Children of immigrant parents live with mixtures of cultures, experiencing the advantages and disadvantages of two different cultural viewpoints. Over 18 million children in the US are children to immigrant parents today.

      In the US, being an immigrant includes many benefits and opportunities that may not have been present in other countries. Being an immigrant also has many disadvantages, such as social functionality, poverty, and housing.

     “Not speaking the language, in this case being English, can be hard on immigrant parents,” senior Alesandro Cedron said.

     With the difficulties of being children to immigrant parents, students also notice the determination of immigrant parents to find success from their work by being diligent and driven.

     “A positive thing about immigrant parents is that they tend to be hard workers,” senior Hector Capote said.

     Other students also recognize their parents’ desires to be successful in the US.

     “A big advantage of immigrant parents is that they have a motivated drive to succeed when the opportunity is given,” Cedron said.

   The differences in lifestyles of immigrant children and non immigrant children can be significant. Mixing foreign culture with American culture can be tough due to language and cultural differences. Adapting to a different culture can be challenging because an individual’s normal expectations and customs can be entirely different elsewhere.

     “My culture doesn’t mix well with American culture because many things that are normal for me are different from the American culture, such as the food, clothing, and music,” Capote said.

     Language barriers are one of the main obstacles immigrants face because of conflicts when attempting to communicate. In the US, 1 in 15 people have Low-English Proficiency, meaning an individual is not fluent in English, a number expected to increase to 67 million by 2050. Due to these language barriers, 25 million Spanish speakers receive about a third less health care than other Americans. This essentially requires immigrants in the US to learn English to create greater opportunities and chances of success. 

     “I speak both English and Spanish [at home] because my mom perfectly understands and speaks English,” junior Alejandra Trujillo said.

      Being multicultural gives a person a whole different perspective compared to what others might see. Understanding the challenges of being an immigrant can be difficult.

“The biggest difference between nonimmigrant children and I is that they do not have to watch other families be torn apart and think that could’ve been us,  a conflict that really changes a person’s viewpoint”  Trujillo said.