Youth Development
The
Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS), under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report that
presented the number of immigrants who have settled in the United State in the
last one year. In their report, they cite that the United States of America
admits over a quarter million migrants every year.Half of this quarter million
is made up of youths and young adults who are either fleeing war in their
countries or moving to America to seek more gainful employment opportunities.
The most significant challenge that youth immigrants face in securing
employment is the language barrier. Most employers are not keen on hiring
people whom they cannot communicate with thus the youths have to invest their
time in learning the language. Statistics from the American Immigration Council
(AIM) indicates that over seventy percent of immigrants who flock to America
come from countries that don't speak English. The research also goes forward to
suggest that over forty percent of this immigrants come from either Latin
America or Arab speaking countries. Youth immigrants are not only barred from
getting jobs due to language barriers but also the culture shock they
experience. Most of this youth come from reserved cultures, and it takes them
some time to adapt to the liberal American culture.
Another challenge immigrant youths face is stress due to exclusion.
There exists a growing number of anti-immigration initiatives, which have been
designed to prevent immigrants from receiving public services or job
benefits. These practices have lead to a
pattern of segregation and intense exclusion in the workplace, housing, and
schools. The result of this discrimination is an increase in the number of
American employers who are unwilling to employ immigrants.Research conducted by
OIS proved that immigrant youth face more discrimination than their elders
because they are considerd more of a threat. Thus immigrant youth are the ones
who are most affected with the stress associated with exclusion.
In a
research published by AIM, it is indicated that a significant number of
immigrant youths experience transportation challenges in the United States.
These challenges have jeopardized their efforts to search for job opportunities
as well as other ways to generate income for their development. Stakeholders
have argued that the United States transportation system has made it quite
challenging for immigrant youths seek job opportunities by introducing policies
that compel youths to undergo screening in regard to their criminal records. On
the other hand, immigrant youths experience challenges ascribed to mobility
across the United States in search of job opportunities; this is a challenge
that is currently experienced by both documented and undocumented youths: The
access of drivers’ license among immigrant youths has been a challenging
process majorly due to the language barriers experienced by the youths as they
undergo language test proficiency.
There
are certain education standards that are required by employment organizations
in the United States. It is apparent that the employment and education
standards of the United States vary from employment as well as education
standards in other countries. Immigrant youths in the United States have
experienced challenges in regard to access of employment opportunities due to
the fact that their education standards do not meet the standards or benchmark
of employment required by many companies in the United States. In a research performed by the Center of
Immigration Policy it is indicated that educational standards of majority of
countries of origins of the immigrants do not meet the standards set by
American educational institutions. Furthermore, as a result of their young age,
most immigrant youth lack the experience required to work in certain fields.
Consequently, employment exploitation characterized with subjection to poor pay
as well as undesirable work environments has been a major challenge experienced
by immigrant youths in the United States. Many immigrant youths have complained
of extended working periods, delayed salary reimbursement as well as racial
profiling in their work environments.
