Latest / Solving America's Problems / Soviet Immigrants Expose U.S. Citizenship Grind (Full)
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to Solving America’s Problems — Jerremy and Dave just sat down
- 0:03with two women who left everything behind to chase the American dream.
- 0:09Olga fled a tiny Crimean village at 16, joined the Russian circus, landed in
- 0:14America with Ringling Brothers — then spent the next fifteen years trapped in
- 0:19limbo because one shady agent from when she was seventeen still haunted her file.
- 0:25Svetlana showed up from Kazakhstan with $300, watched her visa expire, went
- 0:30illegal for years — then got denied citizenship for a decade after her
- 0:34American husband suddenly died, forcing her to restart the clock at zero.
- 0:40Both paid scam lawyers five-figure fees, lived five to a bedroom, worked three
- 0:44jobs — and still waited SEVEN YEARS before they could even visit their own
- 0:49mothers without risking permanent exile.
- 0:52They finally made it.
- 0:54But the system that almost broke them also forged two of the most relentless,
- 0:58grateful citizens you’ll ever meet…
- 1:01Dave Conley, what are we discussing in this episode?
- 1:08In this week's episode of Solving America's Problems, what if the
- 1:11very trials that break systems built unbreakable citizens?
- 1:14We dive into the realities of first generation immigration where the promise
- 1:18of opportunity collides with years of waiting fear and systemic hurdles
- 1:22that leave millions in limbo with green card backlog stretching decades,
- 1:26courts drowning Under 4 million pending cases, the path to citizenship becomes
- 1:30an endurance test, one that demands extraordinary resilience and produces some
- 1:34of the nation's most devoted Americans.
- 1:36Our guests this week know this journey firsthand.
- 1:39Olga, Kay left a Russian circus at 16 to pursue opportunities in America.
- 1:44Becoming a YouTube star.
- 1:45And now founder of Moosh Walks a children's brand built on the
- 1:48growth mindset and resilience that powered her own journey.
- 1:52Sve Lana Newsom arrived in America from Kazakhstan with $300 in a dream
- 1:57surviving profound loss and transforming her life into spiritual service.
- 2:01Earning a doctorate and today guiding world leaders through
- 2:04their own transformational journey.
- 2:05That's this week on solving America's problems from circus tense to citizenship,
- 2:10what it really takes to become American with Olga and Svetlana Newso.
- 2:14America sells the world's greatest promise.
- 2:17Come here, work hard, become one of us.
- 2:2014% of everyone living in America was not born here.
- 2:25That's one in seven of your neighbors coworkers.
- 2:28The people making this country run.
- 2:30But here's what they do not tell you at the border.
- 2:33Green card weights can stretch 20 years citizenship.
- 2:39It's a marathon through a minefield while immigration courts collapse under
- 2:44more than 4 million pending cases.
- 2:47I'm Jerremy Alexander Newsom here with my co-host Dave Conley and this.
- 2:51Solving America's problems.
- 2:53Our guest today did not just survive the gauntlet, they conquered it.
- 2:57Olga Kay went from performing in the Russian circus with Ringling
- 3:01Brothers to becoming a YouTube pioneer, entertaining millions and
- 3:05now runs Moosh, walks a children's brand, empowering the next generation.
- 3:10Solana Newsom arrived with just $300 to her name, rebuilt her
- 3:15life after a devastating loss, and emerged as a spiritual teacher.
- 3:19And healer to world leaders
- 3:23thanks so much for being on the show.
- 3:27Jerremy.
- 3:27I wanna cry already.
- 3:29You, you're already excited, huh?
- 3:30I'm
- 3:31Yeah.
- 3:31Excited.
- 3:32inside.
- 3:32This has been a journey and you just reminded me how hard it has been,
- 3:36and I'm so glad we're all here.
- 3:38Yeah.
- 3:38Likewise.
- 3:39I think that's pretty common with individuals that we speak to regarding
- 3:43anything, but most specifically, those that come to this country.
- 3:47And make it because it is a lot of work.
- 3:49It's very struggling, it's very challenging.
- 3:51So do this for me.
- 3:52I'll have Solana start First, paint us a picture.
- 3:56What did America mean to you before you arrived, and how has that vision
- 4:02changed now that you're a citizen?
- 4:05Thank you, Jerremy for this beautiful and powerful question.
- 4:09America growing up felt like a distant sound, a distant voice
- 4:17that was for someone else, it felt like the beautiful of luxury and
- 4:26abundance and all possibilities.
- 4:29But it was not for me or for anyone else that I knew.
- 4:34And fortunately the growing up in Kazakhstan, the time started to shift.
- 4:41The energies between America and Russia started to shift.
- 4:44The Soviet Union collapsed and things became just a tiny bit closer.
- 4:50And then when the opportunity revealed itself to come to America, and it was
- 4:57obvious that I had to jump into that opportunity and create some of myself.
- 5:04And that's really my only prayer was when I was a little girl from God, is
- 5:08to just gimme an opportunity in life.
- 5:10That's how I wanted because looking at my family, at my neighbors, I
- 5:15knew what my life would be there was simply was no opportunity to do
- 5:20anything greater or anything better.
- 5:23In order to exceed, especially during those times, you had to be a
- 5:28part of some kind of mafia, a part of some kind of really dark space.
- 5:34Otherwise, a person that had good could not succeed in that environment.
- 5:41I remember coming to United States the very first time.
- 5:45Two things really just blew my mind.
- 5:48The first I saw this lady, she was in her sixties, was a
- 5:51long nails and a short hair.
- 5:53She was wearing this beautiful purple outfit and she was alive,
- 5:57she was vibrant, she was leaving.
- 5:59And I just remember that back home, members, my grandmother,
- 6:04my neighbors, they were all preparing to die in their fifties.
- 6:08They were saving money for the funeral.
- 6:10At that time, it was the ending.
- 6:13And here it was a golden age era.
- 6:15It was just the beginning.
- 6:17I was like, oh my goodness, you can have that.
- 6:20You can live like that.
- 6:21And then the second observation that took place was when men treated women
- 6:28the possibility of true love and a space of admiration and equality.
- 6:35And it wasn't just being a servant in a family any longer,
- 6:40and therefore I knew that.
- 6:44is the country where all the dreams come true.
- 6:46And if you really put your intention and your energy, your education, and you want
- 6:54become greater, everything is available.
- 6:57Amazing.
- 6:58Beautiful.
- 6:58Just hold the mic just a couple more inches from your face.
- 7:02Perfect.
- 7:02Olga, about you?
- 7:03Rockstar?
- 7:05Wow, that's a powerful story.
- 7:07So I was 16 years old and according to my mom, I always wanted to live in
- 7:11America ever since I was a little girl.
- 7:13I don't have a memory of that, but I did grow up in a tiny village in Crimea.
- 7:18And when Soviet Union fell apart, we had to do something.
- 7:23So we, I call it, ran away with the Russian circus and we joined
- 7:27my aunt on the road in Russian Circus, and we started traveling.
- 7:32I was 14 years old and within two years I went all over Russia.
- 7:36Every month I traveled to a new place, and then we stopped at Moscow for a
- 7:44couple of months, and that's when we got discovered to come to America.
- 7:48And I remember thinking, I'm about to turn 16.
- 7:52I'm gonna go to America.
- 7:53We have two year contract with the Ringling Brothers Circus.
- 7:58I'm just gonna go there and I'm gonna come back because I love Russia.
- 8:02I love traveling in a Russian circus, but it would be really
- 8:04cool to see a new country.
- 8:05And I immigrated here.
- 8:07So my journey to immigration was.
- 8:10Very easy.
- 8:11In the beginning, I got paperwork from a very big company.
- 8:16I got my social security, I got my working visa.
- 8:19I was getting paid $250 a week, which I feel like my family would only see that
- 8:27much money in two or three months of work.
- 8:30And right before we left my village, I remember we were
- 8:32getting paid in bags of sugar and bags of grass that we can give to
- 8:38Wow.
- 8:39and then we turn it into milk and cheese and butter and trade with our neighbors.
- 8:43So this was this whole new world for me.
- 8:46But like I said, I never really thought I'm gonna stay here.
- 8:49I thought I'm gonna go back.
- 8:52And from the age of 16 to 18, I've learned how to speak English.
- 8:57I've learned how to drive a car.
- 8:59I was getting paid $250 a week and I had my first bank account.
- 9:06And when I turned 18, I realized that.
- 9:09I don't even know what I'll do in Russia.
- 9:11None of those things were even available to me, and I had no idea I needed those
- 9:15things to feel like a and capable of.
- 9:20bigger things.
- 9:21And I remember realizing I will do whatever it takes to stay in this
- 9:25country at 18, even though my family was still left behind in Russia and
- 9:31figure out what the next steps were.
- 9:33And then I got another contract with another family circus, and
- 9:37that's when I quickly realized that circuses in America are just.
- 9:41Carnies and you are not as respected and you have to work so much harder when you
- 9:46work for family circuses versus a big corporation or like wrangling brothers.
- 9:51that's when I started realizing that I have to come up with a new way to
- 9:55live in America, use my skill and talent, and build a better life.
