Immigrant Assistance Organizations

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Mexicans | Jews

         Immigrant assistance organizations have played, and continue to play, a prominent role in aiding the immigration process. Organizations existing in the home country help the immigrants in the migration process, such as providing them with methods of transportation to America or ensuring that they have the proper paperwork to enter. Immigrant assistance existing "there" also includes general aid for the population and a sense of help within the community. Immigrant assistance organizations are similarly present in America to facilitate the immigrants’ transition into the country and into the new ways of living. For example, charities and self-help groups exist to provide support, both financially and socially, for newly arrived people. Both assistance programs in the homeland and in America can be as formal as a respected charity or as informal as a band of individuals, like the coyotes, who smuggle Mexican immigrants into America illegally. Whether formal or informal, these groups have been extremely beneficial to the survival of generations of newcomers in the United States. We have examined these organizations in greater detail to discover just how crucial their impact was and continues to be on the lives of Eastern European Jewish and Mexican migrants.

 

Authors: 
James Ganley
Michelle Pelan
Reviewers: 
Daniel Robinson
Yvette Alfaro