Immigrant Interview 1

Diversity Assignment Immigrant Interview

Teresa Escalante

October 28, 2015

College of Southern Nevada

Immigrant Interview 2

Explain in detail the immigration process/experience.

The person that I decided to interview is from Tequila Jalisco, Mexico and due

to that the language that she speaks is Spanish. When I asked her for her

culture she told me that she is Mexican, although now she is starting to

consider herself Mexican-American because she is beginning to adapt to the

country she immigrated to. The book Multicultural Education of Children and

Adolescents by Manning and Baruth states that Hispanics are in a group of

Mexican-American, Chicanos, and others (pg. 164). The reason that she

immigrated to the United States was not her idea. She says with a slight

giggle My mother brought me even though I didnt want to. When asking

further into the topic, she described why her mother brought her. The reason

was to get away from her abusive father who was a machista. Within the

book machismo refers to the males manhood, to the courage to fight . . .

and to protecting ones name. (Manning & Baruth 2009 pg. 167)

Citizenship process, costs, time, and challenges

When she began the citizenship process she would study the questions at

home. Eventually she heard about sessions that helped people prepare so

she would go to them as much as she could. She began to refer to the

sessions as school. When she was home she would write each question on

a sheet of paper and rewrite the question with the answer to help her

memorize it. She smiled and said I think I still have it somewhere. She

studied everything possible and even learned the anthem. All of this took
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two months before she went ahead with the process. When I asked about the

cost she told me that it was $200 dollars to complete everything and

nowadays it has gone up. Overall there werent any challenges she faced

because she was prepared for the occasion yet she struggled with the cost.

According to the book, Over 1 million Hispanic American families live in

poverty with this information it explains why she struggled. (Manning &

Baruth 2009 pg. 168)

What were the expectations for life in the U.S.? To what extent

were the expectations confirmed or not confirmed?

Before she came to the United States, she pictured the United States as a

country where she would have a better life and chance to work. Apart from

creating illusions in her mind, people would tell her how better it was. Once

she finally migrated to the United States she was able to confirm that there

were bigger and better opportunities for everyone who came into the

country. Once she arrived she believes that the United States formed her

identity. Identity Formation is where one normally asks the question Who

am I? (Manning & Baruth 2009 pg. 38)

What does this person like best about life in the U.S.? What does

this person find to be the most difficult?

I then asked about the question found above. Her favorite thing about the

United States was that there are rules found within the country that are

made and are actually followed. Compared to her home town, passing a red
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light would not have a consequence such as a ticket. Instead you could pass

a red light, drive without a seat belt and nothing would happen except a

simple warning. The most difficult thing for her in the United States was the

language. She has been taking classes to learn and improve her English but

she has not been able to comprehend the sentence structure. In Mexico

when writing a sentence the object goes in front and then after that comes

the color such as El carro azul (The car blue). Meanwhile in English, that

sentence would sound rather strange; therefore we say the color and the

object which would be The blue car. Many Hispanic Americans have

difficulties speaking English because in the household it is not practiced

(Manning & Baruth 2009 pg. 172)