by Grayson Lewis

As a White American, I’ve grappled with understanding how illegal immigration relates to me. In all honesty, it doesn’t —but that means that I must do more to fight. 

I’ve grown up in a predominantly White area and with a tremendous amount of privilege. I’m White, my parents both work steady paying jobs, we go on vacations annually. Something important that I have glossed over when recounting my privilege, is the fact that I’m a U.S. citizen through birthright citizenship. I’ve never had to worry about myself or anyone in my family being deported; I’ve never had to worry about learning things for a citizenship test. Being born into citizenship granted me this vital privilege and a lack of stress when it comes to proving my documentation. 

Many people in this country, even in the White suburbia in which I reside, don’t have the same privilege as me when it comes to citizenship. Whether they were fleeing their country due to drugs and violence or coming to the U.S. solely for better employment and education opportunities for their families, a common thread runs through the stories of the undocumented: the fear of getting deported or thrown into a cage by ICE. ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was founded in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers. It is made up of three main departments. The first, and arguably the most well known, is Enforcement and Removal Operations. They arrest, detain, and deport undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Under the Obama administration, this department was directed to focus on undocumented immigrants who had committed major crimes in the U.S. Once the Trump administration took over, the ERO was directed to target anyone who resided in the U.S. without documentation. This included families and minors. The second department is Homeland Security Investigations, which goes after terrorists involved in the trafficking of drugs, guns, and humans, as well as identity fraud and financial crimes. The third, and smallest department of ICE, is the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, where the government’s legal support for immigration cases is provided. According to the 2020 Budget Fact Sheet for Border Security via the White House, in 2020, ICE was given an 8.8 billion dollar budget ($8,800,000,000). Over the past few years due to the Trump administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy for undocumented immigrants, ICE raids have become widespread and ruthless. During these raids, ICE will show up at workplaces and homes of undocumented immigrants and rip them from their lives. ICE is known to use deception tactics to lure undocumented immigrants out of their homes. Sometimes, they just burst in without warning. ICE raids are undoubtedly aimed at non-White undocumented immigrants, as they take place in predominantly Hispanic communities. 

These racially-biased raids are undeniably encouraged by racist and xenophobic rhetoric used by the uncontrollable mouth of President Donald Trump. Trump has made disgusting, xenophobic comments many groups of immigrants. Regarding immigrants hailing from Mexico in his campaign announcement, Trump has commented, “when Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best… They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” In 2018, Trump made comments on developing nations and the immigrants we exhume from these countries, saying, “Why are we having all these people from sh*thole countries come here? Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.” These comments, and many more like them, have made Trump’s stance on immigrants very clear: he does not think immigrants fit into the ‘great’ America he has made his mission to revive. With this undeniably xenophobic language spouting out of the Commander-in-Cheif’s mouth and through Twitter, he has equated xenophobia with normalcy. 

I’ve never experienced an ICE raid, and never will due to my birthright citizenship. I’ll never know what it feels like to live every passing day with the constant anxiety and stress that my family and I will be found and deported. I’ll never have to worry about going back to a country full of gang violence, drugs, instability, and crime. ICE will never affect me, and everyone else just like me. This privilege leaves many of us blind, myself included, for a large period of our lives. Immigration issues used to be off my radar, as they weren’t real to me; they didn’t affect me so I didn’t care about them. And therein lies the problem with so many like me, those caught up in the calm, in the privilege of White suburbia. When a problem doesn’t affect us, we don’t care. That is the most incredibly wrong and ignorant mindset for us to put ourselves in. 

We tend to brush off the lack of reality issues like these present to us, as they lack tangibility that comes through observation and experience. 

Just because you or I may never be involved in a raid, locked up at the border, or simply live with the anxiety surrounding deportation, doesn’t mean we should completely disregard those who do experience these issues.

I strongly encourage everyone who sees this to do a few things. For starters, check your privilege. It’s something I’ve had to push myself to do often. Ask yourself what privileges you have, whether they be economic, racial, social, or even something you take for granted like your citizenship. Acknowledge the ways that the American system, built on racism and White supremacy, has benefited you. I also encourage taking steps to the abolition of ICE. Visit abolishicemovement.carrd.co (not created by me) to sign petitions, donate, and educate yourself on the abolition of ICE. 

Let’s collectively acknowledge one thing: America is stolen land. Europeans migrated here hundreds of years ago and performed a mass genocide on the Native Americans. If you aren’t Native American, shouldn’t you be considered illegal? How can anyone be treated as illegal on stolen land? How can we act like this is our land when, in reality, we tore this land from the hands of the Native Americans in the name of manifest destiny and colonization? 

Immigrants make America great. America was founded by immigrants, built by immigrants, and pushed forward by the gifts of immigrants. Without immigration, America would come to a standstill. Instead of xenophobic rhetoric, ICE raids, and deportation, we should make the process to citizenship more manageable. Immigrants should be welcomed into a country founded by them, not discriminated against and subjected to living in anxiety and fear.