The article I read was from Marketplace.org and is called "The New American Dream: An Immigrant's Story". This article is about one immigrant named Nathalie Cortas and her expectations of America and dreams. Nathalie grew up in Venezuela and attempted to get an education there. However, due to Venezuela's impoverished condition, she moved to Florida in an effort to learn more and become successful. She has had issues staying here in the US and says she fears being deported because she can't find work to get a visa. Nathalie prefers the US a million times to Venezuela and says she would do anything besides go back.
I think this article gets at the base of what is changing in American immigration and the "Dream" new immigrants to the United States have. Over the last 50 years the US has been moving from being a large, industrial factory-style economy, to a more knowledge and specialist based society. Most people go to college now for 2 or often 4 years, if not more. In 1950, much less people went to college and the primary reason people came to the US is because they believed there was a lot of cheap, good land and good decent jobs (which didn't require a college education, or often even a high school diploma) were abundant. Today, I think more people are migrating for education and their future generations education. Nathalie's story reflects this for me. I see her as an individual seeking a better life and a higher education, then thinking about the job. When she came she immediately went to college and avoided getting a real job. When she did need a job, there were none to be had. In modern America, education and colleges are a lot easier to achieve than they used to be, and jobs are much harder now due to not only the current economic situation, but also the change in economic ideas, knowledge vs industrial. The modern "American Dream" is more about education than it is about jobs now.
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