Originally Posted by
at6d
My dad was awarded a work visa in 1970. He had a kitchen job lined up in Atlanta (sponsor requirement), had to take a US medical exam, and had to throw his name into the hat for Vietnam. He had a little bit of English training but soon became well versed in the local cultural dialect and by dialect I mean Jive (golly!)
By 1983 we were on the West Coast—he was fluent in Spanish at this point—and many of his employees had to be let go due to immigration issues.
Happened all the time probably. Just never made the news. Mine came through Ellis Island.
It’s whipsaw, it’s survival. It’s a risky gamble on opportunity or whatever else you want to call it. Just forget pretending migrant transformation is a free ride or hasn’t been tacitly permitted to end run civil process. Let’s face it, putting blind faith in democratic reform around here is dead as Kelsey’s nuts.