Services and Opportunities for Immigrants
Hardships Immigrants Face
Americanization

Services and Opportunities for Immigrants

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR)
This site gives information on immigrants' rights, covers recent immigration issues, and provides answers regarding individual immigration cases. It also has useful links to connect to other places on related issues, and has the addresses of places where immigrants can get help.

National Immigrant Law Center (NILW)
This organization specializes in immigration law, and employment and public benefits rights of immigrants. NILW conducts policy analysis and impact litigation and provides publications, technical advice, and trainings to a broad constituency of legal aid agencies, community groups, and pro bono attorneys.

Understanding the Issue: Fact Files
This site includes charts and data tables of immigration statistics. From Public Agenda Online.

USA just wouldn't work without immigrant labor
A "USA Today" article, based on statistics and facts. This article talks about why the U.S. needs immigrant labor.

American Immigration Law Foundation: Familiar Immigration Quotations
Many memorable quotations exist that remind us of the value of immigration, the importance of protecting refugees, and the contributions immigrants make to our economy.

Hardships Immigrants Face

Racism, Immigrants, and Their Discontents
Published by the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Hardship Among Children of Immigrants
A 1999 National Survey of America's Families reveals that hardship is greater for children of immigrants. This survey also provides information on the immigration status of children and their parents, and the three areas of basic need: food, housing, and health care. The data also indicates that the relative generosity of differing state policies on non-citizens’ access to public benefits generally corresponds with hardship levels. From Urban Insitute.

In the Mix - Teen Immigrants: Five American Stories
Five different teen immigrants from around the world walk you through their stories of what they face being immigrants in the U.S. This site talks about the variety of challenges young immigrants face, but it also emphasizes what a foreigner's life is like. "Terms like discrimination, prejudice, stereotype," says Luincys, "I never heard those terms in my country. I learned them here." From PBS.

Children of Recent Immigrants Face Many Challenges
Growing up as the child of parents who immigrated to the United States can be a challenging experience. Parents often put intense pressure on their children to succeed in the United States, which many see as a land of opportunity compared to the country they left behind. From The Princeton Weekly Bulletin.

Immigrants Go from Health to Worse
People from around the world flock to the United States expecting to find a better life. But to scientists' surprise, a growing body of evidence indicates that increasing familiarity with U.S. culture and society renders immigrants and their children far more susceptible to many mental and physical ailments, even if they attain financial success. From Science News Online.

What the Immigrants Say
It has been suggested that immigrants to Europe face more problems and constraints in accessing health care services than non-immigrants. Usually, the following reasons are mentioned: structural obstacles, inadequate information on the available services, linguistic constraints, prejudice and hostility of medical personnel, cultural different explanatory models, psychological constraints and legal status of the immigrants. From Alisei, an Italian non-governmental organization that promotes knowledge, studies and initiatives concerning the struggle against underdevelopment.

Working Together To Challenge Racism
We see that landlords can use racism, prejudice and xenophobia (the hatred or fear of immigrants and foreigners) to take advantage of tenants and spread distrust so they can keep tenants vulnerable and divided. People of color and immigrants face discrimination, racism, and prejudice in all parts of our society. From Tenant Solidarity.

Causes and Effects of Poverty
High poverty among Hispanics is created by many interrelated factors: low paying jobs, immigration status, language barriers and lack of education. Poverty also intensifies other social problems such as inadequate health care, higher rates of teen pregnancy, and the need for more social services such as nutrition and housing assistance and counseling services. By Catholic Charities.

Asian American Immigrants
"Gender, Culture, and Communication in Relation to Domestic Violence among Asian American Immigrants." A brief description of a paper written by Mei-Ling Wang, PhD, MPH Program, Harvard University.

Becoming Asian American
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a second-generation Chinese American. Growing up around different minorities in a diverse part of California has sometimes made it difficult for Frances to address the segration and ethnic discrimination that minorities often face. From IMDiversity.com.

Asian American Revolutionary Movement Ezine
Articles and links on different Asian immigrant labor issues and cases.

Americanization

The Myth of the Melting Pot
America has many racial and ethnic divides. Today, the U.S is experiencing its second great wave of immigration, a movement of people that has profound implictions for a society that by tradition pays homage to its immigrant roots at the same time it confronts complex and deeply ingrained ethnic and racial divisions. From The Washington Post.

"English Only" Laws
From its inception, the United States has been a multilingual nation. From The American Civil Liberties Union.

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum's Banana Exhibit
An on-site and on-line installation that examines the influences which shape the lives of Chinese American youths in the U.S. The Web site and the exhibition reconstruct the apartment of the fictional Lee family, second-generation Chinese Americans presently living in New York City.

Reflections: Chinese Culture and Adopted Children
This site, compiled from a discussion list, highlights personal points of view about whether an adopted child should keep his or her original culture. Originally from the Adopted-China-Parents Mailing list.