One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

In Chapter 3, El Akkad examines the immigrant experience through personal anecdotes and connects these experiences to broader observations about power, narrative, and justice in global contexts. The chapter begins with a description of an incident at the U.S.-Canadian border when El Akkad’s family attempted to travel from British Columbia to Los Angeles to visit a relative. At the Abbotsford crossing, border guards denied them entry, and El Akkad’s father was taken to a Canadian police station while he and his mother were sent home. This experience made El Akkad realize that despite his cultural fluency and efforts to assimilate, he was still subject to the discrimination faced by immigrants. He notes that his anger was worthless against a system that privileged certain groups while marginalizing others, recognizing that for some there existed “a hard ceiling on the consequences” while for others there was “no floor” (52).

El Akkad connects his personal experiences to broader observations about immigration, noting that the “immigrant class” is segregated by narrative—some immigrants receive the privilege of “an arrival story,” while others experience only “departure after departure” (48). He reflects on another incident when his father lost a promising job opportunity in Wisconsin after September 11th because his visa application stalled indefinitely.