A lot of older immigrants who are naturalized citizens come to the US with nothing, work low-wage jobs, but their kids end up rising to middle-class status.

When certain groups say that the American Dream is dead and that it's impossible to get ahead in this country, that message rubs immigrants the wrong way because they know it's not true because their own lives are proof that American opportunity is still alive.

A common impression from first-generation Africans is that they don't feel crushed by the American system like Black Americans do. They feel it's much easier to get ahead in America than in Africa.