Episode 151

full
Published on:

28th Dec 2025

Soviet Immigrants Expose U.S. Citizenship Grind (Full)

Olga Kay juggled in the Russian circus before hitting YouTube fame and launching kids’ sock brand Moosh Walks. Svetlana Newsome arrived from Kazakhstan with $300, faced sudden widowhood, then became a spiritual healer for leaders. They got hammered by shady agents, paperwork nightmares, and endless limbo—but triumphed. This ep uncovers the brutal truths of America’s immigration system: scams, costs, waits that break you, and why they’d still choose it.

Timestamps:

  • (00:00) Circus Tents to Citizenship – what it actually takes
  • (01:39) Meet Olga and Svetlana – from Crimea and Kazakhstan roots
  • (02:53) Personal Immigration Nightmares – agents who robbed them blind
  • (11:13) Legal Hurdles & Limbo Life – years stuck in paperwork hell
  • (26:41) Advice for Future Immigrants – don’t trust anyone, save every receipt
  • (37:51) Moments You Finally Feel American – crying in the citizenship ceremony
  • (41:17) English Was the Real Boss Fight – laughing through the pain
  • (44:28) Open Borders Debate – raw takes, no filter
  • (48:40) System Bottlenecks Exposed – why everything takes forever
  • (01:06:17) Biggest Immigrant Myths Busted – lazy? criminals? think again
  • (01:09:28) Final Gut-Punch Reflections – would they do it again?

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Transcript
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Welcome to Solving America’s Problems — Jerremy and Dave just sat down

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with two women who left everything behind to chase the American dream.

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Olga fled a tiny Crimean village at 16, joined the Russian circus, landed in

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America with Ringling Brothers — then spent the next fifteen years trapped in

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limbo because one shady agent from when she was seventeen still haunted her file.

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Svetlana showed up from Kazakhstan with $300, watched her visa expire, went

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illegal for years — then got denied citizenship for a decade after her

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American husband suddenly died, forcing her to restart the clock at zero.

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Both paid scam lawyers five-figure fees, lived five to a bedroom, worked three

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jobs — and still waited SEVEN YEARS before they could even visit their own

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mothers without risking permanent exile.

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They finally made it.

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But the system that almost broke them also forged two of the most relentless,

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grateful citizens you’ll ever meet…

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Dave Conley, what are we discussing in this episode?

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In this week's episode of Solving America's Problems, what if the

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very trials that break systems built unbreakable citizens?

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We dive into the realities of first generation immigration where the promise

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of opportunity collides with years of waiting fear and systemic hurdles

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that leave millions in limbo with green card backlog stretching decades,

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courts drowning Under 4 million pending cases, the path to citizenship becomes

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an endurance test, one that demands extraordinary resilience and produces some

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of the nation's most devoted Americans.

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Our guests this week know this journey firsthand.

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Olga, Kay left a Russian circus at 16 to pursue opportunities in America.

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Becoming a YouTube star.

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And now founder of Moosh Walks a children's brand built on the

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growth mindset and resilience that powered her own journey.

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Sve Lana Newsom arrived in America from Kazakhstan with $300 in a dream

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surviving profound loss and transforming her life into spiritual service.

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Earning a doctorate and today guiding world leaders through

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their own transformational journey.

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That's this week on solving America's problems from circus tense to citizenship,

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what it really takes to become American with Olga and Svetlana Newso.

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America sells the world's greatest promise.

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Come here, work hard, become one of us.

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14% of everyone living in America was not born here.

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That's one in seven of your neighbors coworkers.

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The people making this country run.

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But here's what they do not tell you at the border.

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Green card weights can stretch 20 years citizenship.

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It's a marathon through a minefield while immigration courts collapse under

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more than 4 million pending cases.

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I'm Jerremy Alexander Newsom here with my co-host Dave Conley and this.

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Solving America's problems.

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Our guest today did not just survive the gauntlet, they conquered it.

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Olga Kay went from performing in the Russian circus with Ringling

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Brothers to becoming a YouTube pioneer, entertaining millions and

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now runs Moosh, walks a children's brand, empowering the next generation.

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Solana Newsom arrived with just $300 to her name, rebuilt her

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life after a devastating loss, and emerged as a spiritual teacher.

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And healer to world leaders

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thanks so much for being on the show.

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Jerremy.

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I wanna cry already.

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You, you're already excited, huh?

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I'm

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Yeah.

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Excited.

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inside.

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This has been a journey and you just reminded me how hard it has been,

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and I'm so glad we're all here.

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Yeah.

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Likewise.

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I think that's pretty common with individuals that we speak to regarding

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anything, but most specifically, those that come to this country.

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And make it because it is a lot of work.

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It's very struggling, it's very challenging.

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So do this for me.

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I'll have Solana start First, paint us a picture.

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What did America mean to you before you arrived, and how has that vision

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changed now that you're a citizen?

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Thank you, Jerremy for this beautiful and powerful question.

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America growing up felt like a distant sound, a distant voice

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that was for someone else, it felt like the beautiful of luxury and

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abundance and all possibilities.

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But it was not for me or for anyone else that I knew.

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And fortunately the growing up in Kazakhstan, the time started to shift.

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The energies between America and Russia started to shift.

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The Soviet Union collapsed and things became just a tiny bit closer.

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And then when the opportunity revealed itself to come to America, and it was

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obvious that I had to jump into that opportunity and create some of myself.

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And that's really my only prayer was when I was a little girl from God, is

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to just gimme an opportunity in life.

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That's how I wanted because looking at my family, at my neighbors, I

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knew what my life would be there was simply was no opportunity to do

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anything greater or anything better.

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In order to exceed, especially during those times, you had to be a

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part of some kind of mafia, a part of some kind of really dark space.

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Otherwise, a person that had good could not succeed in that environment.

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I remember coming to United States the very first time.

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Two things really just blew my mind.

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The first I saw this lady, she was in her sixties, was a

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long nails and a short hair.

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She was wearing this beautiful purple outfit and she was alive,

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she was vibrant, she was leaving.

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And I just remember that back home, members, my grandmother,

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my neighbors, they were all preparing to die in their fifties.

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They were saving money for the funeral.

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At that time, it was the ending.

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And here it was a golden age era.

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It was just the beginning.

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I was like, oh my goodness, you can have that.

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You can live like that.

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And then the second observation that took place was when men treated women

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the possibility of true love and a space of admiration and equality.

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And it wasn't just being a servant in a family any longer,

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and therefore I knew that.

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is the country where all the dreams come true.

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And if you really put your intention and your energy, your education, and you want

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become greater, everything is available.

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Amazing.

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Beautiful.

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Just hold the mic just a couple more inches from your face.

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Perfect.

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Olga, about you?

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Rockstar?

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Wow, that's a powerful story.

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So I was 16 years old and according to my mom, I always wanted to live in

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America ever since I was a little girl.

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I don't have a memory of that, but I did grow up in a tiny village in Crimea.

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And when Soviet Union fell apart, we had to do something.

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So we, I call it, ran away with the Russian circus and we joined

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my aunt on the road in Russian Circus, and we started traveling.

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I was 14 years old and within two years I went all over Russia.

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Every month I traveled to a new place, and then we stopped at Moscow for a

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couple of months, and that's when we got discovered to come to America.

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And I remember thinking, I'm about to turn 16.

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I'm gonna go to America.

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We have two year contract with the Ringling Brothers Circus.

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I'm just gonna go there and I'm gonna come back because I love Russia.

