Immigrants come to America wanting to live out the “American Dream”–getting a good job, getting married, having children, and living out their lives with no worries. This task is not as easy as it seems, and I feel that the “American Dream” ideology is emphasized too strongly to immigrants. They feel that it will be so much easier than it actually turns out to be, as is shown by Peter Kwong in his work “Forbidden Workers.”
It takes much time and dedication for immigrants to make the journey to this New Land, but sadly it is not always worth it. Kwong says that for illegal Chinese immigrants to come to New York, they have to pay a steep price of $30,000. Just to pay off this debt, one would have to work many overtime hours at their minimum-wage jobs, and would not always be moved up in ranks. A lot of times, the immigrants would come to America and then spend the rest of their lives working to pay off the debt they acquired from coming here. On the other side of the spectrum, however, if the immigrant is successful in paying off their debt in a decent amount of time, they may be able to earn enough money to bring over family members and be able to live out the “American Dream” here together.
It was shocking to me that this all happened not too long ago, in the year I was born. When I think of immigration, I think of a century or two ago, but certainly not just 18 years ago. It’s shocking to think that these issues are probably still going on now, even in the year 2012. Living in New York City and being so privileged the way we are, with a great education and decent housing, it is easy to become close-minded and forget about all that goes on outside of the city.
