What is the American dream? The American dream is the opportunity that every person has the freedom to make a better life for themselves. For many Americans, the dream is to own a nice home with a white picket fence, with a luxury car in the driveway, but for immigrants, the obstacles towards that dream of stability and comfort may feel insurmountable. The biggest reasons while immigrants may have it harder than others is the banking system, lack of English, and racial discrimination all over the country.
First, the banking system is hard to fully understand, and this is even harder for immigrants to understand. The banking system provides a huge role in America’s economy, helping many to ensure financial security. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many immigrants. Many immigrants when first coming to America do not see the benefits in putting money into the bank as the confusing way the system works does not seem beneficial, leaving them unbanked. According to Jaime Ballard says that, “One of the first steps to establishing financial security is the ability to utilize financial products and services available to both protect and increase one’s assets.” Ballard also says that, “The incidence of being unbanked in immigrant communities is 13% higher than the native born population”. (Ballard, Wieling, Solheim, Dwanyen) These two pieces of evidence show that immigrants that do not utilize financial services, specifically the bank, suffer. They also do not understand all the confusing documents needed to open and maintain a bank account. With no financial aid many immigrants become homeless in America stranded with no way to succeed or to get out of homelessness.
Secondly, another main reason that many immigrants fail to succeed in America is their lack of English. Without the basic ability to communicate with others, immigrants form tight knit communities with others of the same ethnicity, and within these communities, immigrants are not encouraged to learn English. Without the ability to speak English, immigrants find it difficult to access basic necessities such as healthcare, education, housing, and transportation (MC Law Group). This can even make it challenging for immigrants to make a living. The article, “How Do Language and Cultural Barriers Make It Difficult for Immigrants?” states that, “Often, immigrants wind up in unstable jobs with excessively long hours, low wages, and no benefits, such as health insurance” (MC Law Group). These pieces of evidence show that one single problem has a wide range of effects, and without access to basic human necessities, immigrants can’t achieve their own American dream.
Lastly, one of the biggest immigrants may find adapting to America difficult is xenophobia. A word used to describe prejudice or discrimination of immigrants. One of the biggest arguments against immigrants coming in is “immigrants are taking all our jobs” (Costa and Heidi) which is just not true. According to Danial Costa and Heidi Shierholz in the article “Immigrants are not hurting U.S.-born workers” states that, “The unemployment rate for U.S.-born workers averaged 3.6% in 2023, the lowest rate on record.” This evidence shows that immigrants are not taking up jobs because unemployment rates of US citizens are at an all time low since 2023. Xenophobia is a serious problem and it shows itself in many different ways, like in the workplace or in the healthcare system. In the article “Discrimination Against Immigrants in Society with Examples” it states, “Immigrants often face uphill battles in the workplace with challenges in regards to language barriers and mistreatment from coworkers and employers.”. Another example from the same article states, “Immigrant discrimination in healthcare manifests itself as denial of benefits and care due to citizenship and insured status”. This proves that prejudice against immigrants is real and it does not help them to make a living for themselves or for their families, therefore making it challenging to achieve the American dream.
To summarize the struggles of immigrants, the lack of lingual support, confusing financial systems, and discrimination are all contributing factors. All these factors also contribute to making the American dream that much harder for immigrants to succeed. The American dream is still possible, but for immigrants it will only get more and more difficult to achieve. It is important as American citizens to realize what immigrants have to go through and are still going through to make a new life for themselves and their families. We need to ask ourselves: How can we help? How can we make a difference in their lives? To find that answer we need to start educating ourselves on this rising problem, and put what we learn into action.