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I love traveling in a Russian circus, but it would be really

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cool to see a new country.

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And I immigrated here.

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So my journey to immigration was.

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Very easy.

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In the beginning, I got paperwork from a very big company.

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I got my social security, I got my working visa.

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I was getting paid $250 a week, which I feel like my family would only see that

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much money in two or three months of work.

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And right before we left my village, I remember we were

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getting paid in bags of sugar and bags of grass that we can give to

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Wow.

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and then we turn it into milk and cheese and butter and trade with our neighbors.

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So this was this whole new world for me.

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But like I said, I never really thought I'm gonna stay here.

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I thought I'm gonna go back.

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And from the age of 16 to 18, I've learned how to speak English.

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I've learned how to drive a car.

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I was getting paid $250 a week and I had my first bank account.

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And when I turned 18, I realized that.

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I don't even know what I'll do in Russia.

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None of those things were even available to me, and I had no idea I needed those

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things to feel like a and capable of.

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bigger things.

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And I remember realizing I will do whatever it takes to stay in this

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country at 18, even though my family was still left behind in Russia and

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figure out what the next steps were.

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And then I got another contract with another family circus, and

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that's when I quickly realized that circuses in America are just.

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Carnies and you are not as respected and you have to work so much harder when you

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work for family circuses versus a big corporation or like wrangling brothers.

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that's when I started realizing that I have to come up with a new way to

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live in America, use my skill and talent, and build a better life.

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And I immigrated, I moved then to Los Angeles and I started my

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journey, which led me to so many different things and opportunities.

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But that's how I got here.

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And I do, I have similar feeling about the country.

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I remember thinking if I work hard.

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It will be rewarded because in Russia and Ukraine, Crimea, at that

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time I was watching my family work so hard and getting nowhere, and

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my mom had two different college degrees and she couldn't get a job.

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And I remember thinking, I will never follow the academia route.

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I will just use my talent and my street, wisdom and build myself

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in this country the best I can.

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Wow.

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Those are really cool stories.

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Dave and I will never use the word village.

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Like both of you talk, have such fond memories about that, like using that term,

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it's really endearing, but also at the exact same time, very revealing meaning

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you chose something bigger, you chose something more, and coming to this country

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was definitely a huge leap of faith.

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we'll start with you, Olga, and then we'll go to s Laa.

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Thinking about the immigration process that you went through, where did it help

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you where did it make things harder?

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Yeah, a little picture of the process.

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So I came here with Ringling Brothers.

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I had my visa that covered my job for that company.

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After that I had an agent who got me a different visa, which is oh one visa.

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It's the most extraordinary visa for the best people out

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there with the best skills.

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With that visa, you have an easier route into a green card.

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However, that agent later was on the run with the FBI, and

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luckily I didn't continue my immigration journey through him.

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He's still part of my file and it still hunts me today.

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And that's how difficult it is.

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I became an American citizen in 2016, so it's been almost 10 years now.

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And it still hunts me that he's part of my file and he since

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went to jail, passed away.

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He's gone.

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But it still hunts me and my family that person was part of my immigration journey.

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But what happened after I was in a relationship with another juggler, I was

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a juggler in the circus and we were living together and our goal at that time was get

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a visa so I can start traveling, leaving America and travel with him on cruise

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ships because that was his frame of work.

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And a lawyer at that time told us it's September 11th

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time, you will not get a visa.

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Everything is backed up.

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If you guys already living together, you might as well just get married.

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And we're like, okay, we'll get married.

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So I got married and I got my green card through marriage.

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However, when I was applying for my citizenship, I got denied because

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of this agent, who was my agent when I was 17, I had to act fast

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and figure out what to do next.

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My green card was expiring.

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I've been in this country for almost 15 years at this point and realizing

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that, oh, this could be the end and I don't know what to do next.

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Whoa.

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What about you, Phila?

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I came in states on a J one Visa.

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It was a work and travel program at that time, and I believe it still exists.

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And if you were in a university, you could enter into the program and

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come to America for three months.

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Through the summer and work.

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And that was my first experience of America.

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I remember going back home telling my mom, I will be going to America again

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because I have window for one more year, but I will not be coming back.

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I do not know what the journey will be, but it will take me a lifetime

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to create what it will take me five years to create in America.

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And it was very difficult saying goodbye because it was saying goodbye

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and going to now when my grandfather was sick at that time and he was my,

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like my father, knew he would be dying and I would not be able to go and

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be with him or visited the funeral.

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So it was a very difficult goodbye and it took me a very long time to understand

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what it took from my mother to let me go.

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It's not only until I became a mother, I could understand the power

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that you send out your child with and the prayer and hopes and beliefs

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that everything will turn out okay.

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And yes, I was on a visa and I had a job.

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And second time I came to Las Vegas and I got a job in a fashion show mall.

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I was in the retails.

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I got a second job.

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I was sending money back home to support my family and everything was

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going well until my visa expired.

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And there was a time to really think what to do?

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What is next?

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Because there are very little opportunities when you do not have money.

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When you are still new in a country and your visa expires, the lawyers fees are

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astronomical To go to college, you cannot truly afford to pay for the college.

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And then you, even if you are working two, three jobs, the college fees

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as a immigrant are still insane.

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So what happened is my visa collapsed and I started illegally in the country.

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So I was a legal immigrant.

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Thankfully my employer at the time either didn't pick it up or just closed

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the eyes on the expiration of the visa.

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I still had my, social security.

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I was paying the taxes and I was working.

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Long story short, a few years later, I met an incredible

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man that was my first husband.

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dated for a little while and we knew that we were going to be together.

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We wanted to be together, we wanted to build a family.

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He proposed, I got married and that is how I was able to get.

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My green card.

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one thing is that I remember I knew of so many different abilities and

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programs that were available for wealthy people that if you had $500,000,

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that you can get that EB five visa and you can invest in the states.

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And there was so many opportunities.

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And I remember just walking like with the tears in my eyes, wishing that someone

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would just believe in me, worry me that money, or see the potential cause I

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was willing to give everything for this opportunity and it wasn't available.

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And the only thing that was left is an illegal.

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It's amazing.

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I wanna add something to this as well.

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one thing that not many people talk about is how long it takes

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to get some kind of paperwork to even go back to see your family.

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I was in a similar position where I came here at 16 just like Yu Laa, I

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didn't realize what a sacrifice my parents made until I became a mother

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and realizing that my kid is gonna say, oh, I'm just gonna move to France, and

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then I'm not able to come and visit him.

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It would just break my heart.

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So what they did, and again, they thought, I'm gonna come

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back, but I just never came back.

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And what happened for me, I was in this country for three years working

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under a contract so I could not leave.

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So at this point I'm going from 16 to 19.

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I can't leave the country because I'm doing shows every night.

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And after that, I started changing my immigration status.

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Then I can't leave the country because I'm changing my status.

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You're just not allowed to leave.

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You can leave the country, but you cannot come back in.

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So you have to wait for your status to clear and you pretty

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much have to wait for your green card, which is another two years.

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Long story short, after that, I didn't have enough money to go back to Russia.

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So then I had another year or two where I just couldn't go.

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And I remember seven years after leaving my family, mother called

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me and she said, I feel like I'm gonna die and I will not see you.

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Can you figure out a way to come and visit me?

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And I remember going back.

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Seven years later, I was in my twenties now a whole different person

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than my family remember me being.

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And I didn't know how to talk to my family.

