Browse Items (15 total)

  • Collection: U.S. Immigration Station & Assay Office (INS)

Mikio Tajima

Mikio Tajima.pdf
Mikio Tajima grew up in Japan during World War II. In college, he decided to come to the United States to study, but the foreign student adviser who wrote his exchange student letter made a typo and Mikio ended up spending his first night in the US…

Joseph Pham and Nova Phung

Joseph Nova.pdf
This is an oral history of Joseph Pham and Nova Phung and their immigration to the United States from Vietnam. They each explain the process of how they both were refugees fleeing from Vietnam and how they both were interpreters at the INS Building.

Mozhdeh Oskouian

Mozhdeh.pdf
Mozhdeh Oskouian was born in Tehran in 1966. Her father was in the Shah's Air Force, but after some persuasion from her mother during the Islamic Revolution, Mozdeh left her home country and immigrated to Seattle. Her asylum lawyer's poor performance…

Ming Ng

Ming.pdf
Ming Ng, with the assistance of a translator, discusses her childhood growing up and working in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 60s to help her parents make money to support her younger siblings' educations. She talks about meeting her husband through a…

Seyed Mohamed Maulana

Maulana.pdf
Former Swahili instructor at University of Washington, Seyed Maulana recounts his childhood in Mombasa, before his immigration ot the United States. In the US, he depicts his immigration process, and how a strong education made the process easier for…

Jacque Larrainzar

Jacque.pdf
Daughter of an ambassador, Jacque Larrainzar grew up in Mexico City where she was constantly threatened for her sexual identity. After being kidnapped and brutalized for being a lesbian, Jacque moved to the United States, where she became the first…

Miyo Ike

Miyo Ike.pdf
Miyo Ike describes her life as a Seattle native, her experiences at the Minidoka internment camp, and her visits to her relatives in Hiroshima. She depicts her experiences with the INS Building during its use as a detention center for single Japanese…

Hing Chinn

Hing Chinn.pdf
Hing Chinn shares his experiences of immigrating to the United States. He also talks a little about the immigration process of his father, mother and wife to the United States.

Dolly Castillo

Dolly.pdf
Dolly Castillo talks about her growing up in the Philippines, her schooling in the United States, her immigration experiences and her job here in the United States.

Dennis Batyuchenko

Dennis.pdf
Dennis Batyuchenko describes his life growing up in Russia, moving to the US at 16, and navigating life as a stateless immigrant here. He includes stories of his time in Montana and Philadelphia, including engaging in crime and drug use, but also…