Push and Pull Factors

Immigrant / Country / Profession / What push factors drove you to leave your country? / What pull factors drew you to the US? / Challenges / How has your immigration affected you and the US? / How has your emigration affected the country you left behind?
José Rodriguez / Dominican Republic / Baseball player / Lived in poor village / Opportunity to play professional baseball and make lots of money / If not successful, would have to return to village; family in DR counting on money / People in the US have accepted him / Able to return in the off-season; able to send money to family
Ricardo Flores / Mexico / Rancher in Mexico
Meatpacker in US / Couldn’t afford fees to dig wells to irrigate crops / Jobs – making $15 an hour in meatpacking plant / Saving up enough money for family to enter US legally / More than half of student in schools in Garden City, KS are from immigrant families and are learning English / Nearly 100 workers send money back to Guanajuato for projects to better the city
Rachel Tang / China / Medical Student / Communist Government in China / Freedom (Democracy) / Getting the whole family to the US (had to use fake papers); becoming a citizen of the US / Still feel “foreign” despite being in the US for more than 10 years. Parents own business.
Olanre Nwidor / Nigeria / Engineer / Violence and persecution / Peace (UN helped him to resettle in America) / Low-paying jobs, health problems / Feel as if I’m not treated as well as others who are not immigrants; “America is not a second heaven.” America is the home for my children / Continue to feel pressured to send money back to family left in Nigeria
Immigrant / Country / Profession / What push factors drove you to leave your country? / What pull factors drew you to the US? / Challenges / How has your immigration affected you and the US? / How has your emigration affected the country you left behind?
Anna Vinski / Latvia / Professor / Barely made enough money to survive / Better paying job / We were respected in Latvia, here we are nobody. Children teased about accent. / Believed that there would be more opportunities for children and they have adjusted quickly. Live in area with other immigrants. / Many people are leaving Latvia because they cannot support their families there.
Sumatra Singh / India / Software developer / Opportunity to learn more about technology (and then return to India as an expert in his field) / Technology – could make more money in America than India / Wife not able to work – became bored and started to become more American (equal); miss family in India / Traces of Indian culture in US – food, henna, festivals / Able to return to India more knowledgeable in my field
Ahmed Al-Mokalla / Yemen / Police officer / Civil war / Freedom and peace; better life for children / Daughter is made fun of at school; hate crimes against Arab Americans / Dearborn, MI – large Arab community / Brothers would like to bring families to America, but unable to sponsor them because not US citizen