Immigrant Experience

Extracted Attributes

• Core Themes

  Resilience, uncertainty, adaptation, and hope

• Economic Impact

  High rates of entrepreneurship and labor market participation

• Common Challenges

  Language barriers, legal status navigation, discrimination, and family separation

• Integration Markers

  Language acquisition, citizenship application, and cultural assimilation

• U.S. Immigrant Population

  46,000,000 people (as of 2025)

• Initial English Proficiency

  48% rate of proficiency upon arrival for new legal immigrants

Timeline

• Birth of Salman Akhtar, an Indian-American psychoanalyst who explores the immigrant experience through psychiatry and poetry. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1946-07-31

• Approximate period when Changpeng Zhao's family moved from China to Canada, initiating his immigrant experience. (Source: Document c84b95ee-214b-4e24-b48a-09ad00fb592f)

  1989-01-01

• The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine publishes a major study on the integration of immigrants into American society. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2015-01-01

• Launch of Binance following a successful ICO, representing the entrepreneurial success often linked to the immigrant drive. (Source: Document c84b95ee-214b-4e24-b48a-09ad00fb592f)

  2017-07-01

• The New York Public Library highlights 15 memoirs documenting various facets of the immigrant experience to mark Immigrant Heritage Month. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2024-05-21

• The Vera Institute of Justice releases stories of 10 immigrants to highlight the human impact of the U.S. immigration system. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2025-02-06

Salman Akhtar

Salman Akhtar (born 31 July 1946) is an Indian-American psychoanalyst practicing in the United States. He is an author, poet, and Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

Web Search Results

• Here and There: 15 Memoirs About the Immigrant Experience in ...

  by Tarek El-Ariss Water on Fire tells a story of immigration that starts in a Beirut devastated by the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90), continues with experiences of displacement in Europe and Africa, moves to northeastern American towns battered by lake-effect snow and economic woes, and ends in New York City on 9/11. A story of loss, but also of evolution, it models a kind of resilience inflected with humor, daring, and irreverence. ### Everything I Learned, I Learned In a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin [...] # Here and There: 15 Memoirs About the Immigrant Experience in America By NYPL Staff May 21, 2024 To mark Immigrant Heritage Month, we're highlighting voices that portray experiences of immigration through memoir and essay. Whether seeking opportunity or fleeing violence and instability, the stories of these authors and their families are a mix of uncertainty, pain, resilience, and hope. ### Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin Shares the author's journey from Somalia to the United States, including his early love of American music and movies, his survival under a radical Islamist group, and how he made his way to the United States using the annual visa lottery. ### This Is One Way to Dance by Sejal Shah [...] by Rafael Agustin Growing up, Rafa’s parents didn't want him to feel different because, as his mom told him: "Dreams should not have borders." But when he tried to get his driver's license during his junior year of high school, his parents were forced to reveal his immigration status. Illegally Yours is a heartwarming, comical look at how this struggling Ecuadorian immigrant family bonded together to navigate Rafa's school life, his parents' work lives, and their shared secret life as undocumented Americans, determined to make the best of their always turbulent and sometimes dangerous American existence. Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.

• 10 Stories from Immigrants Seeking Safety in the United States

  Feb 06, 2025 SHARE Each of the 46 million people who have immigrated to the United States brings a unique story. Some come seeking safety and opportunity. Others come for education or to be with family. Yet the U.S. has failed to align its immigration laws and practices with 21st century realities, leaving a system that harms far too many. Too often, immigrants are talked about—rather than listened to. These are the stories of 10 people who have experienced the U.S. immigration system firsthand. Some were able to fight for their rights with the assistance of publicly funded attorneys. Some were not. Their stories expose the inhumanity of the current system, the need for legal protections for more people, and their desire to live safely and with dignity. [...] When we crossed into the United States and were in the desert, we saw the headlights of the immigration cars. They asked us what we were doing, and we said that we wanted asylum. They sent us to a detention facility, which was a terrible place. They separated me from my son after we were detained. I was in a cell with other women like me, and my son was with young kids like him. I couldn’t see him, and I was so sad and worried. It was so sad that there were so many children there, all closed in. It just fills me with sadness to remember hearing them cry. [...] They put us on a plane and would not remove the shackles to let us eat or go to the bathroom. Why this humiliation? Were we going to jump out of the plane? . . . It could have been very bad for me when people started to get sick with coronavirus, but I had good lawyers to fight for me. When they told me I would get out, I was very nervous. I was shaking because I couldn’t believe what was happening. I was excited, but my body was shaking. Sometimes I can’t even believe that I am out, after 21 months. It feels good to see my daughter after so long. I go to church every Sunday. Because of the virus, I can only stand outside and pray, but I go.