- 10:01And I immigrated, I moved then to Los Angeles and I started my
- 10:06journey, which led me to so many different things and opportunities.
- 10:11But that's how I got here.
- 10:12And I do, I have similar feeling about the country.
- 10:15I remember thinking if I work hard.
- 10:18It will be rewarded because in Russia and Ukraine, Crimea, at that
- 10:24time I was watching my family work so hard and getting nowhere, and
- 10:30my mom had two different college degrees and she couldn't get a job.
- 10:35And I remember thinking, I will never follow the academia route.
- 10:40I will just use my talent and my street, wisdom and build myself
- 10:45in this country the best I can.
- 10:48Wow.
- 10:49Those are really cool stories.
- 10:51Dave and I will never use the word village.
- 10:54Like both of you talk, have such fond memories about that, like using that term,
- 10:58it's really endearing, but also at the exact same time, very revealing meaning
- 11:03you chose something bigger, you chose something more, and coming to this country
- 11:08was definitely a huge leap of faith.
- 11:11we'll start with you, Olga, and then we'll go to s Laa.
- 11:13Thinking about the immigration process that you went through, where did it help
- 11:18you where did it make things harder?
- 11:22Yeah, a little picture of the process.
- 11:25So I came here with Ringling Brothers.
- 11:27I had my visa that covered my job for that company.
- 11:31After that I had an agent who got me a different visa, which is oh one visa.
- 11:36It's the most extraordinary visa for the best people out
- 11:40there with the best skills.
- 11:41With that visa, you have an easier route into a green card.
- 11:46However, that agent later was on the run with the FBI, and
- 11:54luckily I didn't continue my immigration journey through him.
- 12:00He's still part of my file and it still hunts me today.
- 12:04And that's how difficult it is.
- 12:05I became an American citizen in 2016, so it's been almost 10 years now.
- 12:10And it still hunts me that he's part of my file and he since
- 12:16went to jail, passed away.
- 12:17He's gone.
- 12:18But it still hunts me and my family that person was part of my immigration journey.
- 12:23But what happened after I was in a relationship with another juggler, I was
- 12:27a juggler in the circus and we were living together and our goal at that time was get
- 12:33a visa so I can start traveling, leaving America and travel with him on cruise
- 12:37ships because that was his frame of work.
- 12:40And a lawyer at that time told us it's September 11th
- 12:44time, you will not get a visa.
- 12:46Everything is backed up.
- 12:47If you guys already living together, you might as well just get married.
- 12:51And we're like, okay, we'll get married.
- 12:53So I got married and I got my green card through marriage.
- 12:58However, when I was applying for my citizenship, I got denied because
- 13:04of this agent, who was my agent when I was 17, I had to act fast
- 13:11and figure out what to do next.
- 13:13My green card was expiring.
- 13:15I've been in this country for almost 15 years at this point and realizing
- 13:19that, oh, this could be the end and I don't know what to do next.
- 13:24Whoa.
- 13:26What about you, Phila?
- 13:27I came in states on a J one Visa.
- 13:30It was a work and travel program at that time, and I believe it still exists.
- 13:35And if you were in a university, you could enter into the program and
- 13:41come to America for three months.
- 13:43Through the summer and work.
- 13:45And that was my first experience of America.
- 13:48I remember going back home telling my mom, I will be going to America again
- 13:53because I have window for one more year, but I will not be coming back.
- 13:57I do not know what the journey will be, but it will take me a lifetime
- 14:01to create what it will take me five years to create in America.
- 14:06And it was very difficult saying goodbye because it was saying goodbye
- 14:09and going to now when my grandfather was sick at that time and he was my,
- 14:13like my father, knew he would be dying and I would not be able to go and
- 14:18be with him or visited the funeral.
- 14:20So it was a very difficult goodbye and it took me a very long time to understand
- 14:26what it took from my mother to let me go.
- 14:28It's not only until I became a mother, I could understand the power
- 14:32that you send out your child with and the prayer and hopes and beliefs
- 14:38that everything will turn out okay.
- 14:41And yes, I was on a visa and I had a job.
- 14:44And second time I came to Las Vegas and I got a job in a fashion show mall.
- 14:50I was in the retails.
- 14:52I got a second job.
- 14:54I was sending money back home to support my family and everything was
- 14:58going well until my visa expired.
- 15:02And there was a time to really think what to do?
- 15:07What is next?
- 15:07Because there are very little opportunities when you do not have money.
- 15:12When you are still new in a country and your visa expires, the lawyers fees are
- 15:17astronomical To go to college, you cannot truly afford to pay for the college.
- 15:22And then you, even if you are working two, three jobs, the college fees
- 15:26as a immigrant are still insane.
- 15:29So what happened is my visa collapsed and I started illegally in the country.
- 15:34So I was a legal immigrant.
- 15:36Thankfully my employer at the time either didn't pick it up or just closed
- 15:41the eyes on the expiration of the visa.
- 15:43I still had my, social security.
- 15:46I was paying the taxes and I was working.
- 15:50Long story short, a few years later, I met an incredible
- 15:53man that was my first husband.
- 15:57dated for a little while and we knew that we were going to be together.
- 16:01We wanted to be together, we wanted to build a family.
- 16:03He proposed, I got married and that is how I was able to get.
- 16:09My green card.
- 16:11one thing is that I remember I knew of so many different abilities and
- 16:15programs that were available for wealthy people that if you had $500,000,
- 16:20that you can get that EB five visa and you can invest in the states.
- 16:25And there was so many opportunities.
- 16:27And I remember just walking like with the tears in my eyes, wishing that someone
- 16:31would just believe in me, worry me that money, or see the potential cause I
- 16:37was willing to give everything for this opportunity and it wasn't available.
- 16:45And the only thing that was left is an illegal.
- 16:49It's amazing.
- 16:51I wanna add something to this as well.
- 16:54one thing that not many people talk about is how long it takes
- 16:57to get some kind of paperwork to even go back to see your family.
- 17:01I was in a similar position where I came here at 16 just like Yu Laa, I
- 17:07didn't realize what a sacrifice my parents made until I became a mother
- 17:13and realizing that my kid is gonna say, oh, I'm just gonna move to France, and
- 17:17then I'm not able to come and visit him.
- 17:20It would just break my heart.
- 17:21So what they did, and again, they thought, I'm gonna come
- 17:24back, but I just never came back.
- 17:26And what happened for me, I was in this country for three years working
- 17:31under a contract so I could not leave.
- 17:33So at this point I'm going from 16 to 19.
- 17:36I can't leave the country because I'm doing shows every night.
- 17:40And after that, I started changing my immigration status.
- 17:43Then I can't leave the country because I'm changing my status.
- 17:46You're just not allowed to leave.
- 17:48You can leave the country, but you cannot come back in.
- 17:50So you have to wait for your status to clear and you pretty
- 17:55much have to wait for your green card, which is another two years.
- 17:58Long story short, after that, I didn't have enough money to go back to Russia.
- 18:02So then I had another year or two where I just couldn't go.
- 18:06And I remember seven years after leaving my family, mother called
- 18:11me and she said, I feel like I'm gonna die and I will not see you.
- 18:15Can you figure out a way to come and visit me?
- 18:18And I remember going back.
- 18:21Seven years later, I was in my twenties now a whole different person
- 18:25than my family remember me being.
- 18:28And I didn't know how to talk to my family.
- 18:32I was visiting them for the first time and I have this whole other
- 18:36life that I've been living and they're still, expect me to be the
- 18:4016-year-old girl who's coming back.
- 18:43anyways, it took a couple of days to get comfortable again and find
- 18:47our language again as a family.
- 18:50But I remember thinking, I have to make sure to visit them once a year
- 18:55so I don't forget who my family is.
- 18:58Yeah.
- 18:59I love these very powerful and emotional stories, and thank you
- 19:01for sharing them with not only us, but all of our listeners.
- 19:04And since we're here, in this energy, right?
- 19:08America granted you a wonderful opportunity, but at what personal cost?
- 19:13Some of you are both sharing that now, but what is one sacrifice
- 19:18that you rarely share publicly?
- 19:20Maybe something that you haven't thought of for a while or something that most
- 19:23people like Dave and myself, who were born here might not even recognize or realize.
- 19:28Let's start with whoever,
- 19:30Whoever's ready to speak first,
- 19:31whoever's ready to speak.
- 19:32Exactly.
- 19:34so with Lana, go ahead.
- 19:35I feel like definitely being in a realization that the sacrifice of the
- 19:41family was so big, and I feel like in other countries, the structures in
- 19:47Kazakhstan and Russia, Ukraine, the family structure is very close very intertwined.
- 19:53Losing that, becoming all by yourself, figuring life all on your own, recognizing
- 20:01that your parents have no idea or any blueprint of what your life is going to
- 20:07be like, they cannot guide you recognizing that people in America cannot really
- 20:14guide you because they have no clue of what it takes build yourself and
- 20:19to become something in this country.
- 20:22And therefore, the big sacrifice is a growing up that needs
- 20:26to happen extremely fast.
