The United States of America is a country that is known for being a nation of immigrants. This country has a long history of getting immigrants from around the world. According to Google, in January 2022, immigrants represented 14.2 percent of the USA’s total population. This is the highest percentage in 112 years. Immigrants struggle a lot with integration and new culture.If we want to talk about the struggle of immigrants with the integration process; we have to know first what integration is. “Integration is the process in which immigrants become accepted into a certain society as individuals or as a group.”There are some problems that immigrants face while integrating. One of the most common ways to immigrate to the U.S. is through IR-1/CR-1 visa issued for spouses of US citizen.
Communication difficulty:
According to Google,most of the immigrants in the US are from Mexico(25%), China (6%), India (6%), and the Philippines (4%). Many immigrants are not very good at English. It takes time to learn a new language. As a result, they face many problems due to lacking communication skills. They cannot express their necessity or problems properly to anyone. Young immigrant finds it difficult to make friends with others because of their communication skill.
Harassment atworkplace:
People come to America with a big dream. But they often face racial discrimination and sexual harassment in their working place. Many immigrants do not find suitable jobs according to their qualifications. Their situation forces them to choose dangerous and low-paying jobs like construction, household work, etc. Immigrants are forced to work long hours without even paying minimum wages and overtime. Sometimes they do not even get any job training and safety equipment for dangerous jobs.
Lack of medical Facilities:
In the US, healthcare cost is very high. Very few immigrants only have employer-sponsored health insurance. Without health insurance, anyone with a low income can go bankrupt while taking healthcare. Because of their low income, they cannot provide good medical facilities to their families.
Problem with housing:
Many immigrants who have low incomes live in tenements. Those buildings are overcrowded, lack sunlight, and are built very poorly. But those who have enough money face lack of documents and credit history while renting a good house.
Struggle of immigrants adopting new culture
“Acculturation is a process in which emigrants learn and incorporate a country’s values, customs, languages, foods, etc.”Cultural adaption is really complicated and burdensome for emigrants. It is not very easy to adopt a new culture, new home, customs, and climate. Sometimes they start to believe that they do not belong here. It is challenging for them to make a balance between new and old cultures. Often this culture-adopting struggle can make them feel depressed, pressured, intimated, and isolated. This depression and fear of the new culture can make them not want to participate in the community, activities, and school. If they do not accept the new culture well, they frequently face demarcation and get bullied for being different from others.
How the USA does not have a proper immigration integration process
The USA doesn’t have a proper immigration integration process. As a result, both legal and illegal immigrants suffer a lot. The USA has a very restrictive immigration process. There are only 500 green cards that are estimated for workers who don’t have any College degree. Immigrants cannot apply for permanent residency on their own. Children whose parents are temporary workers who grow up in America will not get permanent residency after their 21st birthday. They can live in America without receiving permanent residency. The illegal immigrants cannot leave the USA and reapply to return fairly. No temporary visas at all for round workers without council degrees.
Immigrants have been facing this problem for decades. It is high time for the USA to make the right decision for the welfare of immigrants.
