The misunderstood and Explained about Immigrants.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

In this essay you will be noticing how I explore the misunderstanding of immigrants. What Americans tend to think but is not always the case when it comes to immigrants. Once you read my essay you will have a better understanding about what assumptions and ideas people believe about immigrants.

E S S A Y

Imagine waking up one day not knowing where your next meal will come from, not knowing when the next time you will see your family, not knowing where you’re going but knowing you have to go somewhere. Immigrants deal with this and so much more. To come to a place you know nothing about, and have to deal with people who think they know what you’ve been through is very frustrating. Some people think immigrants have a choice but it is actually a necessity for most of them. Immigrants are in no way shape or from in control of their life.People make false judgments about Immigrants just because they are not american. People have unexplained biases towards immigrants towards fear of the unknown.

Immigrants take a long, miserable, dangerous journey to a place that they know nothing about just to hope and pray that they get a chance at a better life. They put their life in jeopardy just to come to America and be misunderstood. Their experiences and what they have been through get belittled because of people’s judgements. They never really get to fully tell their story and so misunderstandings will happen. Misunderstandings such as, coming here and hurting the country financially because they are taking all american jobs. People all over the country believe that immigrants take american jobs, which is not true. Immigrants need jobs just as much as any american citizen and in fact recent study found that undocumented immigrants alone pay approximately $11.64 billion in taxes each year. Moreover, undocumented immigrants nationwide pay an estimated 8 percent of their income in state and local taxes but since so many angry Americans don’t like immigrants they begin to believe that they are hurting the country financially.

Another thing that is often misunderstood about immigrants or people living in difficult condition is that they need help and/or are helpless, which sometimes isn’t the case. In the movie Beast Of The Southern Wild we see the main character, Hushpuupy, and her father break out of the healthcare place once they were taken there to get help but they didn’t really want it or ask for it. There is a misunderstanding that people in rough places or in places where there are harsh circumstances want help but that is not always the case as we see. Also, in the movie we see how people from these dangerous places don’t want to leave. I mean, would you want to live in your home? Somewhere you loved and lived all your life? It’s hard to get up one day and go.

Another thing that is misunderstood about immigrants is that Americans believe that immigrants don’t belong in America and therefore they shouldn’t feel like they belong. If you are American born or moved to this country eventually you become a citizen. Yes it will take an immigrant longer because of all the certain things they have to do and be eligible for but it doesn’t matter because they are here for the same reason that the American’ people are, to live a somewhat free life.They have a right to be in this country just as much as a person born in America. It is so unfair to treat an immigrant anything less than an American citizen.

Immigrants are often called unsafe or terrorist because of the way they look and the different countries they came from. Sometimes they cannot help the way they look or what country they came from. Imagine how they feel, knowing that once you get to a place where you want to build a better life you get judged and called names.

“Yet, back in Nigeria, I had the irreplaceable experience of feeling connected to an untapped part of myself.” This is what a Nigerian immigrant said as she realized she didn’t really want to be in America because it wasn’t the right thing for her. Which brings me to make the point that some think immigrants come here for a better life and because it’s the best thing for them, but sometimes it’s not. Immigrants think that the United States is the land of opportunity just to get here and get let down and so then they realize that their real true calling is to be in the country where they were born. In the book Exit West Saeed and his father are having a conversation “ your mother is here”
“Mother is gone.” Saeed said. “ Not for me,” his father said. This shows that people have a misunderstanding that people want to leave where they are from.

In the book We Need New Names Darling, the main character has to move from her country, Zimbabwe to America. She doesn’t necessarily want to but she has to because it is safer for her. When she gets here she instantly tries to fit in and do things that are apart of american culture.

As Americans we create these bias against immigrants that shouldn’t even exist. Immigrants are human beings and should be treated the same.

Hamid, Mohsin. Exit West. Penguin Random House, 2017. Bulawayo, NoViolet. We Need New Names. Vintage Books, 2014. “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”