The Asian American Association, in conjunction with Lambda Theta Alpha and the Muslim Student Association, are to conduct an immigration simulation so students can see what immigrants have to go through to become a US citizen.
It will be held at the Catholic Student Center back hall March 31 at 6:00 p.m.
Student participants will draw a random identity of an immigrant and assume that identity. They will be trying to seek out permanent residence or citizenship.
“We want to showcase what it is like to become an immigrant,” Lawrence Parawan, Asian American Association president, said. “You will go to different check points and will be asked questions that will lead into different lines. The idea is so you can get an idea of the process of how immigration works through the legal route.”
Parawan wants fellow students to be educated about immigration and what it takes to get citizenship legally, especially since the issue is high on many presidential candidates’ agendas.
“The goal is to have a feel for the process of immigration, the length that it takes to get through the process and how complicated it can get depending on if you are an adult child of a resident or adult child of a citizen or married or single, and so you can see how difficult it can be to do legal immigration,” Parawan said.
Parawan participated in a simulation similar to this in high school and found out it can take up to 20 years for someone to gain citizenship.
Fellow program organizer and president of Lambda Theta Alpha, the Latin American sorority, Abigail Marbibi knows all about it, being a naturalized citizen herself.
“I came here from the Philippines when I was in the eighth grade,” Marbibi said. “To apply for citizenship, you have to apply for a green card, then you apply for citizenship, so I had to stay here for so long, keep track of your taxes for so long, pay a large amount of money and take the test, then you become citizen. I became a citizen the summer of sophomore year of college.”
The simulation will end with all the participants taking a piece of the test immigrants take to become naturalized citizens.
Brian Nguyen, an Asian American Association member, was surprised at the results he received after participation in a mock version of the simulation in preparation for the actual event.
“I took the test yesterday, and I did not do so well,” Nguyen said. “I thought I would do better. You actually have to know the knowledge, some was common knowledge, but others you had to know the answer.”
