I interviewed Vileydi Bonilla about her experience of immigrating to the United States from El Salvador. She came here in 2015 when her family acquired visas. Vileydi was 16 when she arrived in Texas. I wanted to interview her about this experience in order to better understand how the immigration process works. Back in El Salvador, she had a large house, fresh food, and her life was filled with family interaction. Her family decided to journey to the U.S. to have greater opportunities in their lives. Her family knew of the education provided in America and decided to apply for visas. When they finally got visas, they flew into DFW Airport and began their new lives. Vileydi’s new life was much more difficult than she anticipated. Communicating
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Vileydi’s relationship with her cousins and grandparents are not as strong as they once were. However, she has become much more connected with her immediate family. During her stay in the U.S. she has experienced discrimination by being ignored when she can’t communicate with others. Not knowing how to speak English has also made it hard for her to make friends. She still uses Spanish to talk with her family and close friends. In Vileydi’s opinion, being an American means being able to do whatever you want to do with your life. She still feels Salvadorian, but feels like she is slowly becoming an American. Vielydi wants to keep her culture but change her nationality. She feels like there should be laws preventing illegal immigration, but there should be more visas given out to help people improve their lives. Before any of these migrants come to America, though, she urges them to learn English. Vileydi experienced voluntary migration during her journey. She came here because of decisions made by her family. Her migration reinforces parts of Ravenstein’s laws, but conflicts with others. She moved a large distance to a big city, but didn’t produce a return, and her family made an international move. The gravity model shows the amount of knowledge she had about her destination. Due to the relatively short distance covered to reach America, she had a pretty good understanding of what life would be like. Although she wasn’t part of a greater migration stream, she is one of the thousands of people who come to America every
Vileydi’s relationship with her cousins and grandparents are not as strong as they once were. However, she has become much more connected with her immediate family. During her stay in the U.S. she has experienced discrimination by being ignored when she can’t communicate with others. Not knowing how to speak English has also made it hard for her to make friends. She still uses Spanish to talk with her family and close friends. In Vileydi’s opinion, being an American means being able to do whatever you want to do with your life. She still feels Salvadorian, but feels like she is slowly becoming an American. Vielydi wants to keep her culture but change her nationality. She feels like there should be laws preventing illegal immigration, but there should be more visas given out to help people improve their lives. Before any of these migrants come to America, though, she urges them to learn English. Vileydi experienced voluntary migration during her journey. She came here because of decisions made by her family. Her migration reinforces parts of Ravenstein’s laws, but conflicts with others. She moved a large distance to a big city, but didn’t produce a return, and her family made an international move. The gravity model shows the amount of knowledge she had about her destination. Due to the relatively short distance covered to reach America, she had a pretty good understanding of what life would be like. Although she wasn’t part of a greater migration stream, she is one of the thousands of people who come to America every