One Immigrant’s Experience in Graphic Essay Form

This graphic essay by illustrator and author Juana Medina entitled, “A Decade in Immigration Purgatory:  My Struggle to Become an American Citizen,” is worth checking out and could also serve as an effective teaching tool for immprofs.  It highlights some of the challenges associated with work limitations for student visa holders; detentions of valid visa holders at the border; and the high standards required for EB-1 visas.  The essay demonstrates the bureaucratic, legal and psychological difficulties presented by the immigration process for educated professionals while recognizing the even greater hardships faced by those less privileged.  As Medina notes:  “I am one of the lucky ones.”  

-JKoh