- 20:28You absolutely cannot mess up in any shape or form because if you mess up in
- 20:33any way, you are going to be get departed and you are going right back home.
- 20:38You have to figure yourself out.
- 20:39You have to stay in a space of honor of wisdom, and it's hard.
- 20:45It's hard for a very young person in the very beginning, but definitely having no
- 20:51guidance and being so far away from the family when you lived with your family,
- 20:58majority of your life is a huge sacrifice,
- 21:01Let's see if I can add something.
- 21:03I think Solana, you said it perfectly.
- 21:06It's you lose that and you're right.
- 21:09Family also doesn't realize how hard it is here
- 21:12right?
- 21:12they think about America.
- 21:14You're getting paid now you're getting paid way more than we
- 21:18You're making so much money, you're fine.
- 21:20You are fine.
- 21:21And you, but then you have to realize everything is so much more expensive
- 21:25and legal fees are astronomical here.
- 21:27And back to my immigration story.
- 21:29I came here legally, everything was great, but then as I was
- 21:33applying for my citizenship I did it myself without any lawyers.
- 21:38And I remember not hearing back and I'm like, something is going on with my case.
- 21:42It's been a while.
- 21:44Something is not right.
- 21:45I keep calling.
- 21:46They keep telling me like, you have to wait for the official letter.
- 21:50They would not say anything over the phone.
- 21:52And I remember getting that official letter.
- 21:55There was so many pages saying that my citizenship was denied due to.
- 22:01This agent that I had 10 years prior to this case, and I remember
- 22:06thinking, okay, what's next?
- 22:08I can't, there's no one, there's no phone number to call back
- 22:10and clarify what's going on.
- 22:12So I had to, I remember overnight and luckily at that time I had some savings
- 22:17and overnight, that was over 10 years ago, I had to come up with $5,000, find a
- 22:22lawyer and see if we can restart my case.
- 22:26And other thing not many people talk about is how many lawyers are such
- 22:31fraud when it comes to immigration?
- 22:34Thank you.
- 22:34paying $5,000 and this person restarted my case.
- 22:40And then we were still waiting.
- 22:42I remember saying, Hey, my green card is about to expire.
- 22:45I need to get some kind of paperwork back saying that it's okay or
- 22:49extension for my green card.
- 22:51And he was saying it would be another $7,000 if we wanna expedite it.
- 22:56And obviously I didn't wanna do this.
- 22:57At that time I was traveling so much for different conferences and I came
- 23:02back from New York and I opened this letter and it says, congratulations,
- 23:06you now will be an American.
- 23:08Come to this place.
- 23:09I was traveling for two weeks, so it said, come tomorrow.
- 23:13And I'm like, oh my gosh, what if I stayed in New York a little longer?
- 23:15I would've missed this letter.
- 23:17And if you don't show up for your appointment, you then wait for three to
- 23:21five extra years to get an appointment.
- 23:23And there's no one to talk to.
- 23:25You just have to hope the paperwork is doing its work.
- 23:28Wow.
- 23:29Yeah that's wild.
- 23:31so you said thank you to Olga when she mentioned that about a lot
- 23:34of lawyers being scam artists.
- 23:36Do you have more information on that?
- 23:38Many of that?
- 23:38So many of them.
- 23:39I got scammed by two and finally Juan was able to pull something together.
- 23:45That's all to say
- 23:47I
- 23:47to find.
- 23:48And actually how much did it,
- 23:50to get scanned?
- 23:51So many times.
- 23:52yeah, so first time it was $5,000.
- 23:56really all you do for the first couple years, you work for the legal fees.
- 24:01just, I lived with five other It was five of us in one bedroom apartment for two
- 24:07years, and we were saving everything.
- 24:10We were working two through three jobs and it was all going to the legal
- 24:14fees and we were sharing the rent.
- 24:17That ended up being like $150 a person.
- 24:20are the lucky ones.
- 24:21Exactly.
- 24:22came in here and we didn't have to escape prosecution and
- 24:28really work under the table.
- 24:29Minimum wage where you cannot even save up for any type of legal fees.
- 24:34So what kept you both going?
- 24:36You're here in the land of freedom you're facing of these invisible barriers that
- 24:45you weren't told about, that you weren't aware of, that no one guided you through.
- 24:52be so persistent?
- 24:54Because there was no other choice.
- 24:58The going back into nothingness, into no hope, least for me,
- 25:05into no life was not an option.
- 25:09I was willing to suffer, to struggle to go without, to.
- 25:16Cry nights and days to do whatever it takes.
- 25:19Just to have this opportunity to make something of myself, I would do the
- 25:26same thing back home in a different way.
- 25:30Still struggle, still very hard and there was absolutely no promise that
- 25:37it would change in any point of life.
- 25:40For me I feel like when I. Got to this country.
- 25:43I was 16.
- 25:44I was still forming as an adult.
- 25:47I became a completely different person who is optimistic, loves life.
- 25:52And I feel like in Russia I was more serious and I was more afraid of things.
- 25:57So going back for me would mean going back to being afraid
- 26:02and not be a go-getter, be a
- 26:05Yeah.
- 26:06for me.
- 26:06That's how different, when I speak Russian, I'm a different person.
- 26:10When I speak English, I am just bubbly.
- 26:12I love everything.
- 26:13Everything is possible.
- 26:15Everyone can achieve anything.
- 26:17In Russia, I would've been, I don't have education.
- 26:21I'm a nobody.
- 26:22I don't know what I'll do here.
- 26:24Where in America, not saying that non-educational no education
- 26:29gets you far in America, but in America you can build a dream.
- 26:34Where in Russia.
- 26:35Everyone looks at the paperwork before they give you an opportunity.
- 26:39Yeah.
- 26:40Fascinating.
- 26:41So I think now is a really beautiful time to just start making this unique
- 26:47pivot into would you tell others who are working on coming into this
- 26:53country other immigrants who To experience the exact same life and
- 26:58opportunities and freedom as yourself.
- 27:00What do you start telling those people presently?
- 27:04I'll say don't unless you times over.
- 27:08First of all, it's a lot harder.
- 27:10I've been here for 25 years.
- 27:12Everything is a lot more expensive.
- 27:15There is more opportunity, but there's also less opportunity.
- 27:17The way I see it, a lot of industries are collapsing from
- 27:22my end, from where I came from.
- 27:24I had this conversation with my brother, I immigrated my mom here eight years ago.
- 27:29I was talking to my brother because when conflict between Russia
- 27:32and Ukraine started my brother said, maybe I'll just leave.
- 27:36And we had a conversation.
- 27:38I realized I don't think I'll have to support my brother, because I
- 27:42think it's gonna be really hard for him to break into this country
- 27:46at his age and build a new life.
- 27:50So beautifully said.
- 27:52I would say that America is definitely a country of dreamers country
- 28:00of entrepreneurs, visionaries.
- 28:04It is not a country of safety.
- 28:08It is not a country for workers.
- 28:12And if you do not have this entrepreneurial spirit within you,
- 28:18if you are not able just to move with the waves of the politics and
- 28:25unsettled energies and still hold the vision, this is not the country.
- 28:31There are other countries to immigrate that are a lot more stable.
- 28:35America has never been stable, but also it is still, in my opinion, the
- 28:40greatest country that exist in a world with no matter how many problems we
- 28:46are experiencing right now, opportunity for the ones that are feeling their
- 28:53within and the desire to bring their dream into the reality exists here.
- 28:59And I
- 28:59I like that.
- 29:00is for the younger crowd, maybe I'm projecting, but imagining myself
- 29:06immigrating now in my forties, I think it would be a lot harder.
- 29:11But when I was young and I was just full of energy and no fear of anything,
- 29:17like anything goes, this is just gonna be another lesson I'm gonna learn.
- 29:21I feel like I'm a lot more safe now.
- 29:23So if you're young, there's still a lot of room.
- 29:28I so agree with that.
- 29:29People ask me all the time, how did you do it?
- 29:31How did you immigrate?
- 29:32Weren't you afraid?
- 29:33I'm like, no, I was 19 delusional.
- 29:35Life is amazing.
- 29:37Nothing can go.
- 29:38I'm wrong.
- 29:38Everything is working out for me.
- 29:40Like you need to have this like young, naive optimism to keep believing, right?
- 29:46I feel like the people who have been really put down by life, it becomes
- 29:52so difficult to believe and when you are young, you just rise up and you
- 29:55keep believing and you really need to have that quality to make it in us.
- 30:01I agree.
- 30:02I'm extremely interested about the answer to this question.
- 30:06So if both of you amazing humans could redesign.
- 30:10Just one step in the path from arrival to citizenship, what would that change be?
- 30:21First of all, I love my struggling story.
- 30:25I feel like it makes me who I am today, so I would not change anything.
- 30:29However, let me think about this.
- 30:33Go ahead with Lana.
- 30:35So if I were in a position to change the immigration reform the way it is right
- 30:39now, I definitely would not send people.
- 30:44Back to their countries because to come into this country, especially to
- 30:52go through the borders, to go through the rivers, to go through the oceans,
- 30:56you have to be so desperate without having any opportunity in life really
- 31:03see a little bit of glimpse of light that exists in this country to do that.
