Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution Read Online Free PDF

the United States, you wouldn’t blink, you would just go.”
    The first to go was Faithful’s older sister Suzylene. It took a long time to obtain a student visa, but she finally did. “Whoa, she’s actually leaving,” was Faithful’s reaction. “She’s the one who set the path for the rest of us.” In Nigeria, students would go directly to medical school from high school. The United States offered much more extensive training. Suzylene took pre-med courses and now is in a nursing program.
    Faithful’s other sister, Providence, embarked a year after Suzylene. She took pre-law courses in college and then earned a law degree at the University of Richmond. She now clerks for an American judge.
    After that, additional visas were rejected for the Okoye children. So Faithful’s mother applied for a student visa and was given one. She brought Faithful with her as a minor child.
    Although the United States was much different from her native Nigeria, Faithful did not have that difficult a transition, because she was reunited with her family and had watched a lotof American movies. Faithful initially attended a public school but was too academically advanced for it. Her family couldn’t afford private school tuition, but she received financial aid with a work requirement to attend a private high school in Florida. She graduated at age fifteen.
    One of her brothers, who arrived after Faithful, also as a minor dependent, graduated with her. But her other brother has had his student visa applications rejected five times. Faithful explains that American officials don’t want the entire family to be in the United States, because they believe it will make their return to Nigeria less likely. “It’s sad that I haven’t seen my brother for five years now and it’s simply because of the immigration system,” Faithful says. He is now applying to Canadian colleges in hope of a better outcome.
    Faithful was accepted at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami but that meant she needed to obtain her own student visa. She applied and it was rejected, even though her brother’s application was approved. So Faithful faced having to abandon her studies and return to Nigeria. “We were praying about it,” Faithful remembers. Fortunately her appeal was successful, and she started classes in summer 2009.
    Faithful had to leave FIU because she couldn’t afford it, so she enrolled at Broward College, from which she graduated with a two-year degree in 2011. Her work was so exceptional that she won a Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship that could be used to finish her studies anywhere. She decided to enroll at the University of Florida, which offered in-state tuition through a program designed to foster international relations, which requires graduates to return home for at least four years.
    Faithful is studying journalism at the University of Florida with a minor in history. She admits to becoming a Gators fan. “I think you have to be,” she laughs. “I really love it. It infects you with the Gator pride.”
    Faithful’s family is becoming binational. Suzylene still hopes to earn a medical degree and is not sure if she will stay in the United States or return to Nigeria. Providence married an American citizen and has a green card. Faithful is torn about whether to leave or stay. If she returns, she would like to become a journalist to report on government activities and be a part of a system of checks and balances. “I feel like I’m needed there,” she says. “I’m scared when I hear about the violence but I want to help out.” But she also can envision becoming a history professor in theUnited States. “What I have here is peace and sanity,” she explains, adding that she would like to be able to give that to her future children.
    Faithful has several college friends who are undocumented immigrants. She puzzles over the fact that they are eligible for legal status under the deferred-action policy, whereas young people