Welcome to A Migrant Story

Jeff Salcedo | Last Updated May 2021

Welcome to A Migrant Story, where the reality of life as a migrant is told by those who experienced it first-hand; migrants.

The history of migrants tends to go overlooked and stereotypes surrounding migrants sway negatively.

By having migrants tell their stories, A Migrant Story intends to show what migrants really go through, instead of having politicians direct the migration narrative.

“Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history.” - American historian Oscan Handlin

From Chinese immigrants helping build the Central Pacific Railroad in the late 19th century, to European immigrants traveling by boat to get to Ellis Island in the early 20th century, to Latin immigrants traveling by foot to reach the United States, migrants have faced trials while traveling to this country.

During their arrival to the United States, migrants find themselves in unique situations and challenges unique to their group.

Since the birth of the United States, the stigma surrounding migrants has tended to be a negative one.

Politicians in particular have fueled fear in migrants coming to the United States, creating negative opinions for some people about immigrants.

“You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals,” former President Trump said of Latin-American immigrants trying to enter the United States.

This type of rhetoric from a prominent political figure is why some Americans adopt a negative attitude towards migrants.

By having migrants tell their own story, an intended outcome is that negative feelings about migrants are replaced with compassion, and that those with negative opinions of migrants change their opinion once they’ve heard what migrants go through.

At A Migrant Story, we want to share these challenges migrants face from those who experienced (im)migration themselves in an attempt to shed light on what migrants go through in their journey to the United States and while living there.