- 31:09And if someone has raised their lives, relationships, everything.
- 31:13They put everything in the line and they are already here.
- 31:17And America has been a country of opportunities and
- 31:23believing in their dreams.
- 31:25would grant them an opportunity for a dream.
- 31:29And the way it would look is that I would give, it'll be something
- 31:34different like a new type of visa, a visa that doesn't exist yet.
- 31:38And it would be for the people who are here illegally now they have this
- 31:41type of visa for two years they will need to renew it every two years.
- 31:46And obviously if there is any crime two years, they cannot renew
- 31:51it and they have to be sent back.
- 31:54But with that visa, now you have, maybe it's not social security,
- 31:59maybe it is a different card.
- 32:00You are able to pay taxes.
- 32:02So you are paying into the system of America.
- 32:05You are not just being paid under the table and then in two years
- 32:10your visa no, that visa gets renewed and you have another two years.
- 32:14And so you can start creating and building life in America.
- 32:19And around eight year mark, believe it is a. Time that you've proven that
- 32:25you want to be here, that you are a good person, that you are paying your
- 32:29taxes, that you are working very hard.
- 32:33And during that time, you can apply for the green card and then
- 32:38within two years you'll receive it.
- 32:39So it'll be a 10 year immigration process.
- 32:43And yes, there are so many different parts to it.
- 32:46I believe yes, children should go to school.
- 32:49The healthcare, none of us gets any healthcare.
- 32:52We all pay for the healthcare.
- 32:54So those people will need to pay for the healthcare.
- 32:57So I do not believe that we need to give them anything extra than
- 33:02the American people are getting.
- 33:05And it's okay to have a harder condition for them, but at least we can give
- 33:10them an opportunity to do and make something of themselves in this country.
- 33:15Yeah,
- 33:15This is what I would do.
- 33:16and it's like building a credit score.
- 33:18I like your system a lot.
- 33:19You're building your credit score, you're proving that you're a reliable person year
- 33:23after year, and you get more opportunity.
- 33:27yeah, the problem is that there's such a long wait to get a green
- 33:31card or to get any kind of response.
- 33:33I have a friend who is under the asylum case right now for eight years and similar
- 33:39situation, pay the lawyer this much fee, pay more if you want it expedited.
- 33:44She's not able to pay more.
- 33:45So she's been waiting and she finally gets her letter saying, come for.
- 33:51They interview her lawyer says, I don't have time because we have
- 33:56so many clients we have to take care of, so we have to delay it.
- 34:02Which I don't know how long she's now stuck in that waiting line.
- 34:07It may just bring something up.
- 34:10is all of the problems of poor people.
- 34:12This is all of the problems of the people that do not have money.
- 34:15Because if you live in another country right now and you have $800,000 to invest,
- 34:20you have your green card in eight months.
- 34:23This program been around forever.
- 34:25It is still here.
- 34:26It is still available.
- 34:27So everything we are talking about, the opportunity is so hard, it
- 34:31doesn't exist for regular people.
- 34:33If you have wealth, can be the biggest douche on the planet earth.
- 34:38And yes, you will get a green card and your spouse and your children under 21,
- 34:44the game is played very differently.
- 34:46And that angers me a little bit.
- 34:49so you brought up a very good, interesting point though that is gonna create a little
- 34:53bit of confusion because you mentioned that in order to be here in America,
- 34:58you need an entrepreneurial spirit.
- 35:00And guess who the people are.
- 35:02They're gonna create the wealth in different countries who have the
- 35:05amount of money to pay for that visa.
- 35:09It's gonna be people that have the entrepreneurial spirit, are the
- 35:12people that have the money in their countries to come over and pay for that.
- 35:16So you're rewarding the exact same people.
- 35:18You're just doing it faster.
- 35:21I hear your point, and I agree with your point, and I agree with a part
- 35:24of the point because it is also people that are not entrepreneurial.
- 35:28The ones that come from a rich family, the ones that have been given everything,
- 35:33the one that didn't make innocent out of themselves and their country.
- 35:36And that is a majority of them, they have money, not because
- 35:40they started from ground zero.
- 35:42Like a lot of people do in America and they become something, it's very hard
- 35:46to start from ground zero and become a multimillionaire in Russia, in Kazakhstan,
- 35:52in Mexico, especially doing it a right way without mafia, without corruption, without
- 35:59all shady stuff with the government.
- 36:01So while I love the idea that those are entrepreneurial people, the majority
- 36:06of those people are just being born with a golden spoon and the people
- 36:11that come from wealth, and therefore money gives them this opportunity.
- 36:17And Jerremy and I talked to a top immigration attorney, our last
- 36:22series on this, uh, a couple of weeks back, and she agrees with Yu Laa.
- 36:26Like we, we need a different set of, uh.
- 36:30It needs to be different.
- 36:31Like for instance, if you are a world class entrepreneur and you wanna
- 36:35start a business in a place like the United States, it has rule of law and
- 36:39it has like actual like the people that you need in order to build that.
- 36:42You can't get a visa.
- 36:44If you're a top salesperson, if you, if you're running a business here
- 36:47in the United States and you're top salesperson is in Mexico or Canada or
- 36:51Europe, they can't get a visa like it.
- 36:54Sure.
- 36:54If you're a scientist, yeah, you can get a visa.
- 36:57But if you are anything else, like, if you want to build something that
- 37:01is unique in America, forget it.
- 37:04It's incredibly difficult.
- 37:05So, Svetlana, you and, and a top immigration attorney completely agree,
- 37:09like we, we can't have this tied directly to business because businesses
- 37:13also feel very shackled in this.
- 37:15We need this, tied to the person and what they can do.
- 37:18And that's, that seems very American to so many people.
- 37:21But what I, we also heard a lot from you about.
- 37:24Sacrifices and scams and uncertainty and fear and this medieval bureaucracy.
- 37:32I, first, I am, I applaud you.
- 37:35Like the amount of bravery that it would take for me to even think about this
- 37:40at 16, 17, 18 years old is nowhere.
- 37:43Like the bravery that it takes for somebody to pick up and be
- 37:46like I'm going thousands of miles away and I'm gonna give it a shot.
- 37:50Thank you.
- 37:50That's amazing.
- 37:52And tell me a good story about your immigration journey.
- 37:55Was there a moment where you said, wow, this is home.
- 38:00The moment I got a passport and the tears were rolling down my eyes and my
- 38:06cheeks and just I remember going yes.
- 38:09And my passport and going into the ceremony and going through the citizenship
- 38:14and just recognizing that moment.
- 38:18Everything that it took at that point already.
- 38:21My first husband he died and that was another crazy thing.
- 38:25It was that if you are married, you get a green card, and then if you're
- 38:30still married, then it is three years.
- 38:32You can apply for citizenship, not if your husband dies.
- 38:36Now you have to wait longer.
- 38:38So there we are three more years later, and I felt like so much life
- 38:44happened by daytime, so much grief, but so much also amazing things.
- 38:48And really being there and being in that energy and recognizing, wow,
- 38:54like that was a moment of freedom.
- 38:57was a moment of, from this point on, do anything I wanted to do.
- 39:02I can create all the light, I can create any business.
- 39:05I can really step into my voice, into my power.
- 39:09Because you have those papers.
- 39:12You are always looking back and wondering if it's going to be
- 39:15taken away and at what moment.
- 39:18Yeah.
- 39:18And for me, that happened 15 years into my journey in America, which
- 39:23it doesn't change at this point.
- 39:24I am an American in my heart and I'm still worried what's gonna happen next because
- 39:29I don't have this paperwork aligning.
- 39:31But I remember thinking, oh, yes I have all the American spirit
- 39:36and this is my country, and I'll do whatever it takes to be here.
- 39:39For me, it was September 11th.
- 39:41I remember waking up in the morning and we had to do a circus show that
- 39:46morning and the plane hit the building and I remember feeling so I will do
- 39:53anything for this country to protect it, to be here, to fight for it.
- 39:59And that was my moment where I knew that I'm definitely gonna
- 40:01stay in this country forever.
- 40:04We did a series.
- 40:05In this series we talked to second and third generation.
- 40:09They described a phenomenon that Jerremy and I had never heard about,
- 40:13and I think they called it Jerremy.
- 40:14Do you remember what it was called?
- 40:15It was like crab potting
- 40:17Yeah
- 40:18and I, believe it or not, I heard it last night from my brother, from another
- 40:22mother, because his father is Austrian.
- 40:25And it's the, I did it the right way.
- 40:29I did it the hard way.
- 40:30And damn it, like it has to be hard for other people too.
- 40:33Almost like pulling the ladder up behind you.
- 40:36Have you experienced that in communities here in the United States
- 40:40or with other people like yourself?
- 40:42I mean always talk about how I did the hard way and every time I
- 40:48recognize there is an easier route being taken, I am upset about it.
- 40:54'cause I had to work really hard and I have to be and figure out
- 40:58ways and, have a second job.
- 41:00Do whatever it takes to make it work.
- 41:02And when somebody is.
