Immigrant Families

The Lives of Immigrant Families

Aside from the most obvious assimilation and cultural issues that many immigrants face today, many more families these days must face a chance of being split from their loved ones. It is common for couples to come to the states and start anew, have families, and grant their children an automatic citizenship.  Unfortunately, this process creates a split family: the younger generation that is "safe" and the parents' generation that is at risk for deportation.  A legal spouse may also decide to bring in a foreign spouse, later form a family and bear children with an automatic citizenship.  In this case, families may choose to keep the legal parent in the states while raising the children in the other spouses home country, rendering an even greater reason for continual migration between both countries. Regardless of the situation, raising and keeping a family in the U.S. has become much more difficult, especially with increased security and recent defeat of the immigration reform bill.

Please read more on the struggles families face today in the states:

Real Immigrant Stories 

Our own collection of personal comments on IL's website.

A Profile of Low-Income Working Families 

Almost half (47 percent) of all low-income immigrant families fit our definition of working families, where adults on average worked at least part-time (1,000 hours) in 2001. For low-income native families, this rate is 40 percent. These figures suggest that unemployment, underemployment, and episodic employment are common for low-income families headed by both immigrants and natives....

Family Immigration - The Process - US Immigrant - Green Card 

Website dedicated to families trying to learn more about the process of gaining legal status in the states.