Trine
Immigrant from Denmark
“When I first came here, I thought people were very friendly. And I thought that they really were interested to learn about me and who I was and where I came from.”
Trine is an immigrant from Denmark who moved here around 14 years ago to live with her husband. She explains that the couple chose the United States over Denmark because Trine knew English from her schooling, but her husband did not know Danish. She had also traveled to the United States and participated in a student exchange program in Idaho when she was a teenager, so she felt some comfortability with the country. In our interview, she describes the differences in her experiences in the United States and Denmark and gives insight on the U.S. from the perspective of a citizen in Europe.
To begin with, we ask Trine about her preconceived ideas of the United States before she moved here. She responds by explaining,
I always thought of the United States as being a little bit of a world leader. As a kid growing up in Europe… [people] both made fun of the United States, as well as [had] a type of admiration for the country and for the leaders and for their decisive decisions and the way that they had influence on the rest of the world… The United States was always in the media, was always on the radio. No decision was taken world wide, it seemed to me as a kid, without the United States being involved one way or the other.
Trine also mentions that, “I knew that there had been a history of racial problems, specifically down south. But… I considered that as something being over and done with in a sense. And now living here for many years you realize that's not necessarily true.”
Next, we ask about challenges that Trine may have faced coming into the country. She responds,
Next, we ask about challenges that Trine may have faced coming into the country. She responds,
It was challenging to gain permission to come into the country... It was a lengthy process. It wasn't as lengthy as we had been told, but it was still a long process. There was a lot of barriers it felt like. Bureaucracy really kind of makes it difficult. Which I understand. And at the time, it was not that long after 9/11 and so there was a whole lot of talk about what countries were the ‘dangerous countries’, and immigrants from specific parts of the world could not get in or had a hard time getting permission to stay. I, luckily, because I'm from Denmark, did not have that problem. The immigration in the country was on, sort of, a certain danger alert so it felt very cumbersome.
Going back to the topic of the United States, we question Trine about her thoughts on the local community. She answers positively, saying, “It's a great community. People seem to help each other. People are thinking about their neighbors. So in that aspect, from a European point of view, it always seemed to me that Americans were very open and friendly.” However, Trine did include that, “People that would make fun of the United States would say that Americans were very superficial and say it was a superficial, surface kind of friendliness.” She did not agree on that assessment. She says, “When I first came here, I thought people were very friendly. And I thought that they really were interested to learn about me and who I was and where I came from. And they were sincerely interested in becoming friends.”
Next, we ask Trine to compare her experiences living in the Unites States and Denmark. She explains,
[In Denmark] through your taxes, your very high taxes, you will pay to the state. Some of it goes to health care or the educational system. Money [is put] into this joint pile so that people who need money because they're out of a job, or they're searching for a job, or they just lost one, or they can't work because they're sick, or any and all of those, those people get funded by the state… Schools did not need funding from anywhere. It was funded through the state. You don't need money from the parents for pencils, and for paper, and markers, and field trips… [that] was all included. Education in Denmark is free. So, that's a big difference, in just the school system alone.
We ask whether she would still have moved to the United States, if President Trump had been president at the time that she had been moving. She replies,
I don't know. I can honestly say that today I would probably be really concerned. I would probably not feel as drawn to moving here at all. That’s really sad... My comfort is in that he is only sitting for four years. Now we know obviously he could get re-elected, but I'm a very hopeful person. I really, I just can't imagine that he's going to be chosen twice. I'm not sure it went exactly the way it was supposed to go during the election... I just really think the American people did not choose Trump. There was foul play, there was other things going on, there was politics involved and money. So I find that really hard to imagine that he would be re-elected.
As an addition to her reply on whether she would still move to the U.S., Trine brings up the idea of citizenship and spoke on the matter. She says,
I'm not a U.S. citizen and people have asked me recently about whether or not I was considering it. And as of last year, Denmark did not allow dual-citizenship so it wasn't an option before. But now it is. So I was thinking a lot about it last year and was thinking about what chances and options would it give me? There's not a whole lot of benefits in becoming a U.S. citizen in my opinion. I don't know exactly what I was thinking would be the great benefits, but obviously voting is one of the things. However, the fact that somebody like Trump could get elected really, me being able to vote makes absolutely no difference.
Trine also mentions the recent travel ban as a reason she may want to pursue citizenship, but references that Denmark is not one of the countries whose travelers are being targeted. She also mentions that the cost is a deterrent as that would be money taken out of the family’s budget. She concludes, “So you put all that together with the fact that Trump is the president in a country and it does not appeal at all to have a piece of paper or a card that says that I'm a U.S. citizen. So, for now, I will not be.”