I learned a lot more about immigration than I already knew while speaking with our partnering organizations today. I was able to hear from different people and different groups. With listening and working alongside these individuals I learned that everybody’s experience is different and that they don’t always go through the same things. For example, two girls shared their experiences with practically being torn away from their families. Nasteho Ibrahiam, 16, a Somalia native from Global Village Project (GVP) said she misses being called her grandmother’s “little girl.”

Another thing I learned was how hard it was to get into the United States as refugees and immigrants. They go through so many things, take many tests with questions that we don’t know the answers to ourselves, and have to pay so many out-of-pocket fees that we don’t even know about, such as school fees. Not only do they have to maintain at least a certain amount of credits but they would have to pay double of what we pay to go to school, which is not fair at all. All they want is a new chance at life.

I have mixed emotions when it comes to immigration. A part of me is happy that I can cover this interesting topic and shed some light or more exposure to those who have actually lived through it. The other part of me is sad because they shouldn’t have to go through so much just to be accepted and treated like us. After all, they are people just like us.

I would like to cover immigration because the mainstream media doesn’t always cover the entire story or they just put out certain points to make them look better – almost like a hero in some instances. I also feel like this topic is something that most people are afraid of or don’t like to talk about because the people are different from them. The fact that I can cover this immigration topic as a teen reporter is something that I am very proud of, indeed, because even some adults try to hide from a topic that has so much to offer. I hope that these stories that VOX Investigates produces helps to share all the different sides, different stories and different voices that teens just like us have to share — because they are important, and they matter!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYD1YBhHNjH/?taken-by=voxroxatl

Chasity attends Arabia Mountain High School and enjoys writing and contributing to stories that will be submitted to Voxatl.com — and also hopes to secure a job at CNN or HLN.

Video produced and edited by Kenneth Franklin, Kaylynn Parks, Khalil Shipman and Mack Walker

Save the date! Share your voice – Dec. 9. 
This semester we invite you to join VOX teens in a community dialogue about immigration. Create art. Slam poetry. Meet each other. Follow along this semester’s investigation voxatl.org/category/vox-investigates/.