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I was visiting them for the first time and I have this whole other

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life that I've been living and they're still, expect me to be the

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16-year-old girl who's coming back.

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anyways, it took a couple of days to get comfortable again and find

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our language again as a family.

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But I remember thinking, I have to make sure to visit them once a year

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so I don't forget who my family is.

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Yeah.

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I love these very powerful and emotional stories, and thank you

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for sharing them with not only us, but all of our listeners.

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And since we're here, in this energy, right?

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America granted you a wonderful opportunity, but at what personal cost?

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Some of you are both sharing that now, but what is one sacrifice

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that you rarely share publicly?

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Maybe something that you haven't thought of for a while or something that most

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people like Dave and myself, who were born here might not even recognize or realize.

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Let's start with whoever,

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Whoever's ready to speak first,

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whoever's ready to speak.

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Exactly.

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so with Lana, go ahead.

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I feel like definitely being in a realization that the sacrifice of the

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family was so big, and I feel like in other countries, the structures in

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Kazakhstan and Russia, Ukraine, the family structure is very close very intertwined.

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Losing that, becoming all by yourself, figuring life all on your own, recognizing

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that your parents have no idea or any blueprint of what your life is going to

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be like, they cannot guide you recognizing that people in America cannot really

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guide you because they have no clue of what it takes build yourself and

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to become something in this country.

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And therefore, the big sacrifice is a growing up that needs

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to happen extremely fast.

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You absolutely cannot mess up in any shape or form because if you mess up in

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any way, you are going to be get departed and you are going right back home.

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You have to figure yourself out.

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You have to stay in a space of honor of wisdom, and it's hard.

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It's hard for a very young person in the very beginning, but definitely having no

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guidance and being so far away from the family when you lived with your family,

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majority of your life is a huge sacrifice,

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Let's see if I can add something.

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I think Solana, you said it perfectly.

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It's you lose that and you're right.

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Family also doesn't realize how hard it is here

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right?

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they think about America.

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You're getting paid now you're getting paid way more than we

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You're making so much money, you're fine.

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You are fine.

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And you, but then you have to realize everything is so much more expensive

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and legal fees are astronomical here.

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And back to my immigration story.

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I came here legally, everything was great, but then as I was

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applying for my citizenship I did it myself without any lawyers.

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And I remember not hearing back and I'm like, something is going on with my case.

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It's been a while.

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Something is not right.

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I keep calling.

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They keep telling me like, you have to wait for the official letter.

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They would not say anything over the phone.

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And I remember getting that official letter.

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There was so many pages saying that my citizenship was denied due to.

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This agent that I had 10 years prior to this case, and I remember

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thinking, okay, what's next?

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I can't, there's no one, there's no phone number to call back

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and clarify what's going on.

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So I had to, I remember overnight and luckily at that time I had some savings

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and overnight, that was over 10 years ago, I had to come up with $5,000, find a

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lawyer and see if we can restart my case.

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And other thing not many people talk about is how many lawyers are such

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fraud when it comes to immigration?

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Thank you.

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paying $5,000 and this person restarted my case.

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And then we were still waiting.

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I remember saying, Hey, my green card is about to expire.

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I need to get some kind of paperwork back saying that it's okay or

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extension for my green card.

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And he was saying it would be another $7,000 if we wanna expedite it.

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And obviously I didn't wanna do this.

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At that time I was traveling so much for different conferences and I came

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back from New York and I opened this letter and it says, congratulations,

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you now will be an American.

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Come to this place.

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I was traveling for two weeks, so it said, come tomorrow.

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And I'm like, oh my gosh, what if I stayed in New York a little longer?

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I would've missed this letter.

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And if you don't show up for your appointment, you then wait for three to

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five extra years to get an appointment.

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And there's no one to talk to.

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You just have to hope the paperwork is doing its work.

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Wow.

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Yeah that's wild.

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so you said thank you to Olga when she mentioned that about a lot

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of lawyers being scam artists.

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Do you have more information on that?

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Many of that?

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So many of them.

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I got scammed by two and finally Juan was able to pull something together.

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That's all to say

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I

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to find.

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And actually how much did it,

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to get scanned?

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So many times.

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yeah, so first time it was $5,000.

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really all you do for the first couple years, you work for the legal fees.

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just, I lived with five other It was five of us in one bedroom apartment for two

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years, and we were saving everything.

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We were working two through three jobs and it was all going to the legal

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fees and we were sharing the rent.

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That ended up being like $150 a person.

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are the lucky ones.

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Exactly.

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came in here and we didn't have to escape prosecution and

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really work under the table.

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Minimum wage where you cannot even save up for any type of legal fees.

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So what kept you both going?

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You're here in the land of freedom you're facing of these invisible barriers that

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you weren't told about, that you weren't aware of, that no one guided you through.

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be so persistent?

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Because there was no other choice.

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The going back into nothingness, into no hope, least for me,

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into no life was not an option.

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I was willing to suffer, to struggle to go without, to.

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Cry nights and days to do whatever it takes.

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Just to have this opportunity to make something of myself, I would do the

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same thing back home in a different way.

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Still struggle, still very hard and there was absolutely no promise that

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it would change in any point of life.

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For me I feel like when I. Got to this country.

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I was 16.

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I was still forming as an adult.

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I became a completely different person who is optimistic, loves life.

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And I feel like in Russia I was more serious and I was more afraid of things.

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So going back for me would mean going back to being afraid

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and not be a go-getter, be a

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Yeah.

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for me.

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That's how different, when I speak Russian, I'm a different person.

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When I speak English, I am just bubbly.

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I love everything.

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Everything is possible.

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Everyone can achieve anything.

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In Russia, I would've been, I don't have education.

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I'm a nobody.

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I don't know what I'll do here.

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Where in America, not saying that non-educational no education

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gets you far in America, but in America you can build a dream.

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Where in Russia.

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Everyone looks at the paperwork before they give you an opportunity.

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Yeah.

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Fascinating.

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So I think now is a really beautiful time to just start making this unique

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pivot into would you tell others who are working on coming into this

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country other immigrants who To experience the exact same life and

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opportunities and freedom as yourself.

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What do you start telling those people presently?

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I'll say don't unless you times over.

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First of all, it's a lot harder.

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I've been here for 25 years.

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Everything is a lot more expensive.

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There is more opportunity, but there's also less opportunity.

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The way I see it, a lot of industries are collapsing from

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my end, from where I came from.

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I had this conversation with my brother, I immigrated my mom here eight years ago.

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I was talking to my brother because when conflict between Russia

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and Ukraine started my brother said, maybe I'll just leave.

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And we had a conversation.

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I realized I don't think I'll have to support my brother, because I

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think it's gonna be really hard for him to break into this country

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at his age and build a new life.

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So beautifully said.

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I would say that America is definitely a country of dreamers country

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of entrepreneurs, visionaries.

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It is not a country of safety.

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It is not a country for workers.

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And if you do not have this entrepreneurial spirit within you,

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if you are not able just to move with the waves of the politics and

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unsettled energies and still hold the vision, this is not the country.

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There are other countries to immigrate that are a lot more stable.

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America has never been stable, but also it is still, in my opinion, the

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greatest country that exist in a world with no matter how many problems we

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are experiencing right now, opportunity for the ones that are feeling their

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within and the desire to bring their dream into the reality exists here.

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And I

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I like that.

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is for the younger crowd, maybe I'm projecting, but imagining myself

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immigrating now in my forties, I think it would be a lot harder.

