I am the child of an immigrant.
I remember being teased as a child in a north Georgia elementary school for having “slanty eyes” and looking different.
I remember watching from behind the curtains — after my parents had sent me inside the house — as a group of people dressed in white robes and masked hoods marched confidently down our street. They were protesting the fact that we lived in the neighborhood.
I remember being one of two Asian American female students in my central Kentucky middle and high school. I remember that, although my father spoke English, his accent must have been strong enough that my friends could not understand him and thus assumed he was speaking a foreign language.
I remember the unspoken but understood expectation that I would achieve my father’s American dream. A child of the ‘80s, unbeknownst to me at the time, it was also my dream, and the path was clear: Work hard, and you will be rewarded. So, I studied diligently and excelled in school (luckily, I loved to learn!), earning scholarships to college and law school and becoming the first person in my family to earn a degree.
I remember being in my 8 a.m. law school class on Sept. 11, 2001, and coming out into the halls after class ended to learn what had transpired. I remember not making it through my immigration law course syllabus that semester because our class was blessed with the presence, participation, and wisdom of the late Congressman Romano Mazzoli. He was instrumental in what remains the last significant immigration reform legislation to pass Congress.
He participated almost weekly in our class discussions, encompassing far more than could have been anticipated in a syllabus. From that point forward, it was clear to me that I wanted to be an immigration attorney. I had always known that I wanted to help people, but going into law school, I still had no clue how I might be able to make a career of doing so.
The stars aligned. I began my career at Catholic Charities the Monday after sitting for the Bar exam, and I have been fortunate to practice immigration law exclusively for the past 22 years. It has been both a rewarding and a trying experience, and I would be lying if I said that I have never thought of a career change. But I am proud of the commitment I made to myself, to my clients, to Catholic Charities and to the community to remain.
I will hang onto the victories and the supporting roles I have played over the years:
- In a community leader’s years-long path to lawful permanent residence (a green card).
- In an African woman’s desire to avoid returning to her home country to endure female genital mutilation for a third time and to bring her children to the United States.
- In a Cuban man’s dream to regain his green card after having been wrongfully ordered removed.
The list goes on and on.
I will hang onto hope that one day soon we will be able to understand and appreciate one another’s journeys, that our differences are what make this world a better place, and that our lives, no matter how far apart geographically or how different we may be culturally, are connected, so making an effort to get to know our neighbors can have a meaningful and far-reaching impact.
Rebecca Sim is the director of Catholic Charities of Louisville’s Immigration Legal Services (ILS) department, which provides affordable, accredited legal support for immigrants seeking stability and citizenship. Learn more at cclou.org/ILS.
