The book “The Invisible Girls” by Sarah Thebarge, shows a really important issue with struggling refugee immigrants in the US, and what they got to go through. This piece of literature talks about the life of Sarah Thebarge, an American who goes through a really tough time dealing with cancer. She moves to Portland, Oregon where she meets an exhausted Affrican refugee mother on a train. She did not know at that moment but those people would change her life forever. This book really shows the importance of helping people who are less fortunate and see their life in their point of view. This book I feel has a lot to do with how the world today treats refugee immigrants. Just like how in the book it talks about what the Affrican immigrant has to go through, It reflects so much how nothing really has changed in the world today.
When immigrants come to America, they usually come for a better life. To start over and create a new life for themselves. Immigrants come to America thinking it will be like paradise. But coming here does not prevent them from having problems. Right from the start they would have language challenges. Not every immigrant that comes here will know english when they come to america. Knowing english better helps them get jobs, but since not a lot of them know the language it decreases their chances of getting one. “Having adequate language skills allows immigrants to progress along the job ladder, increases their employment probability, and eases their access to better-paying jobs.”(Isphording 2)
Coming to a country and not knowing the majority language it speaks is hard for immigrants. It makes it hard to socialize, and collaborate with one another. . “Communication guarantees continuity in the development of the culture. It is obvious that the communication process is reasonably necessary for the forming of the society, in order to achieve understanding and cooperation between its members, where migrants are one of the most important elements of the cultural interaction process.”(Petrova 73) When communication is not possible, it makes it hard to do a lot of things in society. Imagine everyone not being able to talk for a couple of months because of having laryngitis . Going to school, not being able to speak up in class, and not being able to understand what is being taught. That is kind of like what an immigrant kid would have to go through when going to school.
Another challenge immigrants would have to face is the whole world of education. There are a lot of undocummented immigrant children that go to school these days. “Undocumented status affects more than 1 million children today, which is about one-third of all immigrant youth. Another 4.5 million U.S.-born youth have an undocumented parent.”(Tamer P3) Undocumented immigrant childeren have to deal with the fears of deportation, poverty and more. All the while also having to go to school, sometimes having to take care of their siblings, and also having to get a job. This is harshly critical towards the developing undocumented child. It affects their world more deeply than anything else would. That is why school is more challenging for these types of students.
Education is very important in a child’s world even for an immigrant child. Immigrant children have to go through greater challenges to get the proper education they need. Immigrant academic self efficacy is very low in the US today. Soria and Stebleton talk about in their studies that, “Immigrant students are more likely to report that they have greater obstacles to their academic success than nonimmigrant students. Specifically, immigrant students were more likely to cite competing family responsibilities, weak English skills, weak math skills, inadequate study skills, poor study behaviors, poor study environments, and feeling depressed, stressed, or upset as obstacles to their academic success.”(Soria and Stebleton 18) That is why it is important that people pay attention and help. They can be assisted by college counselors to better the world of immigrants education.
Another problem immigrants face in the world today is health care. Health care is very essential to any person living in america. For immigrants however, it is hard to access it. First, there is the fact if the immigrants are undocumented they may try to avoid health care to not get caught by agencies. If undocumented immigrants get caught by agencies, they will be deported. According to Johnson, “Fear of deportation has a significant impact on uptake of non-medical services, such as food assistance, that are important to good health.”(Johnson) This causes high stress in families and also potentially death if something is not treated.
A lot of the immigrant community is not being covered for health care. They are oftentimes prohibited from insurance because of the Affordable care act. According to the New York Times, “People in the country illegally are generally barred from enrolling in Medicaid or Medicare.”(Hoffman) Coverage seems to be an ongoing struggle for immigrants and esspessially for undocumented immigrants. The New York times says, “In 2017, there were about 10.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. According to estimates, 5.5 to 6 million still need coverage.”(Hoffman) That is a lot of people not being covered compared to the immigrants who do get covered. Also even if they are allowed to get covered for health care, most immigrants are afraid to enroll for it. Ever since the Trump administration put out threats with raids and deportations, immigrants refuse to get what they need from health care in favor of keeping their families out of trouble.
