This past evening on Oct. 7, controversial speaker Myron Gaines visited The University of Texas at Austin as part of his “Toxic Masculinity Tour” across college campuses, sponsored by the university’s chapter of “Uncensored America.” His event was shut down 45 minutes before scheduled by the university, but in the two hours he was allowed on campus, he platformed multiple harmful and racist claims targeted toward minority students in his crowd. In one interaction, Gaines took issue with the accent of a young Indian girl who had taken the mic, claiming, ” You guys,â referring to the Indian immigrant community, âdon’t assimilate, and your worldview is completely different. I love how you said, âOh, I’m a proud Indian,â right? But you don’t want to go back.âÂ
As the presence and aggression of ICE agents increases across the U.S., along with rising anti-immigrant rhetoric, this argument is regularly utilized against immigrants who offer any critique of the state of the government. The issue with this stance, however, is that it relies on the belief that when an immigrant chooses to leave their country, they are also, in turn, rejecting it. That to live in America, one must adopt a blind sense of patriotism by abandoning their culture, âassimilating,â and, as Gaines would probably advise, losing their accent. It leaves little tolerance for diversity and cultural diffusion, two key factors that shaped the America we know today. What we see within this argument is one language, one accent, and one âworldviewâ being tolerated. And it’s there that an internal conflict is posed to an immigrant: if you already left behind your country, where is the struggle in leaving behind your pride for it? However, that conflict is based on a total lie. The truth is, for many immigrants, it isnât a choice to stay or leave their home country.
Mixed Migration Centre cites the top two reasons most people choose to immigrate as stemming from either economic motivations or issues with armed conflict, generalized violence, and insecurity. The U.S. job market has a high demand for immigrant labor, and despite the argument that immigration hurts native-born Americans’ job opportunities, reduced immigration is actually shown to contribute to labor shortages, which makes sense. After all, less immigration for the economy also means fewer workers, consumers, and taxpayers. For families from poorer countries struggling in poverty, America can serve as a chance to escape violence and establish themselves in a more economically secure country.Â
What motivates someone to migrate often has nothing to do with a conflict in their cultural pride, but rather the state of their government. It is not easy to leave behind a home your family has occupied for decades; it is not easy to say goodbye to friends and family who choose to stay; and it is not easy to enter a country with brand new norms and foreign people. For every reason someone chooses to leave, there are many more reasons to stay. In the article, âHow to write to the country you left,â the author advises one to look at the âcountry as itself â not the government, not the news you doomscroll from a safe distance, but the sensory, particular place: its light, its food, its specific version of morning. [Look at] what you took when you left⊠and what you had to leave behind on purpose.âÂ
We should then not be asking âWhy donât immigrants go back?â, but why people like Myron Gaines can have an entire platform advocating for them to. What most defenders of ICE and the Republican Party will say is that they do not oppose all immigration, only illegal immigration. Unfortunately, the policies they align themselves with hardly match that claim. Conservative political activist Laura Loomer probably sums up the rightâs position best in a tweet that commented on the opening of the immigration detention center, nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz, where she wrote, âAlligator Lives Matter. The Good news is alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals if we get started now.â The revealing part about Loomerâs statement is that there are only an estimated 14 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. There are, however, over 65 million Hispanics.
When a party tells immigrant families to just âgo back to where they came from,â no one should assume they are an exception. My grandmother immigrated to the U.S. legally through the naturalization process. If she were alive or made that decision today, there is zero question that she would be targeted by ICE. Take naturalized citizen Willy Wender Aceitunoâs firsthand account with ICE agents: a man who voted for Trump twice and just last November was forcibly removed from his car and thrown onto the ground of a parking lot. In an interview with ProPublica, he explains, âICE isnât looking for criminals. Theyâre looking for Latinos. Having papers in this country does not protect you.â As of Oct. 6, 506 legal U.S. citizens have been detained by ICE.
I do believe, however, that even in the presence of a country that rejects you, even where your ties to your home country and culture are called into question at the hands of racist rhetoric, there is hope for the next generation of immigrants. A slogan from a festival in McAllen, Texas puts it beautifully: âThese are our roots, and we are the flowers,â and I believe no matter where these roots get replanted, they remain ours to embrace and take pride in. Our cultures shape Americaâs landscape; we deserve to be here as much as the White European immigrants who claimed this land from Native Americans centuries ago. It is through our existence that we contribute to the music, the food, the traditions, and the air that all Americans breathe and live by. We donât leave our countries as much as we carry them on our backs. It is through the sacrifice of hardworking immigrants from Mexico that I can proudly declare I am American. I am proud of my roots, and I believe the America that welcomed my grandmother and generations of immigrants before her can still exist, as long as we fight for it.