Ramon Torres The Immigrant Experience

Ramon Torres is a 68 year old man from Nicaragua. He fled from his home country seeking asylum for himself, his wife, and three children.  This was because, of a civil war that Erupted in Nicaragua. He worked as a teacher for the majority of his 20's, but worked his way up the ladder when coming to the California. He is now a retiree, and lives with his wife and daughter, in Park Mercede. In this interview Ramon gives us a an insight on the immigrant hardships, that so many people have to face when coming to this Country. 

Table Of Contents

1.)Education

2.)Immigration

3.) Housing  

4.)Identity

Education

Ramon talks about his education experience in Nicaragua. Since he was little Ramon did not do well in school. This is because he did not start school until he was 8 years old. He was taught by Jesuit Priests in his early in life, which he says greatly helped him out. Later in his life he joined the military academy hoping for an honest, and disciplined lifestyle, but he found out it was not as he had hoped. Ramon then left the military academy to become a teacher.

"The Mendez v. Westminstercase (Orange County) of 1947 officially ended the era of de jure segregation for Mexican students in California. In the case of Mendez, Judge McCormick ruled that the Mexican students were not being separated on valid educational grounds, but because of the Latinized or Mexican name of the child"-Anglo-Saxon Ideologies in the 1920s-1930s: Their Impact on the Segregation of Mexican Students in California (pg. 241)

Immigration

Ramon tells us about why he decided to leave Nicaragua, and talks about his immigration experience when he came tothe United States. Ramon was being harassed in Nicaragua, so he decided to come to the US. The US at the time was offering asylum for refugees. He came too San Jose to fill out the necessary documentation, with the process taking a couple of years. He describes his experience as extremely fortunate.His employer at the time offered him a way to get his citizenship through his job, but ended up declining, because he did not want to jeopardize the other entry.  

"By 1985, an estimated 350,000 refugees had resettled in California. Under the Refugee Act of 1980, the federal government agreed to provide 36 months of financial support to help newcomers achieve economic self-sufficiency."-Competing Visions: A History of California (pg. 401)

Housing

Ramon talks about his housing experiences when he first arrived. When Ramon first came to California, he and his family slept on the floor. They only had hand me down blankets, and his family had huddle together at night to stay warm. Eventually getting a better job allowed him to move away from the little room they lived in, and managed to move to Park Mercede. 

Identity

Ramon gives us his response on what it took for him to identify himself as an American. When he first arrived to the United States he described his experience as painful. He had to leave his home country, his friends, family, and survived without even speaking english. He felt like a stranger. Then he picked up english, and began better communicating with people. He made friends, succeeded at his jobs. He successfully raised three children, with the help of his wife, who also came with him. Ramon spent the majority of his adult life here, and considers himself an American, saying, that he is even willing to die for this country if need be. 

"Wave after wave of migrants, and immigrants, the emergence of ethnic enclaves, and birth of numerous subcultures have added additional layers of richness, and at times produced interesting cultural fusions. As a consequence, the state's cuisine, music, art, architecture, folk lore, cinema theater, dance, and public spaces all carry an imprint of its incredibly diverse and increasingly complex mixture of ethnic and national groups."-Competing Visions: A History of California (Preface xiv)

Works Cited:

Cherny, Robert W., Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo, and Richard Griswold Del Castillo. Competing Visions: A History of California. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Print

Menchaca, Martha. "Anglo-Saxon Ideologies in the 1920s-1930s: Their Impact on the Segregation of Mexican Students in California." Anthropology & Education Quarterly 21.3 (1990): 222-49. JSTOR. Web. 09 Dec. 2016.