Help for the Needy

In the United States, there is a lot of help. There is help for refugees, homeless people, animals, and veterans. There is even help for people outside the country. The problem is that there is almost no help for illegal immigrants. There are some organizations, like Chicanos Por La Causa, but that is nothing compared to what others get. Refugees, when they arrive, have their residence ready. They don’t have to worry to find a job or a house or something like that when first arriving. The government gives them all these things which they need for four months, and they still suffer. Now try to feel what an illegal immigrant feels when he arrives in this country. Illegal immigrants don’t get help, even though some have suffered the same amount of poverty, and physical and mental mistreatment that refugees have lived. What I have suffered is nothing compared to what others suffer. That’s why I have feelings about this topic. These feelings have been cultivated through my life experiences. This is my story.

I left Mexico because my dad lost his job. It wasn’t the best job, but it was something. When my dad lost his job, we had to make a decision: to stay and try to survive over there or to move and try to survive in the U.S.A. We decided to move. Even if during that time I thought it was the wrong decision, now I appreciate that my parents decided to move. After I moved to Tucson, my thought that “Everything will be better here” began to dissolve. We, my family, didn’t have a place to stay here in Tucson. We sought help from family members, but they just closed the door in front of us. Finally, a friend of ours offered his home. We stayed there two months, the worst two months of my life. The children of our friend didn’t want us there. They treated us like servants. To make it worse, we didn’t know how to speak English. I lost a lot of stuff during those two months. I lost my freedom, opinions, happiness, and self-confidence. Losing all the hope we had, we decided to achieve everything we wanted by ourselves. Saving a little money each week, we finally rented a house. Little by little, we started to have better things, a better home, and better car. We achieved everything we wanted without help, but we also suffered doing that. Now my problem is different. I want to study, to have a career. That is going to be impossible because I can’t study here. Since I don’t have my residence, that dream is getting farther and farther away. Even if I get enough scholarships and work to get the rest of the money, I can’t use the degree here. Again, there is no help for the needy.

The reason that immigrants don’t get help like refugees is that most immigrants are illegal. That’s because it is really difficult to be a resident if you are not considered a refugee. One of the most discriminated against immigrant groups are Mexicans. There is something called a Green Card Lottery, which is a program like a lottery where you can win a green card (residence). This program doesn’t apply for people from Mexico, Vietnam, Brazil, and a handful of other countries because there are a lot of people in the U.S.A. that came from those countries. They are giving help to the ones that never asked for it and denying it to the ones that need it. I’m not against giving a chance to others, but I’m against it when the government forgets the other people in need.

This problem, in my opinion, is because people have a wrong stereotype about illegal immigrants. Some people think that we came just to take their jobs and school opportunities like scholarships. Other people believe that all Mexicans just drink alcohol, use drugs, and kill people. They don’t realize the good things we do for this country. People are discriminatory toward illegal immigrants because we accept it. I really don’t feel that we have done enough to stop them. We have to put a stop sign to this discrimination. We, like the rest, are trying to find success. We help in the economy, we serve in the military, and we have brought another culture to this country. We have to show others who we really are and why we are here. Maybe, that way, we will get the help that was denied many immigrants since long ago. The government and discriminatory people will finally give help for the needy.