- 41:04Saying, oh, for example, my whole thing is when you come to this country, I
- 41:09remember I spoke zero English, and I would sit in my circus trailer
- 41:15with a dictionary and I would study.
- 41:17That was my goal, to study 10 words a day.
- 41:20I instructed all of my Russian friends do not speak Russian to
- 41:24me because I'm in this country.
- 41:26I have to be able to speak the language.
- 41:28And I didn't speak to anybody for three months because I was
- 41:32studying, trying to get better.
- 41:34And then I went out, I went to our wardrobe lady and I decided to practice
- 41:37my English, and she responded back and she was so excited because the first time
- 41:41I spoke and she's blah, blah, blah, blah.
- 41:43I was like, oh my gosh, I'm not speaking for another six months.
- 41:44This is too intimidating.
- 41:46But I remember, so anytime I see people in this country who are not
- 41:50putting that type of effort, I get very frustrated because I remember at
- 41:5616 I could have been running around.
- 41:58Spending my money at the mall, but I was sitting in my trailer learning
- 42:03how to speak this language so I can respect this country as a foreigner.
- 42:08I feel and I really believe that at some point we need to put down the hardship
- 42:12story because otherwise it's just going to penetrate more and more hardship into
- 42:19the world and it's never going to end.
- 42:22If you come in America as an immigrant, it's going to be hard.
- 42:26It's going to be difficult.
- 42:28It is new.
- 42:29Yes, there are easier ways and they exist right now.
- 42:32People immigrate, people win green cards, and they come here
- 42:35on a green card that they want.
- 42:36But guess what?
- 42:37It's still difficult to figure out this world to figure out
- 42:41America and how it works.
- 42:43And so even though their journey not as difficult as ours or the
- 42:48way, my mind might perceive what hustle and struggle needs to be,
- 42:53everyone goes through their struggle.
- 42:55Who am I to say that your struggle is less of a struggle than my struggle?
- 43:00And why do we need to be so attached to everyone's freaking struggle and
- 43:04being broken apart in order to be deserving or worthy of something?
- 43:09So yes, maybe at some point we need to start leaning more into the
- 43:13healing versus just attaching to the story of how difficult my life was.
- 43:19Therefore, everyone else's life supposed to be difficult.
- 43:22It needs to be difficult because this is a story that creates so
- 43:26much distortion in the world.
- 43:28Is the story that creates.
- 43:31It just creates so much war and so much trauma all over the
- 43:34world, and not only in America.
- 43:36And at some point we'll need to start creating a different story.
- 43:39We had it hard.
- 43:40We can help out other generation to stand on our shoulders.
- 43:45We can guide them and we can show them a little more different way
- 43:50so that my children do not need to have it as hard because guess what?
- 43:55They will figure out.
- 43:56Their heart life will be life.
- 43:59be doing itself for them, and everyone will have an experience to grow into
- 44:03what they need to be grown into.
- 44:05That's a beautiful point of view, hearing the struggle stories
- 44:09for me gives me more hope.
- 44:11I know it's possible when I hear that someone overcomes something.
- 44:16And for sure, our children obviously are not gonna experience
- 44:20the hardships that we had.
- 44:21Have at easy just by being born here,
- 44:24We hope so.
- 44:26That's true.
- 44:27We hope so.
- 44:27Oh my gosh,
- 44:28So on that note then, on that topic, so far, everyone we've interviewed or
- 44:33everyone we've talked to has had a similar viewpoint on this question, so I'm very
- 44:38excited to see what you two both think.
- 44:41Should we open the borders, then make it very easy.
- 44:44If you're an immigrant, come.
- 44:47I have a twofold answer on this.
- 44:49Okay.
- 44:49and for me, being in my forties.
- 44:52Getting so lucky and having my first child, and maybe
- 44:55that's the only one I'll have.
- 44:58I constantly think about population decline or birth rates declining birth
- 45:05rate rates decline all over the world.
- 45:08And I feel like America has always been so strong because we have so much
- 45:12immigration and because we have so many more people that are being born.
- 45:15But now that rate is also declining and to thrive in the economy, we have
- 45:21to have new people that are constantly being born and working into the system.
- 45:26Let's say because of that, I feel like immigration is very needed
- 45:33for the countries to survive moving forward, opening up the borders,
- 45:38but at the same time opening up the borders and anyone comes.
- 45:41I feel like that's just gonna create a flood that is gonna be harder to manage
- 45:47or given everyone enough opportunity, but at the same time, I feel like
- 45:53immigration is very important part of the longevity for any country.
- 45:57I love this Olga, and I believe also it's not black and white.
- 46:01Nothing is black and white.
- 46:02We can say open the borders and don't open the borders.
- 46:05Absolutely.
- 46:07So yes, nothing is black and white.
- 46:09That is just open the border or close the border.
- 46:11We saw the border open and it was it shit show, and with saw it closed, then
- 46:15it's is so much fear that is going on and still NN not a great state to be in.
- 46:23As with everything, there needs to be a creative solution.
- 46:25It needs to be a new mindset, a new heart set that can look at it
- 46:30and say, okay, how can we do it?
- 46:33How we can maybe not open it, but crack open it.
- 46:37How can we allow people who are truly incredible that want an
- 46:42opportunity, they're going to do really good for this country?
- 46:45How can we allow them to come?
- 46:47Can there be a process for it?
- 46:50Can there be a group of people that interviews them?
- 46:53I definitely lean more into yes, versus just shut it down and let it
- 46:58be just for I, I feel like it's going to be so unnatural to America because
- 47:03it is a country of immigration, like that's going to be a very new
- 47:07America that we don't even know yet.
- 47:10And again, I don't know, maybe it is going to be a great America, maybe not,
- 47:14but it's going to be very different in my belief system, is that the
- 47:20door needs to be cracked open and the opportunity for people who are truly
- 47:25wanted to be here needs to exist.
- 47:28And we definitely have to have a new path to immigration under financial
- 47:34sector where there has to be a way where if I come to this country and
- 47:39I'm working minimum wage, there has to be some kind of immigration loan
- 47:45that is taken out of my paycheck, then maybe I don't even see that money.
- 47:49It just goes to that loan.
- 47:51So I have this fund to pay for legal fees, but I feel like none of that is set up.
- 47:57So everyone is just trying to skip by.
- 48:02when they're faced with a hard problem, then they have nothing to offer for that.
- 48:06And then people are just stuck and hiding and just creates this very hard
- 48:11process for anyone who is involved, who even wants to do it the proper way.
- 48:16Sure.
- 48:16There's some people who are just.
- 48:18Maybe they're here and they're just not trying to do it the right way.
- 48:22I'm sure there's a small percentage of people who are like that, but a lot
- 48:26of people want to do it right way, but they're not able to and creating some
- 48:30kind of a system where they could pay into it, even if it's a small amount.
- 48:34So there is paper trail that they're trying to do it the right way.
- 48:40Yeah.
- 48:40One of the words that both of you have used a few times now is legal, right?
- 48:45Legal system.
- 48:46And it also sounds like for our listeners and for, the thousands
- 48:50of people that tune into this every show and every week, from a private
- 48:54opportunity, a legal application.
- 48:58Literally a software, AI to help speed this up.
- 49:03Seems like a really great opportunity ultimately the threshold and the
- 49:10bottleneck sounds like it's very tied up into the legal system and to someone or
- 49:17numerous individuals looking at paperwork, seeing paperwork, seeing the application,
- 49:22making the decision, making the process.
- 49:24Right now there are thousands and thousands of judges, lawyers, courts,
- 49:32all tied up into just immigration where every single story is different.
- 49:36it also sounds like there is some solution there where if that process
- 49:41got sped up rather than 10 years, that number, that word, that phrase
- 49:46has been thrown around a few times, 10 years is a long fucking time.
- 49:50That's a decade.
- 49:51Let's figure out a way to get that process down to, are you a citizen in three years?
- 49:57Yes or no?
- 49:58if you pass something, if you into something, if you get a credit system
- 50:04built up we should figure out a way to be able to shorten that process.
- 50:07Because think a lot of it would be minimizing that paper trail,
- 50:12minimizing the time that a human has to look at certain applications.
- 50:16Do you think I'm on the right path there?
- 50:18I love your thinking and I love this path very much.
- 50:22And also the observation that anything that needs to be implemented
- 50:26in the government or in the legal or in the insurance world,
- 50:32like everything takes forever.
- 50:35And the pushback is so huge and for the allowing of AI to come in is going to be.
- 50:43big.
- 50:44So I'm not sure if just entrepreneurial individual with this idea can
- 50:49bring it into the government.
- 50:52I feel like it'll need to be a government's desire, and at least right
- 50:56now for where we at in America, there is no government desire for any of it.
- 51:01I think I have a solution.
- 51:03You guys, we take
- 51:05it to us.
- 51:0650% of the new ice agents and we give them a job processing claims instead.
- 51:13And I think we solve the problem in the waiting list.
- 51:17We'll need to heal them a little bit first.
- 51:19Yeah.
- 51:19But we'd spend so much more money deporting people.
