Personal Narrative: My Experience Of Illegal Immigration

My story would have never begun if my parents had not made a huge decision in my life, almost 15 years ago. When they decided to move our family across the border, my future would be become unknown. The fate I had been destined to have was completely altered, now, I had the opportunity to change my life for the better, to strive for something bigger. My parents pushed me to be the best I could be, and to work as hard as possible to get what I wanted. As the daughter of two Mexican immigrants I grew up in a very cultural household, and being surrounded by Spanish at all times. The only negative being I had to learn English on my own, and which led to me having some difficulty when I first started school. Yet, growing up in a Spanish speaking

I’m an immigrant. I was born in Mexico and it was only until my parents decided to come to the United States that I am where I am. My mother tried to cross the border to come to the United States for the first time when I was still in her womb all by herself as my father was already in the Unites States working in order to provide for her in the way that he wasn’t able to do so by staying in Mexico. My mother was caught by immigration and was sent back. My mother was very disappointed because she knew that if she didn’t get me to the United States some way or another I wouldn’t get very far in life by staying in Mexico. My father returned back to Mexico when I was born and it wasn’t until I was 4 years old that they decided to try to cross the border once again. Although I was only 4 years old I remember the whole experience as if it was yesterday. The amount of fear of getting caught by immigration and having done everything for nothing was always in the back of my mind while going through the whole experience. Up to this day nothing has ever been as terrifying and nerve-wrecking as having to go through that whole experience especially for a 4 year old child but I will forever be grateful for the bravery and strength that my parents had to gather in

Welcome. A single word on the carpet by the door greets me whenever I come home. There had been times where that one word made my heart beat and cry with joy. But not now, for many things changed through the years. Now when I look at this carpet, I instead question back: ‘Do you really mean that?’

I was always a precocious child, yet argumentative and rebellious. I did not want to accomplish anything following a pattern set for me. I wanted to forge my own way. This determination set me at odds with my mother, and has defined our relationship all these years. It has surely led me down my own irregular path in life, and placed me in position to be the family’s black sheep.

Hi, I’m Anna Sophia Wager and I am from Germany. I immigrated to the United States in 1908. There was a big drought and my mother and father were very ill. I was helping my parents and my other family. One day, my father pulled me aside after school. I was a teacher at Berlin British School. He talked very softly. “Anna Sophia,” My father said, “Here is a ticket to Americana. Go and find Ben.” Ben was my older brother. My parents gave him a ticket to the United States. I looked at the ticket. It was a ticket that was golden brown. I gave my father a hug and ran to my room. I started packing, I didn’t know what was ahead of me. It was finally my third week on the crowded boat. When I look own the steerage door I see the dirty faces, hard lumpy beds, and chunky slimy soup.

Being born in the large west African nation of Nigeria, I was aware of the economic, social, and health hardships faced by many people in my country. This reality did not escape my life and the hardships my family and I faced while in Nigeria had a profound impact in the person I am today. Fortunately for us we were able to win the Visa Lottery and immigrate to America where my passion for learning and science began.

I am an immigrant, originating from Ukraine. I moved here three years ago to take advantage of the “land of the free”. I had heard of the conscription under Russian imperial dictators, such as Tzar Nicolas, and Soviet despots, like Stalin. Fourcing an individual to perform a service, regardless of the cause, seems to be slavery to me. When I found that men in America must register for the draft, in my eyes, “the land of the free” became slightly less free. It is abhorrent that men may be required to enlist in the military, and equally so for women and therefore should not be tied to feredal grants.

It was summer of 2010. My parents were still married and we went up to Wichita Falls, Wichita to go see my brother Chris who was in the Military on base working. We stayed there for a week. I still remember the car ride up there. We rented a van, we had tvs in the rented van, my sister Rylee, my other brother Garrett (he was in the military too), my mom Traci, and my dad Doug, and my brothers military bag it was like a person. I still remember I had to sit in the back with that bad it was so big. Garrett put the seatbelt around the bag like it was a person. The car trip was so long but it was all worth it in the end. It was in the middle of the week and we were out on the beach. My brother Chris and his pregnant wife Ashley had a boat the water

I never knew my dad was illegally in the United States until he was arrested by U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Everything happened so fast, and before I knew it my whole life was changing. One day I was having a pizza date with my dad, and a few days later I was in the car on a 3 hour drive to the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center to say goodbye to him as he awaited his deportation to Mexico. My father's deportation has been the hardest thing I have ever had to go through. It has brought on emotional hardships and financial struggles, which, has brought on challenges regarding my education.

