My mom’s side of the family grew up on a farm just outside of a tiny town (population- about 300) in the geographic center of Kansas. Very religious, and very republican. Growing up, when I would visit, I learned quickly that talking about politics was a taboo subject. Any mention of something liberal or conservative would completely change the vibe of the room and would turn into a giant argument making everybody uncomfortable. With this election going on, everyone has been on edge trying not to say something to make someone else upset. I am liberal, and have access to the resources of living in a diverse town/city in Kansas, I often get very angry with the things some of my family members mention nonchalantly. I often have to leave the room So I don't make a scene. One of those is the subject of immigration. Because I cannot say these things to my family members without causing an uncivilized discussion I would like to say it now.
I believe that immigration into the United States should be an accessible option for people searching for better opportunities. I think American citizens as a whole forget what is happening in other countries and how extremely lucky we are to be here. Natural born Americans don’t realize that it was pure luck that we happened to be born in the U.S. where we have a long list of freedoms and rights that other countries could only dream of having. There wasn’t any test we had to take to live in the US, we were born here. I have met many people, part of my family included act like we are above the immigrants coming into the U.S. We are not! We are almost all descendants of immigrants, the United States was established by immigrants.
Immigrants try to come to the U.S. to escape serious situations they faced in their home country, whether it’s extreme poverty, poor opportunities for education, religious discrimination, you name it. They are coming here for a new life and they are working for better opportunities while facing racism and discrimination from people here! I wouldn't want to go a country where I could potentially be discriminated against if it wasn't worse where i was from.
There is always a comment about immigrants taking our jobs, when the fact of the matter is, they are immigrants who are doing the jobs that we think we are too good to do! Nobody wants to be cleaning nasty bathrooms, picking crops, earning less than minimum wage, but they do it because those are the jobs available. Keyword available, meaning able to be obtained, at someone’s disposal. They aren’t taking any jobs from the average natural born citizen!
Instead of focusing on getting rid of all the illegal immigrants by kicking them out of their opportunity for a better life we should be helping them gain their citizenship. Society as a whole needs to stop putting up barriers between individuals and realize that we are all human and what we all want is to be accepted and respected. Everyone deserves the right to be happy and have a good life.
