“Most people who come to America truly do come here in search of a better life.”
In a time where most us readily have access to information on just about anything we want to know, it amazes me how many people seem content to remain willfully daft. I find it alarming how many people in this country do not know the difference between Asylum and illegal immigration. It is also odd how people can hold extremely strong opinions about the immigration system as a whole, yet they are wholly unaware of how it functions in this country.
People gain information through three main ways. What they personally experience, what they are told, and what they learn. I wish more people understood how the American Immigration Process works and what the people who go through it deal with. So I will tell y’all SOME of my personal experiences with immigration and hopefully someone can learn something they didn’t know before.
For those of you who do not know, I am not an American Citizen. I moved here (Legally 😊 ) from Kenya with (most) of my immediate family in 1998 and have been dealing with the system for almost 20 years. “20 years, how are you not a citizen, Henry? Have you not applied?” I get this question ALL the time. You cannot just apply to become an American Citizen. You must meet eligibility requirements. I don’t have the time or energy to answer that fully, but you can google “How to Become an American Citizen” if you want to know more.
A few things. Please read the following for COMPREHENSION purposes and not just to merely reply.
1)This system is not set up for foreigners to be here permanently. The entire premise of the immigration system is that someone is here for a set period of time and then they leave to go back to their home country. There are annual limits to the number of people that the United States legally admits into the country. That means that after a certain number is hit, no more visas are issued to people from that country until the following year.
2)You need some serious coins to navigate this system. And I’m not talking about some low key savings. If I were to tally up how much money my family (with TREMENDOUS HELP FROM OTHERS) has invested into us being here legally over the past twenty years, it would be enough to get half a bachelor’s degree from Yale. (In state tuition). And when I tell you that you need an immigration attorney to navigate these forms and applications, chiile, its real. The terms/wording used are often confusing. (Feel free to miss me with the “well then just learn English nonsense because English is my third language and I speak it/comprehend it better than most people who only know English.)
3) There is a green card lottery system (which also has crazy requirements and caps) which people who want to eventually become US Citizens can enter. I am just going to leave this one alone.
4) It is extremely hard to obtain a work visa/work authorization. Again, the system is not set up for most people to be here permanently. Insert crazy requirements and caps here as well.
5)Every time I move, I am required to notify the Department of Homeland Security within 30 Days. Example, When I graduated from college, I moved back home to FW and stayed with my friend Lisa for a few months until I got my own place. I genuinely had so much going on and I knew it was temporary so I forgot to notify DHS. The following year, I had an appointment at an immigration office in Dallas to check in on some paperwork. They asked me about Lisa’s house and how long I had lived there. So yes, the US Govt is extremely capable of keeping track of people, especially foreigners. I cannot renew anything online, even something as simple as my drivers license. I have to go to an immigration processing center and get finger printed each time before I go to the DMV.
6)YOU CANNOT LEAVE THE COUNTRY while you have any official paperwork pending in regards to adjusting your immigration status. It is STRONGLY advised against. If you do, your applications/case will be marked as abandoned. This really doesn’t seem like a big thing until something major happens. Example, five years ago (almost to the week actually) my older brother Joshua died unexpectedly from Cancer. He lived back home in Kenya. I was 7 weeks away from finishing college and I didn’t get to go home for his funeral because I was on a student visa and had I left to go to Kenya, even just for four days, I would not have been allowed back into the country. They would have considered my visa and studies abandoned. So I came back home to Fort Worth and my sister and I had a small memorial service for my brother and I went back to school. The next year, my Maternal grandmother died. I was out of school but on a work visa now with other paperwork pending, so again, I couldn’t go.
7)The backlog is INSANE. INSANE. It can take years to process something.
8)Most people who come to America truly do come here in search of a better life. Education and work and a better life. Especially for their children. Despite everything I have been through to stay here, I don’t regret it. It is bittersweet, but I know I have a more complete life here and I’m so so grateful for it. Truly.
9)There is real emotional trauma associated with moving here, especially as a child. Bullying, trying to navigate a different culture with different customs, abandonment fears/issues, long term separation from family members, etc etc… Now you can say ‘well then just don’t move here” but these parents don’t know all of this. Hindsight is something else. If you ask my mom today, she would tell you that she regrets separating our family by us moving here. While I don’t share the same sentiment, I understand her.
10)The system needs to be fixed. It just does. And what is going on is currently not helping. I don’t ever talk about my immigration experience, especially publically, but I just got tired of seeing so many ignorant statements. I am simply asking people to slow down and see other people as real people with real hopes, dreams, fears, experiences, pains, and not just as statistics.
I know that since I was not born here, it is a privilege for me to be here, and it is never something I take for granted. I’m grateful to God everyday for allowing me to be here. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I believe in following the Law, but I believe that laws can and SHOULD be changed when necessary. When you know better, do better.