Immigration
There seems to be a misconception that the United States Constitution applies only to U.S. citizens. However, the Fourteenth Amendment ensures that no particular group is discriminated against lawfully, “... nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws….” U.S. Const., Amend. XIV. The Fourteenth Amendment was created out of struggle and was passed to guarantee civil rights and legal protections for newly freed slaves after the Civil War. It was created to recognize human dignity. This same principle is at the heart of today’s conversations about immigrants.
Debates over immigration tend to focus on numbers, policies, and border security, but immigration is bigger than all the numbers and statistics. Immigration is not just a policy issue; it is a human one. Immigration is about people. Immigrants are human beings just like you and me with stories, dreams, and dignity. Take my wife, Rocio, for example. Rocio has been in this country for over 30 years, and it took her many years, challenges, and prayers to become a naturalized citizen of the United States.
“Today, I’m speaking to you as someone who has been through this very tough and long immigration system. It took over 10 years, countless appointments, thousands upon thousands of dollars, lawyers, many tears and prayers, and that is just to get a green card. After that, it’s more money, more time, and more interviews to become a citizen.”
“Growing up as an immigrant here in the U.S. has not always been easy, but it has shaped me into the person I am today. I’ve learned compassion, strength, resilience, and courage, and that is what we need today to navigate through this hateful political climate that we are in.”
“I am scared every time I get into my car, I wonder, is this the day I am gonna be racially profiled and stopped by ICE agents. What if I am with my children? How am I going to handle being stopped or approached by these armed, masked, aggressive men? Worse of all, how do we even know these people are ICE agents?”
“To be honest, my legal status does not matter in this corrupt administration. They care more about my skin color, because it has never been about being documented or being undocumented. We know this because they have detained citizens, they have detained green card holders, they have detained people with work permits, and they are even going to immigration courts and kidnapping people and sending them to concentration camps.”
“This administration is operating without a single regard to due process, without a single regard to the Constitution, and without a single regard to basic human rights.”
Listen to the complete audio from Rocio Jacob
Rocio’s story and experiences are, sadly, not unique. Thousands of immigrants in the U.S. go through the same struggles, live their lives in fear, face racial discrimination, and spend thousands of dollars to pursue the American Dream. This is not what the United States was founded on. Our nation was built upon the beliefs that all people are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights—Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our Founding Fathers believed these rights were inherent and should not be taken away by the government. We are also a nation founded on the belief that “all men are created equal,” and that means all persons have the right to equal treatment under the law. This very belief system and the opportunity our nation holds are what brought the original wave of immigrants to Ellis Island.
For many decades, the United States was a beacon of hope for millions of immigrants—the world’s mixing pot and a land of economic opportunity. Unfortunately, America has long used immigrants as scapegoats for societal woes. They are the easiest scapegoats for fear-mongering. Despite America’s history with immigrants, the idea of the American Dream is what continues to draw dreamers and enterprising individuals to our country. I refuse to normalize a stigma that immigrants to the United States are to blame for failures that fall squarely upon those who hold power—you are not unemployed due to migrants, but to a weak economy; the failures of society are not due to immigrants, they are due to the actions and decisions of our elected officials and business leaders.
Ellis Island opened in 1892 and was the first point of entry for 12 million new Americans who were escaping war and hunger, people just looking for a better life and a fresh start. Only two percent of arriving immigrants were excluded from entry. Health issues, like contagious diseases, or legal issues, like illegal labor contracts, were the result of denied entries. Immigrants have had their own role in shaping America. The emergence of immigrants brought so many different people to America. This wave of diversity and culture in our nation, drawing people from different walks of life, speaking beautiful languages, bringing new traditions, sparking new ideas, and building community, is the hallmark of American history. Lawful migration benefits our economy and builds our country. It is critically important and keeps our country growing and vibrant.
