Youth Development
The
Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS) which operates under the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) released a
report that documented the number of immigrants who migrated to America within
the past year. In their report, they cited 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 Amerca to seek more gainfull 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. Thus, the immigrants
end up with bilingual education services that are insufficient and limited
access to meaningful employment.
Youth
immigrants also face transportation challenges in looking for a job.
Immigration laws have made it difficult for either a documented or a
non-documented immigrant to obtain a drivers license in America. Immigrants need to be literate and able to
speak English to sit for the drivers exam. Research conducted by AIM show that
a large number of immigrants do not feel safe when using public transportation
companies. This transpositional barrier makes it difficult for immigrants to
move from place to place searching for a job thus limiting their employment
opportunities.
Education is also a significant challenge for immigrant workers.
According to AIM, the educational standards of a majority of countries that
these immigrants originate from does not meet the standards set by American
educational institutions. Because of this one can find an immigrant who has a
nursing degree from his motherland not being able to get work in America
because his degree is not recognized by the American Nursing Association (ANA).
This renders it difficult for the immigrants to get gainful employment and one
can find many qualified doctors from Iraq working as curb drivers in New York.
Young immigrants are also victims of
exploitation in their workplace. Research has proven that most young immigrants
are working for long hours and for salaries that are below the set minimum
wage. Due to this, the young immigrants are not able to better their lives
because they barely earn enough to support themselves. This practice inhibits
them from being able to further their education and seek better employment
opportunities in other places.
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