Perspective on Family Dynamic

I just want to appreciate how lucky I am that I grew up in such a nice home with not too many worries. I had a pretty normal, suburban childhood. And after a class discussion, I've become much, much more aware of how lucky I am. 

We talked about a study done on immigrant families coming from Mexico to the United States. My knowledge on immigration is limited but I know it's incredibly hard. Like, unimaginably hard. But it never occurred to me how it would effect the family dynamic (and I probably still only know a fraction of it). 

Evidently it is common for a father to go to the US first, to raise enough money for the rest of the family. He first has to deal with the fact that he's leaving his family, knowing the kind of burden it'll be for them and it'll be years before he sees them in person again since crossing the boarder which is already extremely risky and dangerous. He'll probably end up in a substandard apartment with other people, maybe other fathers from Mexico. He'll have to lay low, since it's most likely they crossed illegally. He might have a debased manual labor job. The majority of his money will probably go back to his family in Mexico. But what has a major effect on him is probably loneliness and possibly depression. It's different for everyone but some people end up doing things they regret when they're lonely or depressed. 

His family in Mexico will have to adapt. The mother might have to take a job to earn a living for her and the children which would be hard if she's traditionally with her kids all day, every day. The children may have to give up their own hobbies and take on some of the mother's typical responsibilities since she's working, like making meals, taking care of young siblings, etc., aging them about ten years. Since it's common for extended family to be involved with each other, they might pitch in or take on some of those responsibilities themselves. When the father is ready for his family to come, it's even more frightening for women and children. Since they're probably eager to cross, they might go to extremes to pay, or be sexually assaulted. 

By the time they reunite with the father, the family dynamic has already changed so much without him, trying to be thrown back in after years of being away would be incredibly hard, especially with the children having not just gotten older, but matured more. With the trauma of crossing, the stress of a huge, illegal move and having to learn a new language, I can't fathom how difficult those first few years are. On top of everything, the family has to figure out their relationships again. Both parents are probably working full time, stressful, exhausting jobs, which leaves the kids alone to deal with their own new stresses which could be bullying, depression, or even resentment towards the parents. Relationships will change, people may become more isolated perhaps because of the language barrier, or loneliness, inside and out of the family, more than ever with probably no extended family around like before. Parents will probably have a hard time with English, maybe never learn it so they'll rely on their children for communication, which is a lot of responsibility for a kid. 

I've never known anyone to go through this, so I'm still missing a lot of factors and problems, but to say the least it cannot be easy. I admire those parents who know the risks and do it anyway because they want their children to have a good life. By uprooting their life that love will be put through so much. It all makes the family ten, twenty, hundreds of times more important.