The Trump administration has made it very clear they are not so fond of immigrants in the US. They want to keep the focus on the US and that is it, cause they don’t really think other people from different countries are beneficial to the US. The administration thinks immigrants are a problem with other people getting jobs. Meaning they are taking up most of the jobs people in the US need. Their goal is to try to reduce the flow of immigrants coming into the US. According to the National Foundation For American Policy, “Trump administration policies are projected to reduce the annual level of legal immigration to the United States by 30%, resulting in 350,000 fewer legal immigrants receiving permanent residence each year compared to the FY 2016 level of 1,183,505. In the long term that the average annual U.S. labor force growth, a key component of economic growth, will be between 35% and 59% lower in America as a result of Trump administration immigration policies.”(NFAP 1) This is disappointing news for a lot of immigrants who are trying to come to America. Economic growth is what the Trump administration cares about.
Trump’s plan involves taking immigrant kids away from families and hard working immigrants from their jobs. These people are undocumented but they still live here and work like other people do. They also pay taxes at the same time as taking care of their kids. According to Jeff Faux, “Trump’s proposed wall is not popular, and most Americans do not like his separation of immigrant children from their parents or his deportation of the many undocumented people who have worked and paid taxes here for years.”(Faux 20) Trump also uses this as an advantage to get reelected in november. According to Faux, Trump says in the State of the Union Address, “No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working class and America’s political class,” he signaled bluntly in February’s State of the Union address. “Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders, while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards. Meanwhile, working-class Americans are left to pay the price for mass illegal immigration—reduced jobs, lower wages, overburdened schools, hospitals that are so crowded you can’t get in, increased crime, and a depleted social safety net.”(Faux 20) Of course those are issues that we have in the US, but they are people too. There are people going in and out of the hospital everyday. Also anyone in the US can comit a crime, not just undocumented immigrants.
The Trump administration has caused some immigrants to be on the streets. They treat this like immigrants are really bad for the country when they are just people like us. According to Faux, “The immigration system on our southern border is collapsing. Courts are swamped with a backlog of cases estimated at 850,000. Detention centers are overwhelmed and understaffed. Children are lost, women are abused, and busloads of confused migrants and refugees are dumped on the street and told to come back later for their hearings.”(Faux 22) Immigrants are not treated unfairly, whether they are undocumented or not.
Instead of these problems happening people in the United States should let immigrants come in. It is what our nation is built on and it would not just be good but great for the economy. There should be security measures but not ones trying to keep them out. If there were more people out there, helping these people out, then there would not be these types of problems. These Immigrants deserve better. They deserve to live here as much as Americans do. They go through the same things as other people go through. A lot of people have to take care of their families, go through medical scares, having money problems, and other random life happenings. That is why Americans should help immigrants undoccumented or not. They all go through the same stuff, and yet people choose to blame immigrants for their problems. Making Immigrants having to go through much more difficult times.
The United States was supposed to be about the American Dream. According to Adam Barone, “The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance.”(Barone 1) Which means that anyone who comes to the US, has the opportunity to live their life freely and succeed. As well as following the rule of law and property rights. Freedom and equality is what the United States stands for and should stand for. It seems like some Americans have forgotten that.
Just like how Americans a long time ago came to America for a better life, Immigrants came for the same thing. That is why they deserve to live in the US just as much as we do. According to Ted Laguatan, “Today, even with immigration laws, people still move and leave their home countries for the same reasons. They bravely risk their lives and safety, are often exploited, tolerate extreme weather conditions, face strange cultures, discrimination and local hostilities. They cope with loneliness and alienation. They go through all kinds of difficulties, sustained only by the hope that somehow they might find a better life.”(Laguatan 1) People should be more like Sarah from the book “Invisible Sisters.” Sarah had a hard life and when she met the Affrican Immigrant mother on that train she knew from that moment that she was not alone. Helping her would make her a better person and making a difference in the world. Everyone no matter who they are goes through tough times, and sometimes people need help. If more people were like Sarah Thebarge, maybe there would be more change for immigrants. Maybe more lives could be changed. One little difference can change peoples lives forever.
