Let me preclude this article by saying that I am not some sort of immigration expert who speaks politics. I am a college student. However, I have spent 19 years surrounded by immigrants –– both legal and illegal. One thing I've learned since moving from Texas to a non-border state is that while many Americans care about immigration and may know the numbers and statistics, that does not always mean they understand exactly what is going on near the border. As someone who knows firsthand what life around immigrants is like, allow me to explain what are not, and are, problems with immigration from Mexico.

Not a problem: Lack of a wall

If you have kept up with the Presidential race at all this year, you have heard Trump talk about how we need to build a wall to stop illegal immigration. This wall would be paid for by Mexico and run the length of our southern border. Trump claims that without a wall, we are not a nation and that the lack of a wall is to blame for the amount of illegal immigrants in the United States.

Here’s a truth about immigration, the vast majority of illegal immigrants currently in the United States from Mexico did not get here by crossing the border illegally, they are here illegally as a result of overstaying their visas. This means that most illegal immigrants actually came here legally, through our gates and checkpoints and past border control and have not left. Building a wall would do absolutely nothing to fix this problem because immigrants are not sneaking over our border; they are coming over legally and staying.

Not a problem: Illegal immigrants stealing Americans' jobs

Let me cover this topic from personal experience. My home, San Antonio, is the seventh largest city in America. Although we are not technically a sanctuary city, San Antonio police do not inquire about citizenship status. Combine our lax immigration policies with the fact that we are a mere 150 miles from the US-Mexico border, and you have the perfect area for immigrants to move to in order to find work. According to the public discussion, San Antonio should have a high unemployment rate because illegal immigrants would take our jobs due to being willing to take less pay, yet we are the seventh lowest ranking metropolitan area when it comes to unemployment rates.

In the 19 years I have lived in San Antonio, I cannot recall a single instance where someone complained about “the Mexicans stealing our jobs.” Illegal immigrants who come to America generally take low paying jobs that Americans may not want. Issues with the American public education system aside, our citizens are still more educated than the vast majority of Mexican immigrants. These people come to our land with less education, an inability to speak English fluently, and with no paperwork, putting them at an automatic disadvantage in the job market. If illegal immigrants do take jobs from Americans because immigrants will accept lower wages, ultimately this is a fault of businesses practicing unfair labor laws, rather than individuals who, for the most part, are coming here seeking safety from a dangerous country and a way to support their families.

A problem: Racebaiting

Yes, I know I sound like I’m just screaming “Race!” because that’s a popular thing to do right now, but hear me out. The problem with immigration is a result of the work of both the left and right. The far right has “othered” immigrants, failing to realize that the immigrants coming to America are people looking for work and a better life. Candidates –– notably Donald Trump –– use this othering to stir up emotions for protecting “the American way.” The far left, on the other hand, has the opposite downfall. The left only focuses on the humanity of immigrants and fails to recognize that the American law on immigration needs to be upheld. Candidates have used their stance on immigration to garnish support from immigrants and their families, turning groups against each other, just the reverse way of the right. Illegal immigrants are subject to our immigration laws, they knew this when they crossed our border. Together, both sides have created a discussion which has prevented our laws to be enforced both humanely and consistently. This is part of the reason overstayed visas is one of the main reasons for illegal immigrants in the US.

I won’t pretend to be an expert on immigration or have all the answers or have discovered the solutions to our problems. Immigration is a complex issue, yet if Americans want to fix it, we have to put aside the othering which has dominated the conversation on immigration and look at immigration for what it is: a complex intersection of American law and the lives of real people. If we are to treat this issue fairly, neither side of the argument can be ignored.