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But when I was young and I was just full of energy and no fear of anything,

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like anything goes, this is just gonna be another lesson I'm gonna learn.

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I feel like I'm a lot more safe now.

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So if you're young, there's still a lot of room.

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I so agree with that.

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People ask me all the time, how did you do it?

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How did you immigrate?

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Weren't you afraid?

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I'm like, no, I was 19 delusional.

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Life is amazing.

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Nothing can go.

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I'm wrong.

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Everything is working out for me.

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Like you need to have this like young, naive optimism to keep believing, right?

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I feel like the people who have been really put down by life, it becomes

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so difficult to believe and when you are young, you just rise up and you

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keep believing and you really need to have that quality to make it in us.

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I agree.

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I'm extremely interested about the answer to this question.

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So if both of you amazing humans could redesign.

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Just one step in the path from arrival to citizenship, what would that change be?

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First of all, I love my struggling story.

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I feel like it makes me who I am today, so I would not change anything.

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However, let me think about this.

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Go ahead with Lana.

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So if I were in a position to change the immigration reform the way it is right

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now, I definitely would not send people.

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Back to their countries because to come into this country, especially to

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go through the borders, to go through the rivers, to go through the oceans,

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you have to be so desperate without having any opportunity in life really

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see a little bit of glimpse of light that exists in this country to do that.

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And if someone has raised their lives, relationships, everything.

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They put everything in the line and they are already here.

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And America has been a country of opportunities and

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believing in their dreams.

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would grant them an opportunity for a dream.

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And the way it would look is that I would give, it'll be something

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different like a new type of visa, a visa that doesn't exist yet.

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And it would be for the people who are here illegally now they have this

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type of visa for two years they will need to renew it every two years.

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And obviously if there is any crime two years, they cannot renew

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it and they have to be sent back.

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But with that visa, now you have, maybe it's not social security,

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maybe it is a different card.

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You are able to pay taxes.

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So you are paying into the system of America.

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You are not just being paid under the table and then in two years

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your visa no, that visa gets renewed and you have another two years.

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And so you can start creating and building life in America.

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And around eight year mark, believe it is a. Time that you've proven that

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you want to be here, that you are a good person, that you are paying your

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taxes, that you are working very hard.

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And during that time, you can apply for the green card and then

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within two years you'll receive it.

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So it'll be a 10 year immigration process.

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And yes, there are so many different parts to it.

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I believe yes, children should go to school.

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The healthcare, none of us gets any healthcare.

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We all pay for the healthcare.

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So those people will need to pay for the healthcare.

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So I do not believe that we need to give them anything extra than

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the American people are getting.

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And it's okay to have a harder condition for them, but at least we can give

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them an opportunity to do and make something of themselves in this country.

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Yeah,

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This is what I would do.

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and it's like building a credit score.

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I like your system a lot.

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You're building your credit score, you're proving that you're a reliable person year

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after year, and you get more opportunity.

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yeah, the problem is that there's such a long wait to get a green

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card or to get any kind of response.

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I have a friend who is under the asylum case right now for eight years and similar

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situation, pay the lawyer this much fee, pay more if you want it expedited.

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She's not able to pay more.

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So she's been waiting and she finally gets her letter saying, come for.

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They interview her lawyer says, I don't have time because we have

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so many clients we have to take care of, so we have to delay it.

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Which I don't know how long she's now stuck in that waiting line.

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It may just bring something up.

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is all of the problems of poor people.

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This is all of the problems of the people that do not have money.

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Because if you live in another country right now and you have $800,000 to invest,

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you have your green card in eight months.

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This program been around forever.

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It is still here.

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It is still available.

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So everything we are talking about, the opportunity is so hard, it

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doesn't exist for regular people.

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If you have wealth, can be the biggest douche on the planet earth.

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And yes, you will get a green card and your spouse and your children under 21,

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the game is played very differently.

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And that angers me a little bit.

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so you brought up a very good, interesting point though that is gonna create a little

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bit of confusion because you mentioned that in order to be here in America,

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you need an entrepreneurial spirit.

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And guess who the people are.

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They're gonna create the wealth in different countries who have the

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amount of money to pay for that visa.

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It's gonna be people that have the entrepreneurial spirit, are the

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people that have the money in their countries to come over and pay for that.

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So you're rewarding the exact same people.

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You're just doing it faster.

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I hear your point, and I agree with your point, and I agree with a part

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of the point because it is also people that are not entrepreneurial.

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The ones that come from a rich family, the ones that have been given everything,

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the one that didn't make innocent out of themselves and their country.

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And that is a majority of them, they have money, not because

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they started from ground zero.

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Like a lot of people do in America and they become something, it's very hard

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to start from ground zero and become a multimillionaire in Russia, in Kazakhstan,

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in Mexico, especially doing it a right way without mafia, without corruption, without

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all shady stuff with the government.

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So while I love the idea that those are entrepreneurial people, the majority

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of those people are just being born with a golden spoon and the people

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that come from wealth, and therefore money gives them this opportunity.

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And Jerremy and I talked to a top immigration attorney, our last

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series on this, uh, a couple of weeks back, and she agrees with Yu Laa.

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Like we, we need a different set of, uh.

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It needs to be different.

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Like for instance, if you are a world class entrepreneur and you wanna

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start a business in a place like the United States, it has rule of law and

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it has like actual like the people that you need in order to build that.

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You can't get a visa.

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If you're a top salesperson, if you, if you're running a business here

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in the United States and you're top salesperson is in Mexico or Canada or

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Europe, they can't get a visa like it.

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Sure.

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If you're a scientist, yeah, you can get a visa.

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But if you are anything else, like, if you want to build something that

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is unique in America, forget it.

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It's incredibly difficult.

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So, Svetlana, you and, and a top immigration attorney completely agree,

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like we, we can't have this tied directly to business because businesses

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also feel very shackled in this.

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We need this, tied to the person and what they can do.

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And that's, that seems very American to so many people.

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But what I, we also heard a lot from you about.

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Sacrifices and scams and uncertainty and fear and this medieval bureaucracy.

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I, first, I am, I applaud you.

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Like the amount of bravery that it would take for me to even think about this

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at 16, 17, 18 years old is nowhere.

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Like the bravery that it takes for somebody to pick up and be

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like I'm going thousands of miles away and I'm gonna give it a shot.

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Thank you.

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That's amazing.

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And tell me a good story about your immigration journey.

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Was there a moment where you said, wow, this is home.

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The moment I got a passport and the tears were rolling down my eyes and my

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cheeks and just I remember going yes.

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And my passport and going into the ceremony and going through the citizenship

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and just recognizing that moment.

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Everything that it took at that point already.

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My first husband he died and that was another crazy thing.

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It was that if you are married, you get a green card, and then if you're

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still married, then it is three years.

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You can apply for citizenship, not if your husband dies.

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Now you have to wait longer.

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So there we are three more years later, and I felt like so much life

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happened by daytime, so much grief, but so much also amazing things.

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And really being there and being in that energy and recognizing, wow,

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like that was a moment of freedom.

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was a moment of, from this point on, do anything I wanted to do.

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I can create all the light, I can create any business.

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I can really step into my voice, into my power.

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Because you have those papers.

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You are always looking back and wondering if it's going to be

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taken away and at what moment.

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Yeah.

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And for me, that happened 15 years into my journey in America, which

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it doesn't change at this point.

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I am an American in my heart and I'm still worried what's gonna happen next because

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I don't have this paperwork aligning.

