Alice Lassman moved to New York in 2022 to attend graduate school, inspired by the prestige of American universities and aiming for an MPA to improve economic policy for all citizens. Her family history traces to a great-grandfather who arrived at Ellis Island in 1912, worked in Philadelphia for 20 years, returned to Ireland with savings, and bought a small business that enabled later family migration to the UK. After three years in the US, Lassman left in June 2025, citing distress over how the country treated its most vulnerable and an unwillingness to watch conditions worsen.
My great-grandfather and I were both 24 when we arrived in America. He landed at Ellis Island in 1912 with nothing but a suitcase, his savings, and the belief that America would offer a better life. I touched down at JFK airport in 2022, ready for the adventure I'd waited most of my life for. We know little about my great-grandfather's time in America, but we know he brought his fortunes back to Ireland after 20 years doing industrial work in Philadelphia.
His version of the American dream earned him enough money to buy a small business, later giving my grandmother the chance to leave Ireland for the UK. It was her grit - inherited by my mother - that permitted me to even dream about one day moving to the US. In June 2025, after three years in the US, I decided to cut my American dream short and leave the US.
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