What opportunities does America offer immigrants that they may not have had previously? How can better opportunities affect immigrants’ success, and overall way of living?
The book North and Happy is a book written by Adi Alsaid who discusses the life of Carlos Portillo. Carlos suffers a great loss when his brother dies after he was shot in Mexico. Carlos lives a very sheltered life and attends a high-class school. He is also a dual citizen, he is a citizen of Mexico, and the United States.
The following quote is from North and Happy and happens when Carlos is about to leave America, to go back to Mexico to visit a restaurant his brother wanted to go to, “I grab a few hundred dollars, both my passports, the emergency credit card tha’ts in my name. I use my cellphone to buy a plane ticket and then call a cab” (Alsaid 28). This quote shows how easy it is for someone who has better opportunities, like having wealthy parents and dual citizenship, to leave the country, take trips, and make major decisions with little consequences, or restrictions.
“Why a ‘Good Immigrant’ is a Bad Narrativespoken by Maeve Higgins shows how different opportunities can change lives of immigrants, but also shows the inadequacies of immigration laws in America. America will offer opportunities to “talented” immigrants, but will not give the same opportunities to those who may not be as skilled. This shows that America will not support you if it does not benefit the country in some way.
The following quote is from “Why a ‘Good Immigrant’ is a Bad Narrative” by Maeve Higgins, and shows how she had better opportunities, and has benefitted greatly from those opportunities. “ I moved here on an O-1 visa. It’s for aliens of extraordinary ability. That’s right fellas…It’s a real visa and it’s for people who have achieved a lot in their field and it’s often given to those of us who are in sciences, sports, the arts.” (Higgins). This quote shows how impactful she has been to the country, and all the great opportunities she was offered in America that most immigrants will not receive. These two are connected because they both show immigrants who have better opportunities, and situation than most who are attempting to immigrate to a new country.
Better opportunities that are given to some immigrants, but not many, show them having a great level of sucess, and striving compared to those not offered anything suffer, and live paycheck to paycheck.
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