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But I remember thinking, oh, yes I have all the American spirit

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and this is my country, and I'll do whatever it takes to be here.

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For me, it was September 11th.

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I remember waking up in the morning and we had to do a circus show that

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morning and the plane hit the building and I remember feeling so I will do

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anything for this country to protect it, to be here, to fight for it.

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And that was my moment where I knew that I'm definitely gonna

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stay in this country forever.

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We did a series.

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In this series we talked to second and third generation.

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They described a phenomenon that Jerremy and I had never heard about,

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and I think they called it Jerremy.

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Do you remember what it was called?

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It was like crab potting

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Yeah

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and I, believe it or not, I heard it last night from my brother, from another

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mother, because his father is Austrian.

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And it's the, I did it the right way.

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I did it the hard way.

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And damn it, like it has to be hard for other people too.

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Almost like pulling the ladder up behind you.

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Have you experienced that in communities here in the United States

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or with other people like yourself?

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I mean always talk about how I did the hard way and every time I

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recognize there is an easier route being taken, I am upset about it.

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'cause I had to work really hard and I have to be and figure out

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ways and, have a second job.

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Do whatever it takes to make it work.

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And when somebody is.

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Saying, oh, for example, my whole thing is when you come to this country, I

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remember I spoke zero English, and I would sit in my circus trailer

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with a dictionary and I would study.

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That was my goal, to study 10 words a day.

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I instructed all of my Russian friends do not speak Russian to

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me because I'm in this country.

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I have to be able to speak the language.

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And I didn't speak to anybody for three months because I was

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studying, trying to get better.

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And then I went out, I went to our wardrobe lady and I decided to practice

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my English, and she responded back and she was so excited because the first time

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I spoke and she's blah, blah, blah, blah.

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I was like, oh my gosh, I'm not speaking for another six months.

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This is too intimidating.

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But I remember, so anytime I see people in this country who are not

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putting that type of effort, I get very frustrated because I remember at

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16 I could have been running around.

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Spending my money at the mall, but I was sitting in my trailer learning

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how to speak this language so I can respect this country as a foreigner.

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I feel and I really believe that at some point we need to put down the hardship

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story because otherwise it's just going to penetrate more and more hardship into

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the world and it's never going to end.

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If you come in America as an immigrant, it's going to be hard.

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It's going to be difficult.

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It is new.

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Yes, there are easier ways and they exist right now.

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People immigrate, people win green cards, and they come here

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on a green card that they want.

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But guess what?

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It's still difficult to figure out this world to figure out

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America and how it works.

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And so even though their journey not as difficult as ours or the

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way, my mind might perceive what hustle and struggle needs to be,

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everyone goes through their struggle.

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Who am I to say that your struggle is less of a struggle than my struggle?

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And why do we need to be so attached to everyone's freaking struggle and

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being broken apart in order to be deserving or worthy of something?

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So yes, maybe at some point we need to start leaning more into the

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healing versus just attaching to the story of how difficult my life was.

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Therefore, everyone else's life supposed to be difficult.

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It needs to be difficult because this is a story that creates so

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much distortion in the world.

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Is the story that creates.

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It just creates so much war and so much trauma all over the

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world, and not only in America.

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And at some point we'll need to start creating a different story.

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We had it hard.

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We can help out other generation to stand on our shoulders.

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We can guide them and we can show them a little more different way

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so that my children do not need to have it as hard because guess what?

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They will figure out.

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Their heart life will be life.

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be doing itself for them, and everyone will have an experience to grow into

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what they need to be grown into.

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That's a beautiful point of view, hearing the struggle stories

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for me gives me more hope.

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I know it's possible when I hear that someone overcomes something.

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And for sure, our children obviously are not gonna experience

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the hardships that we had.

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Have at easy just by being born here,

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We hope so.

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That's true.

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We hope so.

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Oh my gosh,

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So on that note then, on that topic, so far, everyone we've interviewed or

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everyone we've talked to has had a similar viewpoint on this question, so I'm very

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excited to see what you two both think.

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Should we open the borders, then make it very easy.

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If you're an immigrant, come.

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I have a twofold answer on this.

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Okay.

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and for me, being in my forties.

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Getting so lucky and having my first child, and maybe

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that's the only one I'll have.

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I constantly think about population decline or birth rates declining birth

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rate rates decline all over the world.

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And I feel like America has always been so strong because we have so much

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immigration and because we have so many more people that are being born.

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But now that rate is also declining and to thrive in the economy, we have

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to have new people that are constantly being born and working into the system.

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Let's say because of that, I feel like immigration is very needed

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for the countries to survive moving forward, opening up the borders,

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but at the same time opening up the borders and anyone comes.

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I feel like that's just gonna create a flood that is gonna be harder to manage

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or given everyone enough opportunity, but at the same time, I feel like

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immigration is very important part of the longevity for any country.

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I love this Olga, and I believe also it's not black and white.

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Nothing is black and white.

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We can say open the borders and don't open the borders.

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Absolutely.

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So yes, nothing is black and white.

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That is just open the border or close the border.

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We saw the border open and it was it shit show, and with saw it closed, then

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it's is so much fear that is going on and still NN not a great state to be in.

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As with everything, there needs to be a creative solution.

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It needs to be a new mindset, a new heart set that can look at it

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and say, okay, how can we do it?

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How we can maybe not open it, but crack open it.

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How can we allow people who are truly incredible that want an

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opportunity, they're going to do really good for this country?

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How can we allow them to come?

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Can there be a process for it?

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Can there be a group of people that interviews them?

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I definitely lean more into yes, versus just shut it down and let it

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be just for I, I feel like it's going to be so unnatural to America because

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it is a country of immigration, like that's going to be a very new

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America that we don't even know yet.

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And again, I don't know, maybe it is going to be a great America, maybe not,

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but it's going to be very different in my belief system, is that the

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door needs to be cracked open and the opportunity for people who are truly

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wanted to be here needs to exist.

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And we definitely have to have a new path to immigration under financial

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sector where there has to be a way where if I come to this country and

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I'm working minimum wage, there has to be some kind of immigration loan

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that is taken out of my paycheck, then maybe I don't even see that money.

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It just goes to that loan.

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So I have this fund to pay for legal fees, but I feel like none of that is set up.

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So everyone is just trying to skip by.

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when they're faced with a hard problem, then they have nothing to offer for that.

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And then people are just stuck and hiding and just creates this very hard

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process for anyone who is involved, who even wants to do it the proper way.

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Sure.

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There's some people who are just.

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Maybe they're here and they're just not trying to do it the right way.

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I'm sure there's a small percentage of people who are like that, but a lot

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of people want to do it right way, but they're not able to and creating some

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kind of a system where they could pay into it, even if it's a small amount.

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So there is paper trail that they're trying to do it the right way.

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Yeah.

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One of the words that both of you have used a few times now is legal, right?

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Legal system.

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And it also sounds like for our listeners and for, the thousands

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of people that tune into this every show and every week, from a private

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opportunity, a legal application.

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Literally a software, AI to help speed this up.

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Seems like a really great opportunity ultimately the threshold and the

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bottleneck sounds like it's very tied up into the legal system and to someone or

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numerous individuals looking at paperwork, seeing paperwork, seeing the application,

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making the decision, making the process.

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Right now there are thousands and thousands of judges, lawyers, courts,

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all tied up into just immigration where every single story is different.

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it also sounds like there is some solution there where if that process

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got sped up rather than 10 years, that number, that word, that phrase

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has been thrown around a few times, 10 years is a long fucking time.

