By Bhashini Weerasinghe
As we rapidly approach the upcoming election and brace for the inevitable and continued onslaught of campaign attacks on some of the most vulnerable populations, I cannot help but think about my own immigrant story. I was seven years old when my dad told us that he was going to go to the United States to get things situated before we would all join him in about a year. I remember the party we had on his last day in Sri Lanka and the ride to the airport to drop him off. I also remember waking up the next day and wanting to see my dad and having my mom tell me that dad is on a flight. She pulled out a globe to show me that dad is flying across the world. I remember asking if we could take the train to meet him. My seven-year-old brain was struggling to understand what an ocean was and why we could not see dad. I remember that year, I had many phone chats with my dad — but that meant, we get word that dad is trying to call, and we all would head to the town where there was a clothing store that had a phone and wait for him to call back. In Sri Lanka, we didn’t have our own phone — no one did. This was before cell phones were a thing, and before you could Facetime with your loved ones.
Eleven months later, we were heading to the airport, this time to join dad in the U.S. The only thing I heard was that I would get to see dad again. I didn’t care that I was leaving behind my friends, extended family, or a culture that was worlds apart from everything I knew. I get to see dad! Landing at LAX, I was tired, and the plane food made me sick. As such, the first thing I did was throw up! Welcome to Los Angeles! In hindsight, I cannot imagine the amount of courage it took my dad and mom to leave everything behind — the home they built from the ground up that my dad designed, the jobs they trained for and excelled in, the family, friends, and community they loved — to take the biggest gamble of their lives with three young kids, broken English, and degrees that would not necessarily translate to jobs in the U.S. But they did it for us, my siblings and me. Their big dream was to give us a future that they could not in Sri Lanka, to ensure that all three of us get the chance to go to college. Today, my sister is a local attorney practicing intellectual property and corporate law, my brother is a family medicine doctor in Pasadena, and I am an estate planning and business law attorney who also works at California Western School of Law where I counsel law students and alums about career options.
We started as permanent legal residents because my dad had won the lottery visa, and we were able to become citizens within five years of being in the U.S. Although we faced plenty of struggles, the American Dream was not just a promise but something that materialized in ways that most cannot even fathom. We were the lucky ones. But for the millions of folks who flee because of fear, because their lives are in danger, because they want to seek opportunities for their kids as my parents did, the road ahead is not a smooth one. They are often villainized by politicians, criminalized by the system, and live in constant fear. Even those who came the “correct way” or have obtained legal status — including citizenship — are treated as “illegal,” made to feel unwelcome, looked down upon because of accents, and judged for being “other.” I wish more people in the media and in the world would have some empathy and think about how their family got to the U.S. and what that transition felt like for the first generation of immigrants in their family. At the end of the day, we are a country of immigrants who are connected by our common allegiance to the U.S. Constitution.
Author Bio: Bhashini Weerasinghe is an estate planning and business law attorney with her own practice, Law Office of Bhashini Weerasinghe. In September of 2022, Bhashini also joined California Western School of Law as the Assistant Director of Pro Bono and Public Interest, where she counsels students and graduates about the opportunities for employment both during law school and after graduation with non-profit organizations, government employers, JAG, and the judiciary.
Additionally, she serves on the Board of Directors for Children Legal Services of San Diego, volunteers as an estate planning attorney for CWSL’s Community Law Project, and is a member of the DEI Division at San Diego County Bar Association. Her prior experience includes being the Director of SDCBA-ACC Diversity Fellowship Program, a staff attorney with San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program running their HIV/AIDS Legal Services Project, being a volunteer attorney for an asylum applicant through Casa Cornelia Law Center, and service on the Boards of Lawyers Club of San Diego and Women of Color in Law.
Bhashini got her JD from New England Law | Boston and her BA in Political Science from University of California, Berkeley.