Trapped!

Reading chapter three I couldn't help but to feel that the female garage cashier was trapped in the U.S. by the wants of her husband and by the limited mobility offered by the U.S. She can't go home and she is barely making it in America. I was wondering, while reading the chapter, what makes people stay in America who are forced to face these conditions, when conditions in their homeland were much better or much the same. Is it the dream that America propels to the people or the opportunity and possibility for advancement?  When is enough enough? I find it so crazy that people dream of coming to America and doing well, while Americans themselves starve in the streets. If a country can't promise opportunities to its own people, what makes one believe that they will be afforded to you. I understand that success is so important, but when the cost out weigh the benefits, I doubt that it is worth it!