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That's a decade.

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Let's figure out a way to get that process down to, are you a citizen in three years?

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Yes or no?

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if you pass something, if you into something, if you get a credit system

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built up we should figure out a way to be able to shorten that process.

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Because think a lot of it would be minimizing that paper trail,

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minimizing the time that a human has to look at certain applications.

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Do you think I'm on the right path there?

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I love your thinking and I love this path very much.

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And also the observation that anything that needs to be implemented

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in the government or in the legal or in the insurance world,

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like everything takes forever.

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And the pushback is so huge and for the allowing of AI to come in is going to be.

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big.

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So I'm not sure if just entrepreneurial individual with this idea can

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bring it into the government.

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I feel like it'll need to be a government's desire, and at least right

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now for where we at in America, there is no government desire for any of it.

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I think I have a solution.

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You guys, we take

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it to us.

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50% of the new ice agents and we give them a job processing claims instead.

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And I think we solve the problem in the waiting list.

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We'll need to heal them a little bit first.

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Yeah.

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But we'd spend so much more money deporting people.

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It would be better spent getting people in the office processing these

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claims because there's so much Gold is also there that could elevate

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this country on the whole next level.

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And unfortunately, these people aren't hiding because they're terrifi.

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Yeah, that's a great way to put it.

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I think many people, especially US citizens or people that have this

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extremely strict view on immigration, fail to realize that the top, I'd

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probably wager to say the top 15 richest individuals in the world that

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live in the United States of America immigrated here including Elon Musk.

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So ultimately a lot of incredible humans, a lot of incredible ideas, beliefs.

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When people get too stuck on the immigration policy and they try to make it

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extremely strict, they very often forget to both of your points, which you've made

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earlier, the history of America, this country was built on immigrants, right?

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Give us your sick, give us your tired.

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Give us your hungry.

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We will feed them.

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We will clothe them.

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That's what made this country great and to be the greatest country in the world.

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We still have the greatest problems, and this is one of them, right?

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Very few countries face the problem at scale that we do regarding immigration.

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They all face it, especially countries that have borders, France, Germany,

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England, Spain, Portugal, right?

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There's a many other countries that have immigration problems.

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It's just not to the scale that we do.

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And so what Olga, what you're mentioning is, Hey, you have

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this humongous budget, right?

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ICE is now the 17th military organization in the world with the stroke of a pin,

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seemingly to me is a little bit excessive, the money that's spent on just simply

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deporting people who were here illegally.

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And you figure out a way to blend it with what fella said earlier, which

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was, Hey, you're all approved, but you have to buy into this system.

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And you have half of the individuals that were brought in for ICE to process

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a claim, to give people, to talk to people, to communicate, to have

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conversations, put 'em into a system.

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And I think you used the word credit check earlier or building

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your credit report essentially.

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Building your immigration credit I think does have a lot of validation

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to it and a lot of validity.

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I think we should propose this.

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I think we should run for office.

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Fantastic.

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I love this.

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Dave, you're ready to say something?

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When we're talking about solutions, we've talked a lot about sort of

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the legal aspects, and I know a lot of this is wrapped up in legal.

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Your process was wrapped up in legal.

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Everyone that we've talked to second and third generation, critics,

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supporters, advocates, lawyers, everyone has said that by far America is the

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best in the world at integrating people from all over the planet.

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Tell me about the cultural integration.

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I'll give you an example.

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I live in Miami.

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English is very much the second language.

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If you don't speak Spanish here, you're at a huge disadvantage.

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And I've never been anywhere in the United States quite like that.

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And all of the people we've talked to said one of the things that their parents

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emphasized, and, heard you say it as well.

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English was so critical, and just that small cultural shift of saying,

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Hey, English is going to be important.

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We're going to teach it, we're gonna make sure it's

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immersive, is a real big step up.

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So tell me a little bit about your cultural journey.

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Oh, the other thing that everybody said particularly second

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generation, is they love their culture mainly through the food.

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Tell me about the cultural aspects.

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Things that aren't about politics or about the administration

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or about the laws around this.

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What would you say maybe to immigrants before they're arriving?

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Something about improving their odds about building a life here in the United States.

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I say that English, absolutely.

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If you speak the language, you have opportunity.

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If you don't speak the language, you have very limited

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opportunities, almost nothing.

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if you actually wanted to succeed in America, you have to speak the language.

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And the better language you speak, the more opportunities

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you will have to get better jobs right away to create more income.

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Therefore, that income will help you to pay for the legal

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fees and everything else.

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If you don't speak English, you will be working under the table somewhere and

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it'll be very difficult journey for you.

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I agreed and when I was 17, I was barely speaking English and I got lost in Miami.

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And you're right, no one spoke English and I don't know how I got home.

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I got lost in the gas station.

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And I think that's why I have such a strong, like everyone

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have to speak the language.

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If I'm in this country, I have to understand you and I'm doing

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my best to communicate with you.

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So I want everyone else to communicate with the same language back.

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Let's flip this around a little bit.

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A lot of this is like federal because that's where it's at.

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What could communities or neighborhoods or groups do to

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make this easier for immigrants?

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I have to go back to the immigrant themselves.

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You have to have the discipline and the will to put in the work.

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It doesn't matter what communities can set up for you, but if you don't wanna put in

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that work, there is all of these available things around you would not be helpful.

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And I believe there is quite a bit, at least in Las Vegas,

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going on in the community.

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I know there are all kind of English classes in the libraries.

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That can be taken.

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Yes.

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sometimes it's inconvenient.

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And again, immigrants, a lot of times they don't have a car, they cannot drive.

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The bus system is not very good, but things are available and if you want

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to, you can find a way to get there.

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my mother went through some of those classes.

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A friend of mine also did and it really helped her and she is doing

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really right now and she didn't speak any English when she came to states.

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So I believe that if you thinking about coming to this country, you have to speak

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English, start the process right away.

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And what about the role of mentorship, How could that play a part in this?

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From more established immigrants helping newcomers to integrate faster?

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Is that something that we should create?

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That's mandatory, that's optional.

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That's more open, more aware, more available, easier to access.

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Would that help?

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I feel like it would help, absolutely.

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I think it's a really great idea to create something like that.

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at least in my experience, there is almost this unspoken code of immigrants that

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when you meet another one that been in a country a little bit less, you help out

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and you educate and you show the way, and you show the path and you engage.

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it was a part of my past.

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And I know that it's been a pa now.

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It's been a part of my past back.

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And so there is almost like this unspoken code that I see you and I understand

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your struggle and if I can make your struggle just a little bit less.

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Just by even sharing that and understanding that or helping

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in some kind of way or the connection, I'm here for you.

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And I see that culture, quite a bit with immigrants.

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We definitely we see each other and we know the difficulty

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that we are going through.

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And I think with us Eastern Europeans, I feel like we always find our tribe

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and everybody has different stories.

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So then you're like, oh, this is available and this is available.

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Okay, I can do it this way and that way.

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So we definitely have that.

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But creating something specifically to help immigrants is just, immigrated to

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Los Angeles, it would be so hard to find that pocket and like, where's that pocket?

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Oh, is it 10 miles away, three miles away?

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But it's still gonna take me an hour to get there to talk to somebody.

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It just becomes a lot of barriers.

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So those pockets have to be available all over the place.

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So people like, oh, I'm in Culver City and around the corner there's a

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group that meets about immigration, and I can learn more things and

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see how I can advance myself here.

