43 MILLION IMMIGRANTS
In the United States, a country of 327 million, that's 13% of the population.
The 13%.
It also happens to be the same number of people living in the Netherlands and Australia combined. Immigrants come to the United States from almost every country in the world. They come as employees and as refugees, as children and as spouses. They speak Spanish and Arabic, Tagalog and English. 27% of them come from East Asia, 25% from Latin America, and 13% from Europe. They bring different cultures and foods, different phrases and different clothes.
They are one of the most talked about groups of people in this country, as well as one of the most misunderstood.
This group of 43 million people also includes me.
I’m one of 705,827 people who immigrated legally to the United States in 2003. The other 705,823 people that traveled to the “nation of immigrants” with my family and I that year only account for 0.24% of the US population. I am also one of 9,601 who came that year from the United Kingdom, that’s only 0.003% of the US population.
As an emigrant, there are many different places one could end up. But as a child, there was something alluring about knowing we were coming to the place of the "American Dream." A country that is known for its immigrant population, as that is what the majority of the nation was built from.
After years of working through immigration papers, applying for visas and green cards, being escorted by police officers through an airport, and even being barred from leaving the country for a period of time - much of that allure is gone.
Especially today, in the Trump Administration and during the "crisis" on the southern border, immigration seems to have become a burden for the United States rather than a dream it can offer to others.
Immigrants seem to have been "simplified" to numbers and data, which are used by others to describe problems, or perceived problems.
I’ve never really considered myself to be a statistic, but I suppose one way or another, at some point in our lives, we all are.
But what happens when you’re a part of a statistic that’s not only misunderstood, it’s misconstrued?
For any non - U.S. resident who wishes to live or travel in the United States, they must apply for a visa, a temporary document, or a green card, a permanent document. Travel visas, or non-immigrant visas, are easier to come by for those who merely want to visit.
If you want to legally live in the United States, however, you need an immigrant visa - of which there are over 185 different kinds.
That is how my family arrived in the United States. With the help of my dad’s employer and an immigration lawyer, he was able to receive an H – 1B visa, a visa specifically for skilled workers. Other examples of visas include student visas, visas for journalists and religious workers.
If potential immigrants have family members already living in the United States, those family members may be able to petition on their behalf in order to get them a green card. In some countries, there is also a lottery people can enter to receive a green card.
If you’re already confused, you’re not alone. This might go without saying, but the process of coming to America as an immigrant is not as simple as it once was, if it ever was.
If a potential immigrant did not have family already within the U.S., have an employer willing to sponsor them (this includes financially), or have an immigration lawyer supporting their case, I would go as far as to say it may be nearly impossible.
This is something that I find many people do not realize.
I often answer questions about the immigration process for those who are curious because I am happy to inform people who are ignorant of it. However, recently one question in particular threw me off more than others.
During a conversation with my housemates, someone mentioned I wasn’t a US citizen and my roommate, someone who I assumed was well aware of my immigration status, looked at me in confusion.
“Does that mean that you’re undocumented?” she asked.
I was visibly taken aback and chuckled slightly thinking she’d made a bad joke, until realizing she was genuinely confused.
I responded sternly because I wanted to make sure she knew that someone's immigration status was not a dichotomous identity. It is more nuanced than simply being "undocumented" or "legal."
“No, I’m a permanent resident, so I have a green card.”
Undocumented -
An undocumented immigrant is a person who has broken immigration laws by either illegally crossing the border or overstaying their visa.
Green card -
A green card, or permanent resident card, is provided to legal permanent residents (LPRs) of the United States. Green cards are attained through an application process.
The conversation moved on after this, but I was left pondering her question. If she was this confused about my immigration status, as one of my good friends, who else was? What made her mind jump so immediately to the status of an undocumented immigrant, when so few immigrants in the country are actually undocumented?
Out of the 43 million immigrants that are living in the United States, only between 10 and 11 million are undocumented.
In many different regards, I appear as an "American," so I often don't mind when people display confusion at my status in the U.S. I have an American accent and people have no reason to think otherwise. However, according to the US government, I am not a U.S. citizen, and up until last year, I was not allowed to become one.
Amongst people who know me, my birthplace is common knowledge. The majority of the people I surround myself with are aware that I am an immigrant, whether it has come up in conversation via where I was born, why I can’t vote, or if I say something weird like 'hoovering' instead of 'vacuuming.'
Yet, when conversations about citizenship arise, many are surprised to learn that I am not a citizen, despite knowing that I wasn’t born here.
Why is this? Is it merely that those around me do not understand the long and twisted immigration process, or is it more cynical than that. Do people not realize that with an American accent and white skin, I could still not be American?
This project will look into immigration as a concept. What American’s perceptions are about immigration, in contrast to what is true. I intend to paint a picture of legal immigration that points out the gaping holes in the narrative that so many people think they know, as well as point out the consequences that this causes for the entire immigrant population.
It's also my story, as the type of immigrant that most people don't realize exists; an"invisible immigrant."
I am lucky enough to walk through the U.S. and not feel some of the direct and negative implications of being an immigrant in this country. However, there are plenty of other factors that make being an immigrant here difficult, no matter what you look like and where your accent is from.
I hope to determine why so much of this country seems to be uninformed about immigration as well as shed some light on the lives of the other 43 million immigrants living in this country.
On the lives of the 13%.