- 51:23It would be better spent getting people in the office processing these
- 51:27claims because there's so much Gold is also there that could elevate
- 51:32this country on the whole next level.
- 51:34And unfortunately, these people aren't hiding because they're terrifi.
- 51:38Yeah, that's a great way to put it.
- 51:39I think many people, especially US citizens or people that have this
- 51:44extremely strict view on immigration, fail to realize that the top, I'd
- 51:50probably wager to say the top 15 richest individuals in the world that
- 51:54live in the United States of America immigrated here including Elon Musk.
- 51:58So ultimately a lot of incredible humans, a lot of incredible ideas, beliefs.
- 52:05When people get too stuck on the immigration policy and they try to make it
- 52:10extremely strict, they very often forget to both of your points, which you've made
- 52:14earlier, the history of America, this country was built on immigrants, right?
- 52:18Give us your sick, give us your tired.
- 52:20Give us your hungry.
- 52:21We will feed them.
- 52:22We will clothe them.
- 52:23That's what made this country great and to be the greatest country in the world.
- 52:27We still have the greatest problems, and this is one of them, right?
- 52:29Very few countries face the problem at scale that we do regarding immigration.
- 52:33They all face it, especially countries that have borders, France, Germany,
- 52:38England, Spain, Portugal, right?
- 52:41There's a many other countries that have immigration problems.
- 52:43It's just not to the scale that we do.
- 52:45And so what Olga, what you're mentioning is, Hey, you have
- 52:47this humongous budget, right?
- 52:50ICE is now the 17th military organization in the world with the stroke of a pin,
- 52:57seemingly to me is a little bit excessive, the money that's spent on just simply
- 53:01deporting people who were here illegally.
- 53:03And you figure out a way to blend it with what fella said earlier, which
- 53:07was, Hey, you're all approved, but you have to buy into this system.
- 53:10And you have half of the individuals that were brought in for ICE to process
- 53:16a claim, to give people, to talk to people, to communicate, to have
- 53:20conversations, put 'em into a system.
- 53:22And I think you used the word credit check earlier or building
- 53:25your credit report essentially.
- 53:26Building your immigration credit I think does have a lot of validation
- 53:31to it and a lot of validity.
- 53:33I think we should propose this.
- 53:34I think we should run for office.
- 53:36Fantastic.
- 53:37I love this.
- 53:38Dave, you're ready to say something?
- 53:40When we're talking about solutions, we've talked a lot about sort of
- 53:43the legal aspects, and I know a lot of this is wrapped up in legal.
- 53:47Your process was wrapped up in legal.
- 53:49Everyone that we've talked to second and third generation, critics,
- 53:54supporters, advocates, lawyers, everyone has said that by far America is the
- 54:03best in the world at integrating people from all over the planet.
- 54:10Tell me about the cultural integration.
- 54:14I'll give you an example.
- 54:15I live in Miami.
- 54:16English is very much the second language.
- 54:18If you don't speak Spanish here, you're at a huge disadvantage.
- 54:22And I've never been anywhere in the United States quite like that.
- 54:26And all of the people we've talked to said one of the things that their parents
- 54:31emphasized, and, heard you say it as well.
- 54:33English was so critical, and just that small cultural shift of saying,
- 54:39Hey, English is going to be important.
- 54:40We're going to teach it, we're gonna make sure it's
- 54:42immersive, is a real big step up.
- 54:45So tell me a little bit about your cultural journey.
- 54:49Oh, the other thing that everybody said particularly second
- 54:51generation, is they love their culture mainly through the food.
- 54:55Tell me about the cultural aspects.
- 54:57Things that aren't about politics or about the administration
- 55:02or about the laws around this.
- 55:05What would you say maybe to immigrants before they're arriving?
- 55:10Something about improving their odds about building a life here in the United States.
- 55:15I say that English, absolutely.
- 55:18If you speak the language, you have opportunity.
- 55:20If you don't speak the language, you have very limited
- 55:22opportunities, almost nothing.
- 55:25if you actually wanted to succeed in America, you have to speak the language.
- 55:30And the better language you speak, the more opportunities
- 55:33you will have to get better jobs right away to create more income.
- 55:37Therefore, that income will help you to pay for the legal
- 55:39fees and everything else.
- 55:41If you don't speak English, you will be working under the table somewhere and
- 55:47it'll be very difficult journey for you.
- 55:50I agreed and when I was 17, I was barely speaking English and I got lost in Miami.
- 55:55And you're right, no one spoke English and I don't know how I got home.
- 55:59I got lost in the gas station.
- 56:01And I think that's why I have such a strong, like everyone
- 56:04have to speak the language.
- 56:05If I'm in this country, I have to understand you and I'm doing
- 56:09my best to communicate with you.
- 56:11So I want everyone else to communicate with the same language back.
- 56:15Let's flip this around a little bit.
- 56:17A lot of this is like federal because that's where it's at.
- 56:19What could communities or neighborhoods or groups do to
- 56:24make this easier for immigrants?
- 56:26I have to go back to the immigrant themselves.
- 56:29You have to have the discipline and the will to put in the work.
- 56:36It doesn't matter what communities can set up for you, but if you don't wanna put in
- 56:40that work, there is all of these available things around you would not be helpful.
- 56:46And I believe there is quite a bit, at least in Las Vegas,
- 56:49going on in the community.
- 56:50I know there are all kind of English classes in the libraries.
- 56:54That can be taken.
- 56:55Yes.
- 56:56sometimes it's inconvenient.
- 56:57And again, immigrants, a lot of times they don't have a car, they cannot drive.
- 57:01The bus system is not very good, but things are available and if you want
- 57:06to, you can find a way to get there.
- 57:09my mother went through some of those classes.
- 57:12A friend of mine also did and it really helped her and she is doing
- 57:17really right now and she didn't speak any English when she came to states.
- 57:22So I believe that if you thinking about coming to this country, you have to speak
- 57:27English, start the process right away.
- 57:30And what about the role of mentorship, How could that play a part in this?
- 57:35From more established immigrants helping newcomers to integrate faster?
- 57:42Is that something that we should create?
- 57:45That's mandatory, that's optional.
- 57:48That's more open, more aware, more available, easier to access.
- 57:54Would that help?
- 57:56I feel like it would help, absolutely.
- 57:58I think it's a really great idea to create something like that.
- 58:02at least in my experience, there is almost this unspoken code of immigrants that
- 58:07when you meet another one that been in a country a little bit less, you help out
- 58:11and you educate and you show the way, and you show the path and you engage.
- 58:16it was a part of my past.
- 58:18And I know that it's been a pa now.
- 58:20It's been a part of my past back.
- 58:22And so there is almost like this unspoken code that I see you and I understand
- 58:27your struggle and if I can make your struggle just a little bit less.
- 58:33Just by even sharing that and understanding that or helping
- 58:37in some kind of way or the connection, I'm here for you.
- 58:41And I see that culture, quite a bit with immigrants.
- 58:47We definitely we see each other and we know the difficulty
- 58:51that we are going through.
- 58:53And I think with us Eastern Europeans, I feel like we always find our tribe
- 58:57and everybody has different stories.
- 58:59So then you're like, oh, this is available and this is available.
- 59:01Okay, I can do it this way and that way.
- 59:03So we definitely have that.
- 59:04But creating something specifically to help immigrants is just, immigrated to
- 59:09Los Angeles, it would be so hard to find that pocket and like, where's that pocket?
- 59:13Oh, is it 10 miles away, three miles away?
- 59:15But it's still gonna take me an hour to get there to talk to somebody.
- 59:19It just becomes a lot of barriers.
- 59:22So those pockets have to be available all over the place.
- 59:24So people like, oh, I'm in Culver City and around the corner there's a
- 59:28group that meets about immigration, and I can learn more things and
- 59:32see how I can advance myself here.
- 59:35But I believe right now with the world that we are in, even right now,
- 59:38that we are having the conversation in such a way we can actually have
- 59:42something more central that is online.
- 59:44We can build systems online, we can have the communities, we can have maybe
- 59:49people that facilitate and they're willing to give their time online.
- 59:54And guess what?
- 59:54You can go to library and access a computer for an hour.
- 59:59So with the internet being where it is at, I feel like it is definitely very possible
- 1:00:05to create support for the immigrants that is led by other immigrants.
- 1:00:10And I love this idea, Jerremy.
- 1:00:13In 2025 and beyond, I would say that probably 98% of every human that's in the
- 1:00:21US is gonna have access to a cell phone.
- 1:00:23And with every flip, phones are gone.
- 1:00:26So pretty much every phone's gonna have access to cell towers.
- 1:00:30And if you have access to cell towers, you have access to internet, which again,
- 1:00:33makes it faster and easier and obtainable.
- 1:00:36'cause again, really what I'm doing and the point of this entire show, as
- 1:00:39we all know is solving the problems, coming up with solutions where dilate and
- 1:00:44discern and dictate and both myself and Dave sit down and then just collaborate
- 1:00:49on what we've actually learned and what we think would work because I do
- 1:00:52plan on running for office all again.
- 1:00:53I want to implement a lot of changes and shifts and opportunities
- 1:00:56that I think could be faster or just, more available or easier.