I am the first generation of my family members that has been raised at and attended school in the United States. My siblings were raised and educated in Mexico later transitioning to the U.S. when I was 4. My family from a young age to now has only been made up of my mom, two sisters, nephews, and niece slowly growing as time passes.

United States is the most diverse country in the world. The US takes about 70000 refugees a year from all over the world, and I was one of the many refugees that were living in place that was isolated place in Ethiopia. When I first knew that I am going to US, I was enchanted that I am going to have a prosperous future. I was also happy that I am going to have all the freedom that any human being wants to have. Additionally, I was delighted that I am going to meet my family after so many years of separation. Migrating to US is the best thing that ever happen to me at least for the first couple of years, however, my expectations were diminished when I experienced life is not easy or apparent like I expected it to be.

Thirty years ago my parents lived in Thailand, a country of Southeast Asia at a refugee camp. The refugee camp was a small community of Hmong people that were in the process of either being sent back to Laos or be relocated in United States of America. The refugee camp came in place after the Vietnam War when Hmong people fled Laos to Thailand for safety. Thailand wanted to evacuate the growing population and established a refugee camp for the Hmong population for a temporary stay in the country. To quote from Working with Immigrant and Refugee Populations: Issues and Hmong Case Study, Margaret (Peg) Allen, Suzanne Matthew, and Mary Jo Boland stated, 'Thailand never welcomed the Hmong as permanent residents. In the 1990s the official United Nations refugee camps were closed, with the Hmong expected to return to Laos or emigrate to other countries' (Allen, Matthew, and Boland 5). United States of America came forward to accept the Hmong people in return for their involvement in the Vietnam War. Among the tragically moments in my parents’ life, my parents did not receive proper education, had to learn to survive and become an adult at a bearable age. When the opportunity came to migrate to America, my parents made the move to America for a better life and opportunity for their

I chose my immigrant participant from a personal perspective, yet not knowing much about him. Last year, my first year teaching, I had a little boy in my class that was Latino, very shy and quite. He struggled in reading and writing and after meeting with his parents and ESOL teacher several times, the decision was made to retain him in first grade. His parents, especially dad was hesitant about the decision, and began to tell small glimpses of how his son was very much like him, shy, and scared to reach out because of the language barrier. There was never much elaborated on, but I could tell that dad had possibly been in a similar situation before. This year, I was lucky enough to have this same child in my first grade class again. After receiving

Some of the things that have shaped me into the person that I’m today are my family, the people that I grow up around, some of the events In my life. There are many events that have shaped me in the the person that I’m today. Also the people that I have grown up around has dramatically helped shape me into the person I am. My family is one of the main things that have helped shape me into the person I’m today. One of my early memories are of my mom working and going to school at the same time to take care of eleven kid son her own. We also used two have a garden and we would go there everyday to take care of the plants. But my mom started to work all of the time so we were no longer aboul to go there so me and my sister made a garden in the back yard so that when my mom had time we could still garden. That is why one of my hobbies is gardening.

There are two potential sources for CH4 emissions in the algae pathway, the AD process and biogas clean-up. Based on a literature review (Liebertrau, et al., 2010; Flesch, et al., 2011), we assume a total fugitive CH4 loss of 2% for this pathway. Biogas flaring efficiency was observed to be less than usually expected, averaging 81% CH4 combustion in the flare with a range of 48% to 99%. This range is usually assumed to be 90% to 95%. However, the N2O emission from the N-containing sludge was ignored because chemical fertilizers replaced by the biogas residue are associated with the same issue.