Protect Our Nation's Immigrants -- T. Poole

     The United States of America is a nation of immigrants. Despite this fact, the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” who once represented the essence of our country are villainized within our society and politics. Pew Research reports that the US has around 11 million undocumented immigrants. Since 2009, a growing portion of these immigrants have come from regions in Asia, Central America and Sub-Saharan Africa. The visa and immigration system must be reformed so that individuals coming to the United States –many of whom to receive a higher education or start a business—prosper symbiotically with the United States. Layers of misunderstanding and bigotry have become intertwined with the immigration debate, displacing steps towards progress with fantasies about a magical wall on the Mexican border. The amount of vitriol present in the immigration reform debate strips this issue of its most important aspect: humanity. For all of the differences that may exist between a fifth-generation small business owner in Maine and a teenage laborer crossing the border in Tijuana, these two individuals are undeniably human – with families, partners, aspirations, fears and regrets.
     The American political environment would benefit from a reminder that immigrants – no matter their country of origin or level of documentation—are still human beings. Many use the classification of "other" to undermine this truth. Nothing is more evocative of humanity’s perseverance than a simple portrait; a photograph of a face that, regardless of nationality or ethnicity, speaks in our universal language of smirks, tears, cringes, and laughter. For this project, photos of the faces of immigrants and their non-immigrant allies are compiled. In the contemporary political climate, immigrants are not recognized for their personal sacrifices and the sacrifices they make for the US. More often than not, Trumpian pronouncements that immigrants are "criminals" and "rapists" dominate the dialogue.
     The protection of immigrant rights is an issue important to me because I have spent my entire life living in one of the most diverse cities on the planet: Los Angeles. The Brookings Institute estimates that 13% of the US population is foreign born (Dews). However, President Elect Trump and his ever growing staff of white nationalists and career racists has made it a national priority to villainize and deport our tenacious population of immigrants. According to Pew Research, 59% of unauthorized immigrants are concentrated in six states: California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois (Krogstad). If the millions of immigrants in these states were to be subjected to deportation, countless families and businesses would immediately crumble, leaving a gaping crater of tragedy in our society. As someone who directly profits from cheap immigrant labor, Trump’s embrace of this stance is contradictory. For this reason, it is clear that hate, not financial prudence, is what propels these egregious talks of deportation forces and wall building. It is more important than ever that allies of our country’s population of immigrants stand up to the threat of abuse and decimation that our next commander in chief has vowed to enact.

Works Cited

Dews, Fred, and Audrey Singer. "U.S. Immigrants and Prospects for Immigration Reform."
 Brookings. N.p., 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Nov. 2016.

Krogstad, Jens Manuel, Jeffrey S. Passel, and D’Vera Cohn. "5 Facts about Illegal Immigration in the U.S." Pew Research Center. N.p., 03 Nov. 2016. Web. 26 Nov. 2016.