People from around the world view the United States as a place where one can fulfill their personal American Dream, where trial and tribulation are one of those steps in order to achieve it. Throughout the world, families abandon their culture and lives in order to escape the extreme realities of living in a country that can no longer help them live comfortably in happiness and tranquility. In Mexico, drug cartels are contributing to the death toll of over 100,000 people, Nicaragua’s despot is eliminating those who are standing righteously to a corrupt government in power, Venezuela’s dictator is bringing upon harsh laws and putting the Venezuelans in poverty’s grasp. Granted the hardships that the majority of undocumented immigrants encounter, myriad people will risk their lives to achieve a better lifestyle.

Immigrants have to uproot their lives and families, they have to find the courage to leave the evils that swarm their country, they have to face prejudices and racism, they have no choice but to begin again from nothing- and for undocumented individuals, they must leave no trace of their presence in America. Besides the recently and hotly debated topic of immigrant children being taken from their parents and being held in abusive conditions, many families have been starved and without water for weeks on end during their journeys here. This violence is paled in comparison to the murders and drugs wringing their countries dry, but, despite the common knowledge of the extreme circumstances that lead immigrants to leave their home country, ignorance still leads many Americans to paint these people with a wide variety of stereotypes and to think of them with a selfish disregard for the pain and suffering that they go through to end up here. The perception of the immigrant in this day carries a plethora of negative connotations and all too frequently refers to those of Latin-American ethnicity. Nicholas Kassis, a junior, shares his understanding of how media perceives immigrants.

“A rapist, murder, I hear some good things like people are really helpful and really kind and nice, but it’s mostly like a rapist, a murderer, somebody who’s useless to society, somebody sucking off like government-funded programs that could be used by other people,” said Kassis.

These stereotypes alienate immigrants and cause them to be looked upon as animals rather than respectable, hard-working people who are risking their lives to bring their family a life of opportunity and safety. An important part about forming educated opinions about political and ideological matters like immigration is putting stereotypes on the side and looking at all humans in an inclusive light, despite our political leaders’ failure to do this.

President Donald Trump and his administration have made radical changes to immigration policies –– the major ones being the rescinding of DACA and the ending of the Temporary Protected Status for nationals of Haiti, Sudan, and Nicaragua. In addition, Hondurans and Salvadorans are having their work authorizations revoked and are now left vulnerable to deportation. There have been outcries in anger at these changes of policy as well as overwhelming support from citizens, but overall it has left a dark shadow over America’s interaction with immigrants as a whole. Senior Rachel Lucine, when asked about the future of America’s immigration policy, elaborated on the interaction between politics and immigration in the future.

“Honestly, I only see it getting better from here. Right now we’re at a tough time, but I really don’t think that it’s going to stay like this forever…  it’s shown in history, that there are times when there are a lot of Republicans in office and there are times where there are Democrats, and I think hopefully, it’s gonna change sometime soon,” said Lucine.

Politics plays a major role in how the mass population perceives immigration, but as the presidential situations change and certain parties take dominance, these policies and ideas fluctuate as well.

The United States is a sanctuary for those who are escaping things like a dictatorship, corruption, criminality, poverty, classism, racism, and other global matters at hand. The undocumented immigrants have been degraded, discriminated, and oppressed––furthermore, the undocumented immigrant has been blamed with crimes and negative effects against the people of the United States because of the malintent of one undocumented immigrant.