• What History Tells Us about Assimilation of Immigrants

  were in less-skilled occupations. But, regardless of the starting point, the initial gaps between immigrants and natives persisted throughout their lives. These findings provide useful data on the experiences of immigrants in the U.S. labor market. But it’s important to stress that even immigrants who lag economically may successfully assimilate into American society. [...] The historical evidence presented here should be considered with care. Today’s immigrants differ markedly in ethnicity, education, and occupation from those who came during the Age of Mass Migration. Over the past half century, the U.S. has experienced a second wave of mass migration with characteristics that set it apart from what took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [...] Other measures reinforce the picture of early 20th century immigrants gradually taking on American cultural markers. By 1930, more than two-thirds of immigrants had applied for citizenship and almost all reported they could speak some English. A third of first-generation immigrants who arrived unmarried and more than half of second-generation immigrants wed spouses from outside their cultural group. These findings suggest that over time immigrants’ sense of separateness weakened and their identification with U.S. culture grew stronger. The gradual adoption of American-sounding names appears to have been part of a process of assimilation in which newcomers learned U.S. culture, made a commitment to build roots in this country, and came to identify as Americans.

• Economic, Social, and Health Effects of Discrimination on Latino ...

  The purpose of this report is to examine Latino immigrant families’ experiences with discrimination, and the economic, social, and health-related consequences. Such consequences are likely to affect the nation as a whole, considering the size of the Latino population. Latino families and children comprise nearly 17 percent of the U.S. population. This report sheds light on the many challenges immigrant families face as a result of discrimination, including those related to family structure, parenting, and health risks. [...] Migration Policy Institute ### Programs ### Topics see all > ### Regions see all > ### Data ### Featured Publication Cover image for Graduating into Uncertainty ##### Graduating into Uncertainty: Unauthorized Immigrant Students in U.S. High Schools ### Programs ## You are here # Economic, Social, and Health Effects of Discrimination on Latino Immigrant Families coverthumb ayon Anti-immigrant sentiment has been fueled in recent years by the consideration in some states of measures designed to crack down on illegal immigration. As a result, the experiences of immigrants (or those perceived to look foreign born) with discrimination have increased.

• Chapter: 7 Sociocultural Dimensions of Immigrant Integration

  Page 314 Share Cite Bookmark Suggested Citation: "7 Sociocultural Dimensions of Immigrant Integration." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746. that experience with English is common among immigrants from non-English speaking countries, with 38 percent of new legal immigrants saying they had taken a class in English and nearly everyone having consumed at least one form of English-language media prior to departure. These experiences yielded a 48 percent rate of English proficiency upon arrival. ### Language Integration Across Generations [...] The declines in religious attendance may reflect reduced access to appropriate religious facilities in the United States as well as the disruptive experience and time-consuming process of initial settlement and long hours spent at work. Some immigrants do not intend to stay permanently, so they may be less motivated to get involved in religious groups (Massey and Higgins, 2011). An open question is whether, and to what extent, immigrants become more involved in religious groups the longer they reside in and become more used to life in the United States. The data on Muslim immigrants cited below do point in this direction. [...] 2011). Muslim women are much more likely to attend Friday prayers at a mosque than in their home countries, and English is often used at least some of the time in many congregations (Connor, 2014). In addition, some immigrants, as surveys of Asian Americans indicate for the Korean and Chinese communities, have converted to Christianity, many after they arrived in the United States (Kasinitz et. al., 2008; Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 2012b).