Immigrant

There's something about the word immigrant that always has a negative connotation. Growing up in California, USA my first image when I hear the word immigrant is someone who is Mexican coming to California over the border.

The stereotype I grew up around is that immigrants are dirty Mexicans who came over the border illegally, hang outside home depot waiting to be picked up in a flatbed truck with a bunch of other Mexicans. They get paid to do the hard labor that no one wants to do, in the sun all day so they can send what little money they earned under the table back to their families in Mexico.

Contradictory to that, in school I learned the real meaning of the word immigrant. That America's foundations are based on immigration. British citizens migrated to a patch of land in the West and created a colony to get away from King George.

After that, immigrants from all over the world--mostly Europe, would flea their home countries in pursuit of a better life in America. The amount of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island looking for a better opportunity in life is outstanding. And the tradition continues throughout history to today, with loads of immigrants/refugees coming to America for a variety of reasons.

Not everyone who passed through the American borders had the best of intentions, but people from all walks of life came and contributed to the overall flourishing of the United States of America. Without immigrants a lot of the culture that makes up the USA wouldn't exist. America is a cornucopia of diversity, with traditions from various cultures.

Flipping the perspective a little, yes I was born in America, but I myself am an immigrant. I received my visa to live and work in the UK 6 years ago when I married an Englishman and decided to move to England so he could be close to his family.

1. I have been discriminated against.
2. I have been refused a job because of my native country.
3. I have had American slurs thrown at me, disguised as banter.
4. I have been subject to impersonations of what American's sound like to people outside of the US.
5. I cannot vote in any national or local elections despite my longstanding residency and visa status of 'indefinite leave to remain'.
6. I have been denied Jobseekers allowance (a structure that gives a weekly allowance to people actively seeking a job to earn a small living) because I am not a British Citizen.
7. I have had to pay upwards of £3000 to be allowed to live in the same country as my husband fully prepared to work and contribute to the economy, while people from the EU come and go as they please with less honorable intentions.

I have been frowned upon in many ways just because my status of 'immigrant'. Going through this process I have gained a new perspective on the whole immigration situation. I really feel for the people who came to my home country with the same intentions to work hard, contribute to the country's economy as I have done over the past 6 years in England and yet are still judged, mocked, and put down simply because they are not native to the US.

I wish that people would be appreciated for their bravery of leaving everything they know behind to seek a new life in a country where they are unfamiliar with the traditions, customs and sometimes the language. But instead we get prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes, racial slurs, and hate crimes.

It's a sad world we live in when this kind of behavior is normal and I count myself lucky that I have had an easy road of transition into my new life.