- 1:01:01I do believe that there does.
- 1:01:03Need to be a sprinkle of hardship, meaning prove yourself.
- 1:01:07If you're gonna come to this country, we wanna make sure that you're an
- 1:01:10incredible human being, but at the same exact instance, that can be
- 1:01:13something that should be simpler than it is now which is fun.
- 1:01:18But just as an exciting question that I think would be enjoyable for me
- 1:01:22and Dave to hear what's one thing you still find confusing about us culture?
- 1:01:30Eating mashed potatoes with cranberry sauce.
- 1:01:34I would go with mashed potatoes with the skin on top too.
- 1:01:38Okay.
- 1:01:38We never, ever, we had all eaten like that are not cooked, or
- 1:01:42broccoli that is not cooked.
- 1:01:45Oh, honey, on top of fried chicken,
- 1:01:49Oh, first of all, honey, on everything is amazing to be
- 1:01:53GRA Gravy.
- 1:01:55I got comfortable with the skins and potatoes because I've learned that
- 1:01:58there's so many more vitamins in the skin.
- 1:02:00So I'm like, okay, I'll deal with that.
- 1:02:02I'm thinking, like I'm such an American now.
- 1:02:07My mom would always say, oh, you're such an American now.
- 1:02:11And it's because, I prioritize work and I like to accomplish things and
- 1:02:16I like certain things certain way.
- 1:02:20What a great compliment to be called American.
- 1:02:23I guess if my mom were to answer this question, she would say, what a weird
- 1:02:27concept of putting ice in your water.
- 1:02:31No ice in water, please.
- 1:02:33That was the biggest thing.
- 1:02:35So do you still find yourself doing that still?
- 1:02:37I
- 1:02:38I.
- 1:02:39I chill my water, but I don't put ice in it.
- 1:02:42She was like, I don't need any ice.
- 1:02:43I'm like, how?
- 1:02:45How are you drinking this water with no ice?
- 1:02:48This is mind blowing to me.
- 1:02:49Yep.
- 1:02:50There you
- 1:02:50There you
- 1:02:51I went the other way.
- 1:02:52My boo is Turkish.
- 1:02:53I couldn't even imagine ice and water at this point.
- 1:02:56So you both mentioned food.
- 1:02:58What is your comfort food?
- 1:03:00In Russia, I grew up eating pelini, which is the meat dumplings, and I ate them
- 1:03:05ever since I was seven years old, and I'm still obsessed with it in America.
- 1:03:10So many foods, I love Indian food.
- 1:03:12Is that an answer?
- 1:03:14That's something I could never have in Russia, so I love Indian food.
- 1:03:19Yes, I feel like everything that was made, like bread type of things,
- 1:03:24like I feel like we grew up on bread.
- 1:03:25My grandma would be always bacon, pieros, all kind of things.
- 1:03:29And so every time I am in that like rooted, soulful energy, like I wanted
- 1:03:37to make something hardy and it would have, some element of flour in it.
- 1:03:43So that is definitely it.
- 1:03:46It's just a part of a DNA fun question for me.
- 1:03:50are there very few Russian restaurants.
- 1:03:55Good
- 1:03:55you, it's not that good.
- 1:03:58It's not,
- 1:03:58okay and I have to
- 1:03:59it's the same stuff.
- 1:04:01It's the same stuff.
- 1:04:02It's same ingredients, which just mixed up in a different way.
- 1:04:06mayo
- 1:04:07A different way.
- 1:04:09I don't know.
- 1:04:09I have to disagree a little bit because I love Russian food, but my partner is
- 1:04:13American and he is I cannot have this.
- 1:04:14This is, it is just, everything is mixed with Mayo.
- 1:04:18I just cannot have this couple of things he enjoys, but he would
- 1:04:22never wake up in the morning.
- 1:04:24He's Hey, we should go out tonight.
- 1:04:25Let's go to a Russian restaurant.
- 1:04:26That would never happen.
- 1:04:28She's never requested that.
- 1:04:29Exactly.
- 1:04:29It's never once.
- 1:04:30Here's what happens to me.
- 1:04:32I do crave Russian, especially when I got pregnant.
- 1:04:34I was like, oh, I wanna do is eat Russian food and I would order all this Russian
- 1:04:38food and then it would come to me, and then I would say I could make it better
- 1:04:42and then I just end up making it at home.
- 1:04:44But I don't make it it is just a special occasion for me where
- 1:04:48I'll make all the Russian food.
- 1:04:49However, during Christmas in Russia, we would always make oreshki.
- 1:04:55Let's see.
- 1:04:56Yeah, so it's like a really it looks like a walnut and it's a cookie that
- 1:05:01is filled with boiled condensed milk.
- 1:05:05It's delicious.
- 1:05:07So every Christmas now I make this, and my partner is obsessed.
- 1:05:11And yes, Jerremy, you have to try.
- 1:05:14I would like a delicious cookie for Christmas.
- 1:05:16That sounds great.
- 1:05:18Oh my goodness.
- 1:05:18That's not what I get.
- 1:05:19That's not what he gets.
- 1:05:20Nope.
- 1:05:20I get herring under the fur coat for Christmas.
- 1:05:23no.
- 1:05:24He does every Christmas.
- 1:05:25I make that beautiful salad that he is oh my God,
- 1:05:30Yeah.
- 1:05:31Yeah.
- 1:05:31I love it.
- 1:05:32And we, I live in Los Angeles, so we do have a few Russian restaurants, but
- 1:05:37not a lot of them survive long term.
- 1:05:40And I remember one of my favorite restaurants in New York, it was
- 1:05:44Ukrainian restaurant, and it went out of business as well, but it was the best.
- 1:05:48And they had every single flavored vodka you could think of, and
- 1:05:53experience was incredible.
- 1:05:55And they still shut down because not a lot of people like it.
- 1:05:59Yeah.
- 1:05:59Unless if it's a Russian restaurant, unless you are Russian,
- 1:06:01Ukrainian, like Soviet Union, you're not going to go there.
- 1:06:05Yeah.
- 1:06:05As you said, like you're not going to wake up and say, I'm going to go
- 1:06:08to Russian restaurant for experience.
- 1:06:10You might do it once.
- 1:06:11You'll taste their foot and you're like, I will be just fine.
- 1:06:14I'll open this question up for Dave also or anyone who wants to answer.
- 1:06:17What's the biggest myth Americans believe about immigrants?
- 1:06:25That we are taking their jobs.
- 1:06:27Okay.
- 1:06:28I feel it is a crazy myth.
- 1:06:30A lot of those jobs that I've been right now done by immigrants, most of the
- 1:06:37immigrants that do not speak the language, Americans don't wanna do those jobs.
- 1:06:43Like Americans are privileged.
- 1:06:47They want things easy.
- 1:06:50They do not want to work more than 40 hours.
- 1:06:52They do not want to work three jobs.
- 1:06:55And they also very entitled and feel like they do just the best job ever
- 1:07:01they didn't actually see other jobs.
- 1:07:05And yes, a lot of times we have to do those jobs because Americans don't
- 1:07:11wanna do those jobs and those are the only jobs that are available.
- 1:07:15when I was illegal, I was putting flyers, pizza flyers at 6:00 AM
- 1:07:19in someone else's apartments.
- 1:07:21Like what American Wakes up was like, this is my job, don't take my job.
- 1:07:25Please take it fine.
- 1:07:28I also
- 1:07:28yes, go ahead.
- 1:07:29for your previous question.
- 1:07:31You said the culture shock, what was the biggest thing where you're like, oh,
- 1:07:34you in America now, like what happened?
- 1:07:36I was in a circus.
- 1:07:37I was 16.
- 1:07:38We were rehearsing our show and I remember we're in the middle of rehearsing one of
- 1:07:43the acts and something was not working.
- 1:07:45We just had to figure out how to fit it into the show.
- 1:07:48And I remember somebody walks in and goes, okay, it's lunch everybody.
- 1:07:54And my mind was blown.
- 1:07:55In Russia, you don't take lunch.
- 1:07:58You work until you fix the problem.
- 1:08:01Where in America you have labor laws and you have to stop, and you have to
- 1:08:05let people go, have lunch, and then you come back and you start over, which a
- 1:08:08lot of times it'll take you longer to get going, but that's just how it goes.
- 1:08:13I think my answer depends on where you're at, right?
- 1:08:17I think, you know, I grew up in Washington, DC and I think if you're
- 1:08:21in an urban environment, I think one of the biggest myths that you have
- 1:08:26are immigrants are really great.
- 1:08:29And the reality is, is immigrants are just immigrants and they're just people, right?
- 1:08:33And I think if you live outside of urban environments, immigrants are
- 1:08:37really scary and they're othered.
- 1:08:39And then I've seen it in communities where maybe agricultural communities,
- 1:08:44immigrants are just integrated.
- 1:08:45So I think it really just sort of depends, you know, like there, there
- 1:08:48seems to be like odd black and white.
- 1:08:51Mentalities around things.
- 1:08:53And when we remove those barriers you know, like, it's like, wow, these
- 1:08:58are just people and they just are, they're just from someplace else.
