People from all over the world, even today, are migrating to the United States. From personal experiences, there was a lot I found in common with the Binder and Reimers reading. Some of the basic reasons why many immigrants flocked to the city was because of economic and political reasons. Many were uneducated, nonetheless there was the percentage of highly educated immigrants who lagged behind because of their illiteracy in the English language. According to the excerpt, the Bengali migration to the city occurred around 1980, many of who had won immigrant visa lotteries.
Similarly, my dad came to NY around that time through the lottery process. His goal was to earn enough money so that he could send it to my mom and we would be able to fly to NY. Although we were pretty well off in Bangladesh, our family was in search of better opportunities. It was a great accomplishment back then for anyone who could escape the social and economic deterioration of Bangladesh. It was a struggle at first because we were all mandated to speak English and all my entire family (with the exception of my dad) couldn’t speak English. Then as the years went by our family was able to accumulate enough money to make investments in businesses and improve our financial status. Eventually we grew accustomed to the New York lifestyle. Me, my brother and sister have a better chance of doing better financially than my parents because we are all fully equipped with what we might have thrown to us. Even though me and my brother weren’t born here, were moved to NY at a very young age which allowed us to grow with our surroundings.
I’ve learnt that the fact that people migrate to the States for a better life and more beneficial job opportunities is a well known phenomenon which is proved once again by your case. I feel that being subject to such dramatic changes since such a young age is a pro rather than a con because you’re allowed to ‘grow with your surroundings’ and adapt to the new environment. Older people like the first-generation immigrants are those facing the most difficulties and deserve the youth’s respect and gratitude for making their lives more comfortable and their futures much brighter.