There are roughly 60 million immigrants living in the United States and nearly half of those are students. A plethora of people come to the conclusion that immigrants come in order for them to "steal jobs" and "steal our valuable education." What is wrong for immigrants to want to have valuable education?
Coming from two immigrant parents, it has been tough for me to accept this new society. Both of my parents were born in Veracruz, Mexico. They never had the opportunity to graduate high school because they had to leave to work in the fields in order to support their own parents and siblings. I specifically remember them telling me that they came to the U.S so I could have the future and education they never had. In fact, in my graduation, as a Salutatorian for the class of 2015, I gave my speech on my life story, an immigrant with a dream. Because of my parents intensive sacrifices, I strived to be the best so those sacrifices would not be in vain.
In my graduating class, the top five students were all Mexicans, including myself. Despite their immigration status, many immigrant students fight hard to continue to pursue higher education like attending college. The majority of my community are Hispanics mainly all from different parts of Mexico. Nearly 90% of Mexican parents in my hometown have had no education whatsoever, meaning many did not attend college nor finish high school while others stopped after eighth grade. Because of their education level, they do not have good, high-paying jobs. Many work in the fields or in fruit/vegetable factories, working countless of hours in order to have a maintainable life in their household.
Because many of their children see the struggle that they face, they want to step in and rise up to become someone greater, not only to have a better life, but to be able to defeat the stereotypes and racism against Hispanics and all other ethnicities. Every immigrant does not come to the United States to steal a job. In fact, every immigrant has their own story. Those who come to the U.S come here in fear of their own birth country due to all violence--sexual assault, sexual abuse, bombs, shootings that may have occurred, etc. Those who come in fear usually come to find comfort and peace. Like I mentioned before, seeking education is another factor.
Pursuing higher education is hard enough as an immigrant. Many Americans may think that we go into college for free because we are considered "poverty level" students, but these are just fallacies. As immigrants, we cannot even apply for the FAFSA because the chances of getting Financial Aid is slim. We do not get any government financial assistance. Our dependency has to be on either applying for scholarships (that we may qualify for) and state grants. Other than that, we must work nearly twice or triple as much than the average American citizen.
That being said, thousands, now millions of immigrant students are rising up and becoming great people. Many have accomplished various goals in their lives and now serve as lawyers, medical specialists, police officers, nurses, engineers, construction workers, chefs, CEO's, and own businesses. Of course, the road there is much more challenging.
Rather than judging Hispanics, Arabs, Indians, Chinese, Koreans and other immigrants for coming to the U.S, take the time to understand their culture and where they come from. A plethora of them want to come to better themselves. We are all human, so why should we have to look down on immigrants? As a nation, we should be proud that our country is multicultural and seeking to be high-paying professions. After all, this will make our country a powerful united country!