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But I believe right now with the world that we are in, even right now,

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that we are having the conversation in such a way we can actually have

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something more central that is online.

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We can build systems online, we can have the communities, we can have maybe

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people that facilitate and they're willing to give their time online.

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And guess what?

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You can go to library and access a computer for an hour.

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So with the internet being where it is at, I feel like it is definitely very possible

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to create support for the immigrants that is led by other immigrants.

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And I love this idea, Jerremy.

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In 2025 and beyond, I would say that probably 98% of every human that's in the

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US is gonna have access to a cell phone.

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And with every flip, phones are gone.

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So pretty much every phone's gonna have access to cell towers.

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And if you have access to cell towers, you have access to internet, which again,

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makes it faster and easier and obtainable.

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'cause again, really what I'm doing and the point of this entire show, as

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we all know is solving the problems, coming up with solutions where dilate and

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discern and dictate and both myself and Dave sit down and then just collaborate

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on what we've actually learned and what we think would work because I do

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plan on running for office all again.

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I want to implement a lot of changes and shifts and opportunities

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that I think could be faster or just, more available or easier.

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I do believe that there does.

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Need to be a sprinkle of hardship, meaning prove yourself.

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If you're gonna come to this country, we wanna make sure that you're an

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incredible human being, but at the same exact instance, that can be

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something that should be simpler than it is now which is fun.

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But just as an exciting question that I think would be enjoyable for me

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and Dave to hear what's one thing you still find confusing about us culture?

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Eating mashed potatoes with cranberry sauce.

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I would go with mashed potatoes with the skin on top too.

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Okay.

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We never, ever, we had all eaten like that are not cooked, or

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broccoli that is not cooked.

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Oh, honey, on top of fried chicken,

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Oh, first of all, honey, on everything is amazing to be

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GRA Gravy.

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I got comfortable with the skins and potatoes because I've learned that

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there's so many more vitamins in the skin.

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So I'm like, okay, I'll deal with that.

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I'm thinking, like I'm such an American now.

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My mom would always say, oh, you're such an American now.

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And it's because, I prioritize work and I like to accomplish things and

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I like certain things certain way.

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What a great compliment to be called American.

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I guess if my mom were to answer this question, she would say, what a weird

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concept of putting ice in your water.

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No ice in water, please.

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That was the biggest thing.

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So do you still find yourself doing that still?

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I

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I.

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I chill my water, but I don't put ice in it.

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She was like, I don't need any ice.

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I'm like, how?

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How are you drinking this water with no ice?

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This is mind blowing to me.

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Yep.

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There you

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There you

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I went the other way.

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My boo is Turkish.

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I couldn't even imagine ice and water at this point.

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So you both mentioned food.

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What is your comfort food?

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In Russia, I grew up eating pelini, which is the meat dumplings, and I ate them

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ever since I was seven years old, and I'm still obsessed with it in America.

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So many foods, I love Indian food.

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Is that an answer?

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That's something I could never have in Russia, so I love Indian food.

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Yes, I feel like everything that was made, like bread type of things,

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like I feel like we grew up on bread.

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My grandma would be always bacon, pieros, all kind of things.

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And so every time I am in that like rooted, soulful energy, like I wanted

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to make something hardy and it would have, some element of flour in it.

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So that is definitely it.

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It's just a part of a DNA fun question for me.

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are there very few Russian restaurants.

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Good

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you, it's not that good.

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It's not,

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okay and I have to

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it's the same stuff.

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It's the same stuff.

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It's same ingredients, which just mixed up in a different way.

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mayo

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A different way.

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I don't know.

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I have to disagree a little bit because I love Russian food, but my partner is

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American and he is I cannot have this.

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This is, it is just, everything is mixed with Mayo.

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I just cannot have this couple of things he enjoys, but he would

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never wake up in the morning.

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He's Hey, we should go out tonight.

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Let's go to a Russian restaurant.

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That would never happen.

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She's never requested that.

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Exactly.

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It's never once.

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Here's what happens to me.

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I do crave Russian, especially when I got pregnant.

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I was like, oh, I wanna do is eat Russian food and I would order all this Russian

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food and then it would come to me, and then I would say I could make it better

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and then I just end up making it at home.

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But I don't make it it is just a special occasion for me where

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I'll make all the Russian food.

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However, during Christmas in Russia, we would always make oreshki.

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Let's see.

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Yeah, so it's like a really it looks like a walnut and it's a cookie that

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is filled with boiled condensed milk.

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It's delicious.

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So every Christmas now I make this, and my partner is obsessed.

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And yes, Jerremy, you have to try.

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I would like a delicious cookie for Christmas.

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That sounds great.

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Oh my goodness.

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That's not what I get.

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That's not what he gets.

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Nope.

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I get herring under the fur coat for Christmas.

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no.

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He does every Christmas.

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I make that beautiful salad that he is oh my God,

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I love it.

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And we, I live in Los Angeles, so we do have a few Russian restaurants, but

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not a lot of them survive long term.

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And I remember one of my favorite restaurants in New York, it was

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Ukrainian restaurant, and it went out of business as well, but it was the best.

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And they had every single flavored vodka you could think of, and

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experience was incredible.

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And they still shut down because not a lot of people like it.

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Yeah.

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Unless if it's a Russian restaurant, unless you are Russian,

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Ukrainian, like Soviet Union, you're not going to go there.

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Yeah.

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As you said, like you're not going to wake up and say, I'm going to go

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to Russian restaurant for experience.

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You might do it once.

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You'll taste their foot and you're like, I will be just fine.

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I'll open this question up for Dave also or anyone who wants to answer.

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What's the biggest myth Americans believe about immigrants?

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That we are taking their jobs.

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Okay.

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I feel it is a crazy myth.

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A lot of those jobs that I've been right now done by immigrants, most of the

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immigrants that do not speak the language, Americans don't wanna do those jobs.

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Like Americans are privileged.

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They want things easy.

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They do not want to work more than 40 hours.

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They do not want to work three jobs.

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And they also very entitled and feel like they do just the best job ever

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they didn't actually see other jobs.

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And yes, a lot of times we have to do those jobs because Americans don't

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wanna do those jobs and those are the only jobs that are available.

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when I was illegal, I was putting flyers, pizza flyers at 6:00 AM

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in someone else's apartments.

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Like what American Wakes up was like, this is my job, don't take my job.

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Please take it fine.

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I also

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yes, go ahead.

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for your previous question.

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You said the culture shock, what was the biggest thing where you're like, oh,

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you in America now, like what happened?

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I was in a circus.

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I was 16.

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We were rehearsing our show and I remember we're in the middle of rehearsing one of

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the acts and something was not working.

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We just had to figure out how to fit it into the show.

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And I remember somebody walks in and goes, okay, it's lunch everybody.

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And my mind was blown.

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In Russia, you don't take lunch.

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You work until you fix the problem.

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Where in America you have labor laws and you have to stop, and you have to

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let people go, have lunch, and then you come back and you start over, which a

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lot of times it'll take you longer to get going, but that's just how it goes.

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I think my answer depends on where you're at, right?

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I think, you know, I grew up in Washington, DC and I think if you're

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in an urban environment, I think one of the biggest myths that you have

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are immigrants are really great.

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And the reality is, is immigrants are just immigrants and they're just people, right?

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And I think if you live outside of urban environments, immigrants are

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really scary and they're othered.

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And then I've seen it in communities where maybe agricultural communities,

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immigrants are just integrated.

