Since New York City’s immigrant population is diverse, it is not surprising that immigrants’ experiences with the immigration process are diverse as well. For some immigrants, a simple plane ride and few bureaucratic headaches were all it took, and they remember the immigration process being easy. For others, however, making the journey to the United States involved dealing with smugglers and offering bribes, often at great emotional and financial cost. The promise of a better life in the United States makes migration an appealing choice for many immigrants, but for some the decision is nonetheless a difficult one to make. On this page you can learn about immigrants’ personal recounts of their differing immigration experiences. Among others, they include stories of individuals who were forced to leave their home countries and stories of those who came to the United States to reunite with their families.
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