“How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” connected with me well through the use of stories. I love seeing the people in situations rather than the issue. While Suárez-Orosco and Suárez-Orosco could’ve simply stated their opinion on illegal immigration and why they feel that way, I enjoyed that they used real life scenarios of immigration. 

When reading all the different stories, I thought about my best friend and her mother. Like many others, my friend is an American citizen, as she was born in America, but her mother is not. I know that my friend’s mom would want to apply to get her visa, but at this point she cannot afford to be deported as her whole life is in the United States. One thing I know is hard for them that isn’t mentioned in the reading, but I’m sure many others deal with, is not being able to see family still in Mexico. While my friend goes to Mexico for a couple weeks every year, her mom cannot come with her. Not only have both of them had to work hard to find ways for my friend to get there, especially when she was younger, but her mom also has to miss out on the time to be with her family because she wouldn’t be able to come back to America. Having grown up in Mexico her whole life, it has to be a hard reality that she may never go back.

When Suárez-Orosco and Suárez-Orosco talk about the labor force, I recognized how hard my friend’s mom works for everything. As a single mom, she has been providing for both her daughter and herself for the past seventeen years. While that isn’t uncommon, she also has had the burden of making sure she is able to stay in the United States with her daughter and not have any complications. She has had many health complications and hardships that are difficult to go through alone, and yet she still has to take care of and provide for her daughter the whole time because she doesn’t have any other family here to give her any relief. 

While I will never know what it is like to have to move here without a visa, I have been able to witness that experience through my friend’s mom. Because of that, I find it extremely important to tell real stories to personify what is going on. Suárez-Orosco and Suárez-Orosco succeed at bringing emotions to their readers through the stories of the people who immigrated, which reminds me of my friend and her mother.