The United States is no stranger to horrible immigration policy. With extraordinary growth came more barriers and restrictions. Immigrants faced the challenges of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese laborers from entering the U.S. This was followed by the Foran Act of 1885, also known as “The Alien Contract Labor Law,” which further prohibited employers from bringing foreign laborers into the country under contract before their arrival. Introduced later, creating more restrictions and barriers, the 1917 Act implemented a literacy test and also increased the tax paid by new immigrants, and allowed immigrant officials to exercise more discretion in making decisions over whom to exclude. Adding to the trend, the Immigration Act of 1924 brought even more obstacles. This act limited the number of immigrants allowed to enter the U.S. through a national origin quota. Only granting immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality.
A Broken System
Today, immigrants still face barriers and restrictions. You would think, as a country, we could solve the issue of our immigration policy. But every day we continue to debate immigration as a policy issue, real lives are changed, and real families are separated. The path to citizenship is no longer as simple as stepping off a boat and signing paperwork. This process can take years—even decades—filled with uncertainty, high costs, and constant fear. To further complicate the issue, this process is also constantly changing, with more laws and policies being put into place that create more barriers, making it more difficult for immigrants to achieve the American Dream.
One of the greatest barriers to citizenship is the cost. Immigrants face high, recurring costs and fees. Green card costs typically range from $2,000-$3,000 and even up to $5,000 for certain applications, not including the separate fees for initial costs and renewal fees. Besides direct government fees, there are additional costs to keep in mind. These include vaccination fees, translation services fees, document fees, photography fees, travel expenses, and shipping costs. Based on the type of application, the time it takes to obtain a Green Card (U.S. residency) can range from a few months to over 15 years. In fact, what most people do not realize is that there are actually two different waiting periods. In addition to waiting for your green card, you have to first wait to even be allowed to submit your application. Once you receive residency, you still have to wait at least five years to become a naturalized citizen. So, ask yourself, how much are you willing to endure to become a citizen of a country that regularly tells you to “go home?”
Are you familiar with the Naturalization Civics test that immigrants must pass in order to obtain their citizenship? The new test will have more potential questions, up to 128, require 20 randomly selected questions instead of ten, and require twelve correct answers instead of six. On top of this added barrier, Donald Trump recently signed a proclamation that will require a new annual $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications. These kinds of visas are meant to bring the best and brightest foreigners for high-skilled jobs, who often are willing to work for as little as $60,000 annually. It gets worse! The current administration is bringing back decades-old vetting tools, conducting “neighborhood checks” as part of its review process. These checks will be used to assess “good moral character,” to ensure alignment with constitutional principles. Despite these obstacles, immigrants continue to shape our communities in so many different ways.
Immigration Matters
Not only are immigrants navigating a broken system, they are building businesses, enriching our culture, filling roles in our workforce, boosting our economy, and keeping our communities vibrant. Their perseverance goes to show why immigration is more than just a policy issue; it shows us why immigrants themselves matter as people. Immigrants are our neighbors, classmates, coworkers, and family. These are the people who truly make America great. We must eliminate the rhetoric that immigrants are taking away jobs or draining our economy and resources. In fact, adding more immigrants as workers and consumers grows the American economy by $7 trillion and will increase the tax revenue by $1 trillion. Immigrants even pay more in taxes than they get in benefits, as most are excluded—despite talking points to the contrary—from government benefits, like social security and Medicaid.
The bottom line is that immigrants are hard-working people seeking a better life for themselves and for their families. As a nation, we should celebrate and welcome immigrants, streamline pathways to citizenship, and erase the narrative that immigrants are a burden to the economy and dangerous to society. Because the truth is, crime is not driven by immigrants; they are 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated than U.S. citizens. Bringing it back to the bigger picture, immigrants matter not only because of their contributions, they matter because they remind us of the values this country stands for and how we choose to treat the people on our soil.
Conclusion
For some closing words, I have to pass it off to my amazing wife, because she said it best, “In Congress, they should not be allowing this to continue. They have the power and the duty to do something about it, but so do we, and we have to keep fighting the good fight, and we must choose courage over fear.” America is not America without immigrants.
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