Who am I? Why immigration?
My name is Leidy Bonilla and I am a senior
at Lindenwold High School. I am very involved with my school in all my sports, my studies, and different school clubs. I play soccer and softball, I am an AP and honor student, and I am involved in student government being the school president. I like to see the good in people and start new activities in school. I am a very optimistic, outspoken, energetic, generous, daring and I am a very humble person. I enjoy sleeping, eating, and spending time with my family. I also come from an entire family of immigrants. |
The United States is at it's highest level ever with 37,000,000 legal immigrants (approx.). 2 of them being my parents. My parents came to the United States over 20 years ago, and to this day, there is still no progress with immigration. Immigration is a big talk in the news due to our President; Donald Trump. He wants to make laws and take away laws that could very much impact not only my parents, but millions of other people even when they are legal immigrants. I want to provide information about the immigration system and immigrants.
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Childhood
When I was in preschool, I was taught by a teacher who was from Nicaragua. She taught me how to read and write in Spanish. She also talked a lot about her life back in Nicaragua, and I became very curious about where my parents came from. Of course I don't remember the conversation I had with my parents when I found out they were immigrants, but hearing their story about how they came to the country was inspiring. Most of my family lived here in the United States, but my maternal grandfather, step grandmother, and my paternal grandparents along with my paternal aunts all lived in El Salvador. Talking on the phone with them was very frustrating because the quality of the phone call was always bad. I couldn't talk all the time because my family in El Salvador couldn't afford the cost of calling out the country. That is when I realized that the country I lived in was a whole lot different then the country my parents grew up in, and I wanted to know more
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Going to El Salvador
I have gone to El Salvador a couple times, but the first time I could remember was August of 2011. My parents had to ask permission from Homeland Security to even leave the country. I remember our flight being at around 12 am, but because my parents were immigrants, we had to be at the airport at ten pm. My parents were taken into a room where they were asked a series of questions and they were asked for their fingerprints. The process they were put through just to go to their country was very strenuous. When I got off the plane I felt a punch of heat. It was a very different climate and I was immediately thirsty. It took us six hours to get to my grandma's house where we would be staying, from the airport. The houses looked a lot different then the houses in the states, along with the streets. The streets were undone and there were cows just strolling along the street. The majority of the houses were all lined up and they were separated by a wall. I stayed for 2 weeks in El Salvador and it felt like I was free and in a different world. The beaches were very clean, there were water parks left and right, people could ride in the trunks of trucks, everyone was friendly, and there were rivers were people would swim in. I had a blast with my family and I cannot wait to go back soon.
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