Immigrant Interview
My name is Alexandro Pedro Mendes. I am of spanish and african descent. I was asked to do an interview by Mercedez Mitchell on my migration to the United States from Spain. I came to the United States in 1997 as a result of my father’s passing. He wanted me to go the “states” to have a better life than he did. Although, Spain is rich in many aspects it lacked diversity and opportunity of expansion.
Coming to the states in 1997, I was able to find employment at Eddies of Roland Park market in 2007. The ten year gap consisted of me being a Guest worker. A guest worker is when you are temporarily in the United States working in order to eventually receive a permanent visa. Some say ten years is long for a guest worker to obtain a permanent visa, but I was having family troubles in the wake of my dad’s passing. All is resolved now.
Mercedez Mitchell shared with me many definitions regarding immigration. She emphasized the definitions of terms such as pushes and pulls and bridges and barriers, and gave definitions of each. Push incorporates factors that influence the migration to another country which may consist of conflict and famine. Pulls incorporates factors that attract one a country and as result leaves home. Factors may include but are not limited to; opportunity consisting of employment and education.
The push in my situation is my father’s death. The pull in my situation is the desire to have a better life and access to diversity. Bridges and barriers are factors that allow migration to be successful such as learning a new language and adjusting to the culture in the new country. The bridges and barriers in my situation closely relates to learning english and learning the history of the United States. I had to learn the language in order to communicate with others in the country and was vital to starting a life there. I had to learn the history of the United States in order to obtain my permanent visa.