Immigrants Come in All Shapes and Colors – It’s Time They’re All Treated Equally

“Undocumented immigrants are evil,” they say. “They’re taking all of our jobs,” they say. “They’re rapists,” and “they’re bringing drugs into our country,” Donald Trump says.

It’s a trending topic in almost every political campaign and, despite individual views, there’s no question that undocumented immigrants aren’t stealing jobs and bringing drugs into the US. But, people – and by people I mean the beloved POTUS – continue to slander these immigrants without really knowing anything about it or them.

undocumented immigrants have gotten blamed for crimes of all nature, but miraculously there’s only one nationality that has to deal with this burden; Mexicans.

As of 2014 it was estimated that there were 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States. And though many believe this number is entirely composed of our Spanish-speaking neighbors, only 52% of that are actually from Mexico, and that number has been declining in recent years.

The other 48% are a mix of South American, Asian and European countries, all coming in without proper documentation.

So, why are only Mexicans being threatened with deportation and walls? The answer is simple, racism is still alive and well and Mexicans are the most recent victims.

It happened in the 1940s with Japanese-Americans, in the 1880s with the Chinese, in the 1840s with the Irish, in the 1780s with the Native Americans and hundreds of other times throughout our short American history. Anytime anyone is even slightly different than the current majority population, they get unfairly discriminated against; whether they came in legally through Ellis Island or they snuck in riding a delivery truck like in Instructions Not Included.  

Approximately 50,000 Irish immigrants currently live in the US illegally, but one quick glance at their pale skin and one hearing of their accent and Americans swoon. It doesn’t occur to them that they could possibly be illegal; they look just like them, how could they be?

They’re spared the wonderful “go back to your country” slurs and the “you don’t belong here” statements. They don’t experience the judgment and hatred that Mexican-Americans face every day of their life, all because of the color of their skin and the language they speak.

I am a first generation immigrant… and I’m white. When people find out that my father and brother were born in England, I get a “that’s so cool!” or more questions about life across the pond. But, when any of my Hispanic friends get asked where their roots draw back to, they receive an uncomfortable “nice…” as if they’re unsure of how to answer and don’t know how to act.

Diversity is a beautiful thing, and it’s something that Americans, in particular, should be proud of. Race is such a frivolous thing to be scared of or loathe. It should be embraced. People should be allowed to love their ethnicity, regardless of what country they choose to live in or how they entered it.

At least if you’re going to hate undocumented immigration, hate them all, don’t just target those who are seen as “different”. We all have to live together. We’re all humans. Act like it.