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Kuntheth Theuy US 4th of July Reading: The changing face of America

RUSS CARMACK/The News Tribune Kuntheth Theuy served in the Cambodian Army serving for 20 years after joining when he was 19 years old. He came to the U.S. in 2001 as a refugee. He now attends Tacoma Community College and enjoys playing electric guitar.

THE NEWS TRIBUNE (Tacoma, WA, USA) Published: July 4th, 2006

As we celebrate our nation’s 230th birthday, the face of America is changing as the country rides a new wave of immigration.

In 2003, 11.7 percent of the U.S. population were people born in another country, according to surveys from the U.S. Census Bureau. This figure includes both naturalized citizens, legal foreign residents and illegal immigrants.

The 2000 Census found that 10.4 percent of Washington state’s population was foreign-born; in Pierce County, the figure was 8.1 percent.

While immigration has been steadily increasing since the 1970s, it has yet to reach the peak our country experienced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when immigrants accounted for about 15 percent of the U.S. population.

But as immigration increases, a national debate evolves. Does immigration enrich our American melting pot, or is the melting pot in danger of a meltdown?

Americans are in search of the answers.

Much of the current debate surrounding immigration is influenced by arguments about illegal immigration. The exact number of illegal immigrants is difficult to calculate precisely, but the federal government places the number between 8 million and 11 million.

A report from the Pew Hispanic Center estimated there were 10.3 million undocumented immigrants in America in 2004 – about 29 percent of all the foreign-born residents of the United States.

One of the biggest impacts on immigration in recent history was the 1965 Immigration Act. The law ended previously existing preferences for Western Europeans, and opened the American door to more immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America. It also placed new weight on immigrants seeking asylum as refugees or hoping to reunite families separated by immigration.

By 2003, more than half (53 percent) of all foreign-born people living in America came from Latin America, according to the Census Bureau. Another 25 percent came from Asia, nearly 14 percent were from Europe, while the remaining 8 percent were from other regions, including Africa and North America.

Regionally, the West had the highest percentage of foreign-born residents, at 37 percent.

Debbie Cafazzo: 253-597-8635

debbie.cafazzo@thenewstribune.com

‘I’m thankful for the United States to have taken me in … ’

Kuntheth Theuy

Age: 46.

Residence: Tacoma.

Occupation: Tacoma Community College student.

Family: A divorced father of three.

Immigration status: He came to the U.S. in 2001 as a refugee from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is studying English and wants to become a U.S. citizen.

Why he came: He was proud to be a soldier in the Cambodian Army, but he grew to dislike the government corruption he saw. He joined other soldiers who wanted to fight for democracy. As he puts it: “The government killed a lot of people. The killing fields (the communist Khmer Rouge regime that killed more than 1 million Cambodians during the 1970s) took away the intelligent people, the people with wisdom.” Theuy says that left the unwise and, in some cases, those who had been part of the repression, in charge.

What living in America means: “I’m thankful for the United States to have taken me in where I’m getting a second chance at life. … There seems to be peace, human rights, there seems to be order. In Cambodia, it’s very different. You can’t speak out against the government.”

About the immigration debate: “People spend a lot of money, time and energy to find their way here. The government should want to help them be a citizen and live here in America.”

What he misses about his homeland: His relatives, and Cambodian food.

What he brought with him to America: Theuy kept his army uniform – which still fits – and hopes that some day it will represent true democracy for Cambodia. He also brought his skill as a guitarist.

What he found here: Everything he expected – and more. “America is the best when it comes to giving people opportunity and freedom.”

(Kiry Kravanh served as an interpreter for Kuntheth Theuy)

Debbie Cafazzo, The News Tribune

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