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Perspective Discussion #3
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Topic starter
29/03/2026 6:21 pm
"What's missing from the American immigrant narrative" by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez.
Elizabeth Camarillo talks about how at a young age her parents got detained by ICE and deported to Mexico and at the age of 15 her 8 year old brother got deported back to Mexico as well. This was hard on Elizabeth, because she had no family to help her. All by herself she grew up and went to college and now is the product manager for Meta (Facebook). She promised her parents before they left that she’ll stay in America and become successful and that’s exactly what she did.
The book “Indivisible” by Daniel Aleman is about a 16 year old boy called Mateo Garcia who’s parents got detained by ICE and are in two different detention centers. He has to stay home and run their business they left behind, while taking care of his 7 year old sister, Sophie Garcia, and with them both going to school. Mateo gets calls from both of his parents throughout the story giving him advice and help to continue his journey. Mateo realizes over time how all his friends are different from him, because they had opportunities that he never got.
The connection between the Ted Talk and “Indivisible” is that Mateo and Elizabeth both lost their parents, because of ICE “”The ICE agents? Did they take my dad?”” Erika nods” (Aleman 42). They took the adult lifestyle at a young age and made a promise they’ll never break. “And so I somehow convinced my parents to let me stay, without being able to guarantee them that I'd find somewhere to live or that I'd be OK. But to this day, I will never forget how hard it was having to say goodbye.” (Gutierrez 4)
Mateo struggles throughout “Indivisible”. Taking care of a business, money, apartment, his little sister, food, and both school for himself and his sister. This connects back to Elizabeth's struggles having her parents being detained by ICE and being deported leaving her with only her 8 year old brother, but soon he leaves as well. She pushes through the struggles and becomes successful.
In your book, does your character have the same opportunities in the country they immigrated to as others who were born in that country? Explain your answer.
This topic was modified 4 weeks ago 2 times by cstubbs10
02/04/2026 9:26 am
In my book, Americanized, by Sara Saedi my character and her sister both had struggles to get a job. Because they did not have a green card and no social security card they couldn't get a job. After a lot of work they were able to get work permits and social security cards. This was a big achievement for them but, that is something that is just given to American citizens. For example, "My sister and I each finally recieved an employment authorization card (also known as a "work permit")." (Saedi 27)
02/04/2026 11:48 am
In my book Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi the story Gravity by Tracy Baptiste my character does not have the same opportunities. My character is sexually assaulted in a club after moving to the U.S she fears oppression and injustice because she’d seen it happen before in Trinidad. “It was almost like she had been there alone, like she had assaulted herself. So you tried to explain and they laughed…/You see that the smile slips from his face. He has lost his handle on the situation./ ” (Baptiste, 255-259) this shows how she has different opportunities in the U.S where she is able to seek help and saved from these assaults where compared to in Trinidad she would have most likely faced oppression and injustice had she said anything.
02/04/2026 1:12 pm
in my book a land of permanent goodbyes by Atia Abawi my character Tareq is a Syrian refugee so he doesn't have the same opportunities, here's why tareqs life is shaped by war, displacement and being a refugee when he left Syria he faced major problems such as limited access to education, legal barriers, and trauma and loss. by the end of the book tareqs accepts that his life will never be like it was in Syria instead of him waiting for things to become normal he focuses on surviving. "they smile at us and make us human again after being yelled at by their military and police they make me remember, every country has good people and bad people. just like mine" abawi pg 263
Topic starter
05/04/2026 4:04 pm
Does your character Tareq make it out of Syria?
Topic starter
05/04/2026 4:06 pm
Does your character ever get justice? Also what's your characters name?
Topic starter
05/04/2026 4:07 pm
My opinion is that everyone should have the right in America to have a "work permit".
alemont27 reacted
22/04/2026 9:58 am
In “The Tyrant’s Daughter” by J. C. Carleson, Laila’s father wasn’t a good man in public and he got killed, but had a great relationship with his family. His death caused the family to have to move to the United States. Ever since that, they’ve had to deal with the image of their father and the entire family is trying to separate themselves from him. Unfortunately, everyone is giving them a really hard time about it and are still bringing up the past. Laila is forced to deal with her father’s mistakes over and over again.
laila moved to the us and left everything behind when her dad died then she moved to the us to forget and move on.
