At a moment when immigrants, regardless of legal status, are being scapegoated and made to feel like “the other,” it is more important than ever for all Americans to embrace and recommit to the foundational tenets of this nation. As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our democratic experiment, immigrants and their children are persisting day by day — even as our government kidnaps, racially profiles, and strips them of their right to live as Americans. Who gets to be an American — and who we want to be as a nation — have become central to our national conversation.
My own family’s immigration story began in the early 70s. We believed the U.S. was a faraway and prosperous land where everything was possible if you were willing to work hard. Our American story followed the pattern of millions of others: in one generation, we went from food service workers, construction workers, housekeepers, and parking attendants to engineers, business owners, government employees, and U.S. Marines — the embodiment of the American Dream. And this journey benefited not just those of us who migrated, but those in my family who stayed behind. Our economic success improved theirs. And despite some assumptions, our American-born kids are following the patterns of past generations — speaking English, climbing the socioeconomic ladder, and going further in school than we ever did. If the question for my generation was whether we would go to college, for our children, it is simply when.
Yet instead of seeing immigrants as a fundamental and revitalizing part of the American story, Trump and Stephen Miller think people like me and my family are a threat to a country they believe is theirs — and theirs alone. The constant barrage of immigration news, and the chaos with which Trump governs, obscures the deliberate way this administration is dismantling our principles of fairness and human dignity — stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands, gutting programs that attract the brightest minds from around the world, and hollowing out the workforce in key industries, among others. For a president who promised to bring down prices and protect families, it is breathtaking to watch him harm businesses, workers, and entire industries, all while pouring billions into masked agents patrolling our streets.
No policies are more emblematic of these heartless attacks than those targeting babies and children. In Tennessee, at the direction of Stephen Miller, the GOP is advancing a policy that would cut gravely ill undocumented children off from lifesaving medical care — or risk being reported to DHS. On Day 1 of his second term, Trump issued an executive order seeking to render babies born to immigrants stateless. Not satisfied with being rebuffed by the Supreme Court earlier this week, two GOP members of Congress promptly announced they would pursue the same goal through legislation, while Trump dismissed the Court’s ruling as “dumb.” In short, nothing and no one is off the table.
Trump, Miller, and their allies argue that the viciousness of their campaign is justified because today’s immigrants are different from those of the past. But while we may look different from the Italians, Germans, Scots, and Irish who came before us, something fundamental remains the same: we are here because we believe in the central tenets of the American story — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Immigrants across generations share an unshakeable belief that in this land there is something better, something worth fighting for. To me, that is what it fundamentally means to be an American. It is telling that on this point I find myself in agreement with President Ronald Reagan, who in his farewell address reminded us: “You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk, or a Japanese. But anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.”
At a time when our own government seems to have abandoned the promise of America, it falls to all of us — immigrant and native-born alike — to recommit to what this country stands for. The ideas described in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution — may not have been written with us in mind. But what they describe is at the core of what immigrants believe and aspire to.
So on the Fourth of July, I will wear my red, white, and blue. I will bring out my flag and display it on my porch with a mix of pain and pride, hope and joy. Pain in knowing that our own government is targeting people like me. Pride in the courage and grit that my family and so many immigrant families demonstrate every single day. Hope that in the end, more of us will choose love over hate. And joy– knowing that at 9:30 pm ET I will be standing with my family and friends eating burgers and hot dogs, watching the fireworks, and recommitting with every fiber of my heart to our national motto: Out of many, one.
