Over the past week, I’ve heard a lot of noise regarding the mass deportation ICE raids. I realize this can feel scary for people to see and hear about. As an undocumented immigrant, I am asking you not to let social media cause you anxiety and lower the quality of your daily life. The rhetoric on the news and social media is meant to create emotional reactions in each of us. That emotional engagement keeps us glued to their content, which is all they want. Not to inform or empower us, but for these outlets to influence our perspectives.

During Trump’s first term, I allowed his rhetoric to cause damaging havoc in my life. I was stressed about the idea of being deported. I was angry at his Christian supporters; I believed them to be horrible hypocrites. And I stopped exercising my faith because I couldn’t reconcile Christianity with all the anti-immigrant talk. All that stress and anger was hurting me, not his supporters. And certainly not Trump, who has no idea I exist, nor does he care that I do. I also lost what was most important to me, my faith in God.

I learned from that experience that I can choose to silence the noise. I can choose not to allow the daily media rhetoric to drive my emotions and state of mind. I no longer use social media to scroll and read posts and stories. I understand that for many, social media is a daily habit they do not wish to end. But you can decide not to let sad stories about immigration, and other similar topics determine how you feel daily.

I understand that seeing the news of the daily raids, as people are taken from their homes and their loves is sad to watch. We knew this was coming. This was a critical issue in the presidential election. The current administration did promise to do mass deportations. Understand that deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants is highly improbable. The administration needs to make it look as if mass deportations are ongoing.

From what I’ve read, the Biden administration deported hundreds of people a day. Trump is outpacing Biden, but not by much. If Trump were to average 1,000 deportations a day, it would still take 30 years to remove 11 million migrants. If efficiency improves and the administration somehow doubles that daily deportation total, it would still take 15 years to remove all undocumented immigrants.

Putting aside the devasting economic impact of losing all of America’s migrant workers. Any real mass deportation act by the United States government would be so expensive it is nearly impossible to fathom. The ICE raids are about making Trump’s base believe he is keeping his unrealistic promise. They are also great for creating anxiety and fear.

The immigrant community is indeed in a state of threat. The compassion and sympathy so many are showing undocumented immigrants in this country is wonderful to see. However, if your compassion is causing you to lash out and further divide our nation. I am asking you to show restraint and be patient. We are going to see several heartbreaking things over the next few years. This isn’t the first time the human race has experienced a season of intolerance and division. It is not even the first time the United States has been at the center of discrimination and scapegoating.

We have gotten through difficult times before and we will get through this. Perhaps not the way many of us hope. And certainly not without many wounds and scars inflicted on the poor and the migrants. On the other side of this will be our humanity. We can come together as a people and continue to build a better world for future generations. At this time, it is important not finger-point at those with opposing viewpoints. It would help us all to try to understand their perspective.

Know that many in this country are not having it anymore. I have witnessed many well-thought-out and compassionate arguments, asking for logical humane solutions to the immigration problem in the USA. Only to have those pleas be responded to with anger, profanities, and demands that immigrants get out of their country immediately. Many people have had it with this issue. They have no interest in humanizing immigrants. They want to see migrants be removed from society at any cost, financial or emotional.

I realize we can choose to demonize people with this attitude. Or we can be their neighbors. It won’t be fun to watch, and even quite painful for immigrants like me to experience. But the only thing that is going to help these people is that immigrants are not the cause of their problems. To watch the Trump deportation show and observe that migrants were helping our society, not directly responsible for their unhappiness.

We need to watch the ICE raids with compassion but in silence. The current ICE raids are targeting immigrants with some type of criminal record. What is unique about these raids, is that in the past ICE only arrested the targeted criminal. Now ICE is taking an undocumented immigrant they come across, along with the targeted individual or individuals. It is hard to watch hard-working migrants being rounded up like hardened criminals. However, the staunch Trump voter sees no difference between the two. In these early days of the ICE raids, any frustration we express about the deportations will sound like support for criminals to the right.

A time will come when we will need Republicans, Christians, and Trump voters to listen to reason. None of these groups will listen if all they’ve heard is our frustrations and accusations. We will sound like the proverbial boy who cried wolf. More importantly, because we never took to understand their perspective, they won’t want to understand ours.

What I have learned in my life is that once we get to know each other, it is difficult to hate one another. Almost everyone I know has learned to be sympathetic to undocumented immigrants because they have gotten to know me. Even the people I know who are hardliners against undocumented immigrants, don’t consider one of those people. They rationalize to themselves that I am somehow different and not the criminal the other 11 million are.

Most people I spoke with who believed deporting all immigrants was the most important issue in the 2024 presidential election, did not know a single undocumented immigrant, let alone have any type of relationship with one. It is easy to demonize the stranger. So, let’s stop being strangers. Anyone who voted for Trump is our neighbor. Maybe we won’t be afforded many opportunities to be neighbors. However, the good thing about the Trump presidency is that it will create plenty of opportunities for us to need one another.

Don’t spend your time building walls with those who have opposing viewpoints. Extend a friendly hand and leave it available if ever they are willing to reach for it. Many will probably spit at your hand over time. But those that don’t will eventually get to know you and me. It has been my experience that as people to get to know and understand one another. It becomes difficult to blame and accuse them for our own problems. Perhaps we won’t become good friends, but we can start to find a middle ground again.

As far as undocumented immigrants go, I know many. I have spoken with them about the stress and anxiety of the current administration. I was surprised to learn that most of my undocumented friends are not as stressed as my American citizen friends. The main reason is life is really hard in this country for immigrants. Most live in poverty and work in nearly slave-like conditions. Immigrants are concerned with the daily grind of not just working, but finding enough work to feed and house their families. They go through all the same challenges every American does. The price of eggs is killing them as well.

They deal with the stress of living a hard life with no realm dreams of their own. They sacrifice so much for the chance that their children will have a better life here than the one they would have had in a different country. I was most impressed with their response to the possibility of getting deported. “If it falls to us to back, then we will go back.” In their home countries, they will have to grind as they do here. Their children’s lives may not be as good in their home countries as they might have been here. But they will find a way to make the best life for their families wherever they end up.

Most of the undocumented immigrants that the United States is fortunate enough to have; are hardworking, courageous, and love their families. Most of their lives will probably not end with a white picket fence and the simple dignity so many Westerners take for granted. Things that I also take for granted. However, while they still have breath in them, they will each love their children in a manner that everyone on earth should love their families. We should all be so lucky.