The children of immigration, here to stay, are the new Americans. How we fare in welcoming them will determine the natur | dG1fcWJXNGd5dFFDaUU
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Short filmTranscript
00:01My dad said, I'm going to come to the United States,
00:05I'm going to be here working three years,
00:08and then I'm going to go back to Guatemala.
00:11He was coming here by halfway in Mexico.
00:16He was killed.
00:21Cross the room if you are not from the United States.
00:25Our students are recent immigrant English language learners
00:30from about 52 different countries.
00:33You see my country? My country is bigger.
00:35They are the American dream.
00:43The options are to either nurture and support and educate them or not.
00:48It was not a choice for us to come here.
00:50That's something our parents choose.
00:55Coming here is really hard.
00:58I was 10, crossing the desert by myself.
01:01We're just here on a visa and, I mean, we don't have nothing.
01:05The most difficult part is he can't speak in English, you know?
01:09Absolutely nobody else speaks his language.
01:13If you hit someone and they press charges, you can go to jail.
01:16What I want to say, I have in mind my brain, but I can't speak.
01:22I can't imagine what they're going through.
01:26My dad, like he said, it's the age when you're supposed to get married.
01:31I feel very nice when the children are good.
01:35They already chose a boy for me.
01:38All the normal angsty stuff about being a teenager and trying to figure out who you are
01:43and what right and wrong is on top of adjusting to a totally new culture.
01:48I mean, it's, it's insane.
01:56You need to realize wherever you choose to be in this world, it's up to you.
02:00My parents want me to put a dress on prom.
02:02How am I going to look with a dress?
02:04Something you want and you can't be to you.
02:09You just have to suffer.
02:14I feel a little bit different.
02:16Everybody's different here.
02:17Different nationality, different people, different dressing, culture and all of that.
02:21I want to go back to Guatemala, but only to vacation.
02:25This heart is over there and the body is over here.