Rise in Immigrant Families In United States – Essay

Essay on the Increase of Immigrant Families In United States

The number of refugees and immigrants is on the rise within the USA in recent times. Several states that have been known not to host refugees currently do receive immigrants. The USA government is trying to put everything in place in a bid to control the movement of migrating families. For instance, a fence has been erected to reduce the number of refugees getting into America. However, this has not fully regulated the movement of immigrants who most of the times succeed in entering America.

While many families are moving to America to seek for means of surviving, there are those that move for safety reasons. This is due to the instability experienced in their countries. However, in the process of moving, there are quite a number of challenges that they go through. For instance, the disintegration of the family disintegration, which has profound psychological effects (Dreby 46). Many of the immigrant families do not have a proper command of English. This has made it very hard for them to socialize with Native Americans and get jobs. In addition, going about daily business in America, for instance, buying goods or getting services is quite hard for the immigrant families. In a bid to cope with the problem of language barrier, many of the immigrant families opt to learn English (Sulkowski et al 652). When parents move with their children to the USA, they take them to school. However, things are not very smooth for them in the USA as they experience culture shock. It takes them some time to get used the USA environment. Migrant families have reported how hard it is for their children to learn English and put up with the learning standards in the USA (Rogers-Sirin, Patrice, & Selcuk 14). In several occasions, the children of migrant families are being discriminated against just because they are of a different race and are not able to understand the norm in America.

The hard economic times and the desire for immigrant families to survive pushes them to take any job that is available to them as they wait to rise over the rank with time. Even the educated immigrants do not find it easy to land on jobs like the ones that they had in their countries of origin (Dimitrova, Michael, & Fons 21). This is because many of the employers are keen to employ individuals who have a lot of experience in the USA. They do not approve of certifications of employees from other countries. Many of the immigrants who are not able to understand English have got hard time to get jobs as compared to the literate. Regardless of literacy levels, migrant families are exploited and discriminated against around the working and academic settings (Sulkowski et al 663). For example, they are given dangerous and less desirable roles. Immigrants are fully aware of their rights. However, they are not in a position to defend their rights just because they are in a foreign land and cannot easily speak English. Another problem that the immigrants face is difficulty in getting proper housing. The low paying jobs that some of them secure cannot enable them to pay for safe housing. For this matter, therefore, many of the immigrant families however big they are decide to stay together. The end result of this is noisy and stressful environments which are not suitable for resting and studying. Many of the property owners exploit the immigrant families by imposing unnecessary charges on them (Dreby 17; MenjÃvar, Leisy, Leah 54). The fear of being kicked out of the houses compels the immigrants to pay for the services that ought to be catered for by the proprietors. Another area whereby immigrants find it hard to live with is accessing important services. Undocumented immigrants have found it very cumbersome to access medical and legal services because they are afraid that they can be deported. Many of the immigrants are victims of torture, rape, and violence but are not ready to look for help because their cultures consider it a taboo. This is another taboo with which the immigrant families have to contend while in the US. To the immigrants who are privileged to get the desirable services, the kind of experience they have is negative (MenjÃvar, Leisy, Leah 13). Professionals have often misunderstood them because of language barriers. Doctors have misdiagnosed diseases just because the patients cannot express themselves accordingly.

Language barrier is a problem affecting immigrant families (Rogers-Sirin, Patrice, & Selcuk 24). It is compounded with difficulty in transportation. The problem of transportation touches on different aspects of the lives of the immigrants. It is hard for the immigrant families to get driver’s license for so many reasons. To the immigrants not able to speak English, there is need to hire a translator, who is hard to get. The driver must equally be literate. Otherwise, he cannot easily pass the examinations. Many families are forced to have a single car that they use for taking children to school and making it to work (Dimitrova, Michael, & Fons 69). Men in most cases have the car thereby disadvantaging the women who are expected to look for their own ways of transport by either getting rides from coworkers or friends. The above discussed are just but some of the problems that the immigrants go through. Some of them have found themselves locked behind the bars for illegal immigration. Others have also been deported but prior to their deportation, they suffer in the hands of security agents.

Immigrants are often seen as aliens in the USA but they have got a lot of benefits to the economy of the USA. Studies have revealed that the immigrants contribute to the development of the USA economy. This debunks the belief that they are to compete with the USA citizens for the few existing opportunities. They complement the work done by the USA professionals. In most cases, they perform tasks that the USA citizens are not comfortable doing. In so doing, they fill the labor gaps that initially existed in the USA. The countries where they have come from equally benefit from their efforts. This is because their earnings is a boost to the GDPs of their countries. Immigrant families move from their countries to the USA and others because of different reasons. Some move because they are out to look out for existing opportunities. To others, their countries are not stable because of wars and they cannot bear staying there. There are also those who move because of adventure. The movement is not a smooth process but full of challenges. Legal, social and political hurdles are an impediment to the movement of immigrants. However, at the end of the day, they manage to overcome, at least some of them. Some of the experiences that the immigrant families have gone through are disheartening and inhuman but actually reflect the problems that they underwent or undergo.

Essay on the Increase of Immigrant Families In United States

Works Cited

Dimitrova, Radosveta, Michael Bender, and Fons JR van de Vijver, eds. Global perspectives on well-being in immigrant families. New York, NY: Springer, 2014.

Dreby, Joanna. Everyday illegal: When policies undermine immigrant families. Univ of California Press, 2015.

MenjÃvar, Cecilia, Leisy J. Abrego, and Leah C. Schmalzbauer. Immigrant Families. John Wiley & Sons, 2016.

Rogers-Sirin, Lauren, Patrice Ryce, and Selcuk R. Sirin. “Acculturation, acculturative stress, and cultural mismatch and their influences on immigrant children and adolescents’ well-being.” Global perspectives on well-being in immigrant families. Springer New York, 2014. 11-30.

Sulkowski, Michael L., et al. “Peer victimization in youth from immigrant and non-immigrant US families.” School psychology international 35.6 (2014): 649-669.

Essay on the Increase of Immigrant Families In United States