Green Card Stories


  • Photographer
    Ariana Lindquist
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Ariana Lindquist Photography
  • Date of Photograph
    November 2011

A collection of 50 modern immigration stories.

Story

Green Card Stories is a collection of powerful life stories and photographs of 50 recent U.S. citizens and permanent residents that collectively convey a portrait of immigration in the United States at the turn of the 21st century. Through each personal story of determination and resilience, an overarching narrative emerges about the complex and often criminalizing nature of the U.S. immigration system at a time of unprecedented globalization and societal change. Together the stories reveal the broader social trends of today's immigration -- that the majority of immigrants to the United States now come from Latin America and Asia, instead of Europe, and that they increasingly settle in new destinations like the Midwest and the South, as well as traditional gateway cities.
Embracing the vast diversity of the immigration experience that is often under-reported, the narratives and photos in Green Card Stories place immigration firmly in the landscape of individual lives. The stories include that of Muslim-American Soumaya Khalifa in Atlanta, grappling with hatred and suspicion directed toward her following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, even as she strove to find a place of understanding between varying religions. The book chronicles the struggles of integration and identity formation amid dramatically changing national demographics -- like Tomas Castellanos of Cuba, trying to fit in between white and Mexican students in Phoenix, and then among different Latino youth groups in Miami; or Lylna Thao, a young Hmong woman helping on her parents' chicken farm in Arkansas, who bucked tradtional expectations, divorced her Hmong husband and found her calling as a Mixed Martial Arts fighter.
Green Card Stories also explores the complexity of current immigration policy and the immigration process, shedding light on the varied paths to obtaining a Green Card -- from family and employment sponsorship to business investment, from exceptional artistic or athletic ability to political asylum. Included are personal stories that highlight the frustrated aspirations of college-bound immigrant youth, like Randolph Sealey, who only learned of his undocumented status when filling out college applications. He obtained "suspension of deportation" -- a route to a Green Card no longer available today for millions of young people who must instead pin their hopes on the DREAM Act. The book also documents the anguish of legal, Green Card-holding immigrants incarcerated or nearly deported over government glitches -- like Peter Ajak, a former Lost Boy of the Sudan, who languished in immigration detention for nine months due to bureacratic mistakes that were not his fault.
Despite the criminalization of newcomers by a nation that heralds its immigrant roots yet demonizes immigration today -- all of the life journeys in Green Card Stories show a resourcefulness prevalent among the country's newest arrivals. Green Card Stories reveals the enduring contributions that immigrants continue to make to their new country - including those of Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang -- and in so doing provides a timely corrective to the distorted national debate on this critical topic.

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