CHALLENGES FACED ONCE IN THE US

Culture

Housing

Employment

Assimilation

Acculturation

CULTURE

Learning the Language(English)

Low Education

Time

Not Enough Resources

No Guarantee

U.S. President George W. Bush recently said, “Part of the greatness of America is that we've been able to help assimilate people into our society... And part of that assimilation process is English. I believe this: If you learn English, and you're a hard worker, and you have a dream, you have the capacity from going from picking crops to owning the store, or from sweeping office floors to being an office manager.”

WHY ARE IMMIGRANTS FROM LATIN AMERICA STRUGGLING TO LEARN ENGLISH?

There are many external factors that prevent immigrants from learning English such as transportation, change in working hours, and childcare.

One major issue that needs to be addressed is the lack of institutions that do not offer English courses for immigrants.

The Mission Language and Vocational School

offers classes for immigrants who are learning English as their second language.

HOUSING

Struggles with

Housing

Social Connections

Unaware of the laws

Crowded Living

Conditions

CHALLENGES IN HOUSING

Landlords exploit immigrants and threaten to report them to the authorities that they are here unlawfully.

Immigrants live in hazardous conditions because they do not know how to assest their rights.

There is no housing inspection, therefore they live without heat, proper plumbing, or without water.

A study conducted in New York reported that immigrants with low English proficiency, are more likely to have problems with housing maintenance, since they are unable to report and communicate any of the issues.

“It is so difficult to communicate with inspectors if they do not speak Spanish,” explained Rosalia Cruz, a tenant in Brooklyn and a tenant leader at Neighbors Helping Neighbors. “I can’t explain to the inspectors the problems that I’m having, and they say things to each other that I can’t understand”(Erika Stellings 2007).

EMPLOYMENT

Workplace Exploitation

Unwanted jobs

Low Wages

Unsafe Conditions

Harassment

About a quarter of the construction workers rebuilding New Orleans are illegal immigrants, who are getting lower pay, less medical care and less safety equipment than legal workers, according to a new study by professors at Tulane University and the University of California, Berkeley.

CLASSICAL ASSIMILATION

Definition: “ A natural process by which diverse ethnic groups come to share a common culture and to gain equal access to the opportunity structure of society; that this process consists of gradually deserting old cultural and behavioral patterns in favor of new ones; and that, once set in motion, this process moves inevitable and irreversible towards assimilation”

In other words, immigrants overtime need to give up there old ways and “melt” into the mainstream of their host society.

Richard Alba and Victor Nee declared that the process of assimilation starts with “ contact, competition , accommodation and eventual assimilation”

ASSIMILATIONToday, immigrants from Mexico

are taking longer to assimilate compared to other foreign immigrants.

A study conducted by the US News reported that

even fourth generation Mexican Americans politically identify themselves as either “Mexican” or “ Mexican American.” in which brings concerns amongst many Americans.

REASONS WHY ASSIMILATION IS SLOWING DOWN

Many minority groups are concentrated in poor inner city communities, therefore they are alienated from the cultural norms of US citizens .

Racism and discrimination: Ideology that whites are the superior race and dark skinned minority groups are economically, socially, and culturally inferior. Therefore, institutions are not accommodating for minority groups who are at a disadvantage when it comes to employment, education, and health.

The overflow of undocumented immigrants coming to the US at the same time

ACCULTURATION

Euphori

a

•Excitement enthusiasm and optimism for everything in the host culture

Culture Shock

•Negativity ranging from irritability to hostility, from anxiety to outright panic

•Similar to the stages of grief

Anomie

•Gradual recovery of equilibrium and objectivity

•Acknowledge if positive and negative aspects of both cultures

•Identity crisis

Assimilation or

Adoptio

n

•Acceptance of new culture

•Recovery of self-confidence and identity

THE ACCULTURATION OF LATIN YOUTH The children of immigrants have better English

Proficiency skills,; therefore they are expected to help their parents with any language barriers they encounter.

These children are called “Language Brokering” in which they are assisting their parents whenever they have trouble interpreting the English language. In this scenario, many children are facing the challenge of acculturation, for they are still holding on to their parents cultural language.

They cannot completely give up culture and traditions if they are constantly practicing their heritage language.

THE “MARGINAL MAN”

The “ Marginal Man” is a term used to describe immigrants who come into a host country but are pulled back by the culture of their origins.