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So I think it really just sort of depends, you know, like there, there

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seems to be like odd black and white.

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Mentalities around things.

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And when we remove those barriers you know, like, it's like, wow, these

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are just people and they just are, they're just from someplace else.

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But then again, you know, like if you spend any time in America, you

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are from someplace else, right?

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Like, I'm, I'm from Washington, I lived in San Francisco, I lived in Miami.

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Like, I'm from somewhere else.

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And it's just, it's just people.

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So that's what I think the myths around immigration are, is that

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it gets black and white and it's like, nah, people are people.

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People are people.

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That is a statement from DC Dave Conley.

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Very accurate as well.

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All good.

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Just wanna say thank you so much for taking your time to be here

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and share with us your stories.

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Share with us your victories of how you overcame and how you are now just

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such a rockstar American who creates value for people all over the world.

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And it's Ana.

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Thank you for sharing with us different opinions, beliefs, thoughts on how we can

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collaborate and come together as humans, as citizens to embark on love and healing.

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It's gonna be an incredible episode for every single person to listen.

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And please feel free to share this episode with any of your friends

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if they are immigrants or not.

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We would love a five star review and they can share this episode.

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They can tag us, solve USA Pod on X, or Solving America's Problems.

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on Instagram, Olga Solana.

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you so much for your time.

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Thank you for having us.

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. What did we learn, Dave?

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What did we learn?

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What did we learn?

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One thing that I definitely learned is the rhetoric.

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The advertisement that come to America.

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We have everything that you want, your dreams, the opportunity

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that's still very much alive and probably has been and probably will

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continue to be for a very long time.

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This is another statement by you that we as a country have.

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The best immigration policy process, although it's still flawed and it's

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still archaic and still muddied at times, comparatively, we're still nailing it.

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We're still doing quite well.

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And that brings me hope because there, there can certainly be changes, there

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can certainly be shifts, and I think Solana in this episode said that

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really the mindset probably could, that could shift into is just one of.

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Abundance, one of opportunity, one of prosperity.

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One that saying, Hey, there's plenty to go around.

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There's more than enough.

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We can figure this out.

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It's okay for us to do that, right?

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It's okay for us to go, Hey, listen, we need more immigrants.

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We want more people.

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This is going to be something that's gonna provide more versus take away from, right?

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That scarcity mindset of if immigrants come into this nation, then.

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If Americans aren't gonna have any jobs, I think you need to be worried

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a lot more about robots and AI taking your jobs than you do immigrants.

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That's actually happening for sure.

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So we need to continue to figure out a way.

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To build together, to create more, to scale more, to entertain

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more, to have more, right.

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That's really the mindset of abundance, and I think that the right people

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in place, the right policy changes, the right metrics and the right

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discussions, the right stories, the right conversations and communications,

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I think would create space for that.

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And I also learned that in probably about six of our overall general topics.

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Police reform being one of them, and now immigration, that it's the legal

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process that is one of the largest bottlenecks and probably the thing

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that needs to get solved the fastest.

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What did you learn DC.

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I learned that immigrants are tough as nails.

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They're.

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Bad asses.

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Bad.

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I hear people complaining about their coffee, right?

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And the hoops, the bureaucracy the fear.

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I don't think that the vast majority of people, certainly

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the vast majority of Americans.

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Would put up with any of that.

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If we had anything that we had to do as native born Americans, that

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was a of what immigrants have to go through, we would lose our minds.

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There would be riots in the streets.

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Every politician be thrown out like it would be bedlam.

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kept on going and we did it.

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I am blown away about, their bravery and the grit.

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And I don't think that story is heard about immigrants because

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their story is not unique.

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Their story is pretty typical, even easier in some ways.

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One of the big things I've learned through this series is.

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America is so good at this and equally awful at it.

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And the immigrants who go through this process and become American

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citizens are like super citizens.

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Like they are patriotic and they are proud.

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And they are strong and they're tough.

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And like they come here and they succeed over and over again.

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That's what I learned, like it sucks and they are.

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Amazing.

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Just truly amazing.

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That part I do love.

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Yeah.

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When, if you come here and most people come here, I think

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Phila brought this point.

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They come here, they really wanna be here.

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They probably good chance they're risking their life.

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Or, danger, physical danger 'cause it's not easy to get here from another nation,

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FYI, so it's probably gonna be very hard.

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They wanna be here.

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You mentioned this in another place, they had to skip all the other countries

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that they could have easily gone to.

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It probably would be almost if not as safe.

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They're skipping them.

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They just go, they keep going.

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They keep walking through all the different countries

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and borders to get here.

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So the people that do make it really wanna be here, and they're

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not gonna give it up easily.

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And so they're gonna try, they're gonna produce, they're gonna provide,

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they're gonna create, and they're really going to be a bedrock of this nation.

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They're gonna be your school teachers.

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Janitors, they're gonna be your construction workers.

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They're gonna be your individuals that are building this country from

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the inside out, the people that we might not give a lot of credit to

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they're gonna win because they have to.

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It's no longer a for them, it becomes a must, and that must becomes a standard,

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and that standard dictates their life.

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I also learned, Dave, that I think that we got some solutions, man.

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I think we're getting to a point where a lot of immigrants really like the

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idea, and I do as well along with the immigration attorney, like some type

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of checklist credit, credit score esque type of approach where it's like proof

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to us have the system in place that you can, build live here, maintain, create.

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It's trackable.

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It's 2025, right?

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Like we can easily build something that's trackable, that's replicatable, that's

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easy, that's simple to install, that people can willingly sign up for and be a

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part of where they can pay into a system.

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They can be a part of the system where we do make it faster, easier,

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quicker to be a citizen here.

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So our.

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This is our final episode.

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We'll have a wrap up.

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That'll be our next one from this.

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But I want you thinking about this.

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Okay, this is my thought experiment between now and when we do

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our, what did we, our overall, what did we learn in this?

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Because I keep hearing this one thing, which is, it was

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hard and I'm better from it.

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I'm curious on the solution side, if.

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' cause we've also heard, it's oh, let's make it easier.

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Let's make it faster.

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Let's make it, and I'm wondering if no.

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We keep it hard, we just take all the stupid out of it.

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Like we keep, we pull out the bureaucracy, we pull out the confusion

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and the fear and the uncertainty.

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But it, it's still hard, right?

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Like maybe it still is this trial in a sense.

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I don't know if that's right or not, but I wanna think about it.

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Because.

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There is some value to that.

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I don't know if maybe it's not fair.

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I don't know that's what I'm gonna be thinking about.

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I ask that maybe you do too.

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Or maybe ask your lovely wife.

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In our next episode, ladies and gentlemen, it's gonna be an absolute doozy where both

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Dave and myself discuss are we removing the greatest gifts that immigrants

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give themselves, that America gives them as well the challenge to create

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and the obstacle to become better.

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We'll see you in the next episode of solving America's Problem.

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About the Podcast

Solving America's Problems
Solving America’s Problems isn’t just a podcast—it’s a journey. Co-host Jerremy Newsome, a successful entrepreneur and educator, is pursuing his lifelong dream of running for president. Along the way, he and co-host Dave Conley bring together experts, advocates, and everyday Americans to explore the real, actionable solutions our country needs.

With dynamic formats—one-on-one interviews, panel discussions, and more—we cut through the noise of divisive rhetoric to uncover practical ideas that unite instead of divide. If you’re ready to think differently, act boldly, and join a movement for meaningful change, subscribe now.