- 1:09:01But then again, you know, like if you spend any time in America, you
- 1:09:04are from someplace else, right?
- 1:09:06Like, I'm, I'm from Washington, I lived in San Francisco, I lived in Miami.
- 1:09:09Like, I'm from somewhere else.
- 1:09:11And it's just, it's just people.
- 1:09:12So that's what I think the myths around immigration are, is that
- 1:09:16it gets black and white and it's like, nah, people are people.
- 1:09:19People are people.
- 1:09:21That is a statement from DC Dave Conley.
- 1:09:25Very accurate as well.
- 1:09:27All good.
- 1:09:28Just wanna say thank you so much for taking your time to be here
- 1:09:30and share with us your stories.
- 1:09:32Share with us your victories of how you overcame and how you are now just
- 1:09:37such a rockstar American who creates value for people all over the world.
- 1:09:43And it's Ana.
- 1:09:43Thank you for sharing with us different opinions, beliefs, thoughts on how we can
- 1:09:49collaborate and come together as humans, as citizens to embark on love and healing.
- 1:09:54It's gonna be an incredible episode for every single person to listen.
- 1:09:57And please feel free to share this episode with any of your friends
- 1:10:01if they are immigrants or not.
- 1:10:03We would love a five star review and they can share this episode.
- 1:10:08They can tag us, solve USA Pod on X, or Solving America's Problems.
- 1:10:15on Instagram, Olga Solana.
- 1:10:17you so much for your time.
- 1:10:19Thank you for having us.
- 1:10:20. What did we learn, Dave?
- 1:10:22What did we learn?
- 1:10:24What did we learn?
- 1:10:25One thing that I definitely learned is the rhetoric.
- 1:10:30The advertisement that come to America.
- 1:10:34We have everything that you want, your dreams, the opportunity
- 1:10:38that's still very much alive and probably has been and probably will
- 1:10:41continue to be for a very long time.
- 1:10:43This is another statement by you that we as a country have.
- 1:10:50The best immigration policy process, although it's still flawed and it's
- 1:10:55still archaic and still muddied at times, comparatively, we're still nailing it.
- 1:11:01We're still doing quite well.
- 1:11:02And that brings me hope because there, there can certainly be changes, there
- 1:11:08can certainly be shifts, and I think Solana in this episode said that
- 1:11:11really the mindset probably could, that could shift into is just one of.
- 1:11:16Abundance, one of opportunity, one of prosperity.
- 1:11:19One that saying, Hey, there's plenty to go around.
- 1:11:22There's more than enough.
- 1:11:23We can figure this out.
- 1:11:24It's okay for us to do that, right?
- 1:11:27It's okay for us to go, Hey, listen, we need more immigrants.
- 1:11:31We want more people.
- 1:11:32This is going to be something that's gonna provide more versus take away from, right?
- 1:11:37That scarcity mindset of if immigrants come into this nation, then.
- 1:11:41If Americans aren't gonna have any jobs, I think you need to be worried
- 1:11:44a lot more about robots and AI taking your jobs than you do immigrants.
- 1:11:48That's actually happening for sure.
- 1:11:51So we need to continue to figure out a way.
- 1:11:54To build together, to create more, to scale more, to entertain
- 1:11:58more, to have more, right.
- 1:12:00That's really the mindset of abundance, and I think that the right people
- 1:12:04in place, the right policy changes, the right metrics and the right
- 1:12:07discussions, the right stories, the right conversations and communications,
- 1:12:11I think would create space for that.
- 1:12:13And I also learned that in probably about six of our overall general topics.
- 1:12:21Police reform being one of them, and now immigration, that it's the legal
- 1:12:26process that is one of the largest bottlenecks and probably the thing
- 1:12:33that needs to get solved the fastest.
- 1:12:36What did you learn DC.
- 1:12:38I learned that immigrants are tough as nails.
- 1:12:41They're.
- 1:12:41Bad asses.
- 1:12:42Bad.
- 1:12:43I hear people complaining about their coffee, right?
- 1:12:46And the hoops, the bureaucracy the fear.
- 1:12:51I don't think that the vast majority of people, certainly
- 1:12:54the vast majority of Americans.
- 1:12:55Would put up with any of that.
- 1:12:57If we had anything that we had to do as native born Americans, that
- 1:13:03was a of what immigrants have to go through, we would lose our minds.
- 1:13:06There would be riots in the streets.
- 1:13:08Every politician be thrown out like it would be bedlam.
- 1:13:11kept on going and we did it.
- 1:13:14I am blown away about, their bravery and the grit.
- 1:13:18And I don't think that story is heard about immigrants because
- 1:13:22their story is not unique.
- 1:13:24Their story is pretty typical, even easier in some ways.
- 1:13:29One of the big things I've learned through this series is.
- 1:13:32America is so good at this and equally awful at it.
- 1:13:37And the immigrants who go through this process and become American
- 1:13:41citizens are like super citizens.
- 1:13:43Like they are patriotic and they are proud.
- 1:13:46And they are strong and they're tough.
- 1:13:47And like they come here and they succeed over and over again.
- 1:13:51That's what I learned, like it sucks and they are.
- 1:13:56Amazing.
- 1:13:57Just truly amazing.
- 1:13:59That part I do love.
- 1:14:00Yeah.
- 1:14:00When, if you come here and most people come here, I think
- 1:14:03Phila brought this point.
- 1:14:04They come here, they really wanna be here.
- 1:14:06They probably good chance they're risking their life.
- 1:14:10Or, danger, physical danger 'cause it's not easy to get here from another nation,
- 1:14:16FYI, so it's probably gonna be very hard.
- 1:14:19They wanna be here.
- 1:14:21You mentioned this in another place, they had to skip all the other countries
- 1:14:25that they could have easily gone to.
- 1:14:27It probably would be almost if not as safe.
- 1:14:31They're skipping them.
- 1:14:32They just go, they keep going.
- 1:14:34They keep walking through all the different countries
- 1:14:36and borders to get here.
- 1:14:36So the people that do make it really wanna be here, and they're
- 1:14:38not gonna give it up easily.
- 1:14:40And so they're gonna try, they're gonna produce, they're gonna provide,
- 1:14:42they're gonna create, and they're really going to be a bedrock of this nation.
- 1:14:47They're gonna be your school teachers.
- 1:14:49Janitors, they're gonna be your construction workers.
- 1:14:51They're gonna be your individuals that are building this country from
- 1:14:56the inside out, the people that we might not give a lot of credit to
- 1:14:59they're gonna win because they have to.
- 1:15:02It's no longer a for them, it becomes a must, and that must becomes a standard,
- 1:15:07and that standard dictates their life.
- 1:15:09I also learned, Dave, that I think that we got some solutions, man.
- 1:15:12I think we're getting to a point where a lot of immigrants really like the
- 1:15:15idea, and I do as well along with the immigration attorney, like some type
- 1:15:18of checklist credit, credit score esque type of approach where it's like proof
- 1:15:25to us have the system in place that you can, build live here, maintain, create.
- 1:15:32It's trackable.
- 1:15:33It's 2025, right?
- 1:15:36Like we can easily build something that's trackable, that's replicatable, that's
- 1:15:38easy, that's simple to install, that people can willingly sign up for and be a
- 1:15:44part of where they can pay into a system.
- 1:15:47They can be a part of the system where we do make it faster, easier,
- 1:15:50quicker to be a citizen here.
- 1:15:53So our.
- 1:15:54This is our final episode.
- 1:15:56We'll have a wrap up.
- 1:15:57That'll be our next one from this.
- 1:15:58But I want you thinking about this.
- 1:15:59Okay, this is my thought experiment between now and when we do
- 1:16:03our, what did we, our overall, what did we learn in this?
- 1:16:06Because I keep hearing this one thing, which is, it was
- 1:16:10hard and I'm better from it.
- 1:16:13I'm curious on the solution side, if.
- 1:16:16' cause we've also heard, it's oh, let's make it easier.
- 1:16:18Let's make it faster.
- 1:16:19Let's make it, and I'm wondering if no.
- 1:16:22We keep it hard, we just take all the stupid out of it.
- 1:16:25Like we keep, we pull out the bureaucracy, we pull out the confusion
- 1:16:30and the fear and the uncertainty.
- 1:16:32But it, it's still hard, right?
- 1:16:33Like maybe it still is this trial in a sense.
- 1:16:36I don't know if that's right or not, but I wanna think about it.
- 1:16:39Because.
- 1:16:40There is some value to that.
- 1:16:42I don't know if maybe it's not fair.
- 1:16:44I don't know that's what I'm gonna be thinking about.
- 1:16:46I ask that maybe you do too.
- 1:16:47Or maybe ask your lovely wife.
- 1:16:49In our next episode, ladies and gentlemen, it's gonna be an absolute doozy where both
- 1:16:53Dave and myself discuss are we removing the greatest gifts that immigrants
- 1:16:59give themselves, that America gives them as well the challenge to create
- 1:17:06and the obstacle to become better.
- 1:17:08We'll see you in the next episode of solving America's Problem.