The growth of teenage immigrant populations within the United States, Nevada and Clark County has brought new faces and new challenges. In 2016, 22 percent of the total immigrant population were under the age of 18 and from that, eight percent were high school students. These students immerse themselves into an environment that is different from that in which they came from. They find themselves in a society that they are not familiar with, learning and utilizing what they observe from their surroundings.

Many immigrants came to the U.S. to start a new life, reunite with families, or escape from the hardships they struggled in their homeland. The U.S. started as a land of immigrants and to this day at least 500,000 immigrants are registered yearly by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There are people against the idea of immigration due to the lack of jobs from “overpopulation”. The support for President Donald Trump’s immigration restriction laws shows that immigration is feared to be a problem for the people already established in America.

When Senior Liviya Ye came from China with her family in 2004, she found that life in America wouldn’t be as easy as she thought it would be. In America, they faced challenges with language; in both finding a job and adapting to school.

“Right now it is getting better. My parents work in a casino and are speaking English more often. My parents and I are communicating more through daily life,” said Ye.

As people come into America in search of a better life to benefit themselves and their children, sacrifices both big and small are brought upon their family. This includes Junior Ivana Parong, who came to America with her sister to meet her father.

“My sister and I were the only ones who moved from the Philippines, so she had to give up her high school life which was pretty important and I didn’t have much to lose at that age, but the fact that I was going to be separated from my mom,” said Parong.

But Trump’s plans for restricting immigration by ending sanctuary cities, tripling the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and building a wall on the Mexican-U.S. border, depict an American future that is heading into a different direction.

The desires that Trump chose to implement onto America has split its people through more than just opinions and emotions but also race and religion. Subjects like the right religion, immigration, and what America is supposed to stand for comes up in daily life for high school students.

“When I first came here, I felt excluded because I didn’t see a variety of cultures. I think it’s [immigration] beneficial with more culture around here, people will fit in more and there’s more acceptance towards them,” said Junior Alexa Rojas.