immigrants out of their homes and on the way

to the United States is war and persecution. Jewish migrants in the late thirties fled

Germany for the United States as hostilities increased(Mokyr). The St Louis, a passenger

steamer carrying more than 900 Jewish migrants on the “Hamburg-Amerika Linie” was

turned away from North and South American ports, Lind recalls in her piece for

Vox(Lind). In more recent years, refugees have fled the violence of the Syrian civil

war(Mark), and the violence of drug cartels and corruption in the South and Central

Americas(Mark). However not everyone leaves for issues regarding their home country.

Many like Polly felt that the United States offered greater economic and social

opportunities.

The process of entering as an immigrant the United States is a difficult and

treacherous path. For immigrants in the caravan coming from central America there is no

clear pathway to residency in the US. Unless they have a Nobel Prize, 500k to 1mil

dollars, a job in the US which can prove no displacement of an American worker, or a

relative with citizenship in the US, immigrants must prove a credible fear of persecution

or torture. This can be a difficult position as immigrants must be able to prove that there

are credible fears and consequences in store for them if they back to their country. Under

the current administration the bar has been set high to meet the standards of credible

fears(Griswold). For immigrants coming to the US on work visas, or other legal forms of

entry the waiting list/lottery for those have skyrocketed, my father was able to get a work

visa within 3 years of applying from India, my cousin now has an estimated time to get a

visa of over 5 years. The visa is also only one step, the next step is establishing residency,

you must establish permanent residency, green card, in order to stay in the US and start
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receiving benefits. The lottery for permanent residency has millions of entries for 50,000

cards per year assuming you don’t fall into an “extraordinary class”. In order to seek

asylum to the United States to one must have a credible fear. A credible fear could be of

persecution, or other human rights concerns. In past administration the rules were a bit

lighter including those fleeing bodily harm. If legal immigration is not an option many

immigrants via smugglers across the border or will get a tourist visa and choose to

overstay their visa. Polly, in The Leavers, immigrated into the United States illegally,

entering the US through Canada, using a smuggler (Yee et Al.). Likely the single hardest

step for any immigrant into the United States is the assimilation into everyday life.

Immigrants moving into the US don’t have the largest bank accounts. My father

when he first came to this country came with 20$ USD. He over the past 30 years worked

his way to his citizenship 8 years ago and a job making almost half a million dollars a

year. He in the beginning had trouble learning how the US worked, from getting a new

driver’s license to the difference in workplace dynamics his learning curve was steep.

This all added to the burden of being an immigrant in the United States, he with my mom

lived paycheck to paycheck and with the fact that his legal status in the United States was

based on his job. Many immigrants coming to the US also face issue with persecution, in

early 2018 the New York Times reported on a Somali Police officer shooting an unarmed

Australian woman, conservative activists seized this as a reason why the US should stop

bringing immigrants into the United States. Similarly, for DREAMers, children brought

into the country illegally by their parents, many isolated cases of individuals have been

taken as to represent the entire group and has stymied attempts to provide relief for them

(Vivian et Al). The current congress and administration has taken a hardline stance on
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immigration looking to highlight every possible instance of crime committed by

immigrants.

The United States is one of the most prosperous countries in the world.

Immigrants have played a large part of that culture and growth from the Mayflower to the

immigrants arriving in the United States today. The hazards of their homes and the

potential for economic prosperity has made immigration to the United States today one of

the most sought after. Even so the process to immigrate legally and fairly into the United

States has become nearly untenable with long waits and impossible standards for some

visas and for green card applications. A large part of being an immigrant in America

today is to contend with the image that all immigrants are not good for our country.

America has strayed from its values as a nation of Immigrants turning away people who

have come with a legitimate need.

Works Cited

Griswold, Eliza. “Why Is It So Difficult for Syrian Refugees to Get Into the U.S.?” The

New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Jan. 2016,

www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/magazine/why-is-it-so-difficult-for-syrian-

refugees-to-get-i nto-the-us.html.

Lind, Dara. “How America's Rejection of Jews Fleeing Nazi Germany Haunts Our

Refugee Policy Today.” Vox, Vox, 27 Jan. 2017, www.vox.com/policy-and-

politics/2017/1/27/14412082/refugees-history-holocaust.

Mark, Michelle. “Jeff Sessions Said Immigrants Should 'Wait Their Turn' to Come to the
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US - Here's How Complicated That Process Can Be.” Business Insider, Business

Insider, 3 May 2018, www.businessinsider.com/how-to-green-card-visa-legal-

immigration-us-news-trump-2017 -4.

Mokyr, Joel. “Great Famine.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 19 Apr.

2017, www.britannica.com/event/Great-Famine-Irish-history.

VIVIAN YEE, KENAN DAVIS and JUGAL K. PATEL. “Here's the Reality About Illegal

Immigrants in the United States.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Mar.

2017, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/06/us/politics/undocumented-illegal-

immigrants.ht ml.