As a son of immigrant parents, I have heard time and time again from my parents about the struggles that drove them from Mexico and why they left to come to the U.S.

Hearing from my parents about their troubles crossing the border, I felt devastated about what they had to endure. The struggle they had speaking basic English when they first crossed over, being mistreated and underpaid working in jobs with some of the worst conditions I’ve heard of. They have sacrificed so much for my family and me, all for them to still be sorely underrepresented. Unfortunately, people often don’t show empathy towards these struggles and what really was sacrificed. 

I have often been looked at differently because of who I am, and even called slurs in some casual settings. 

With recent events in the U.S., like Immigration and Customs Enforcement running rampant around the country with support from our president, being an immigrant or even a child of an immigrant makes the tension in the air even more noticeable.

Put yourself in someone else’s shoes for a moment. I want you to imagine that you leave your home country to escape poverty, escalating crime or even dire situations that could result in death. You come into the U.S. for safety and sanctuary, trying to live your best life working in some physically demanding job, only to find yourself being persecuted by a country deemed the “melting pot.”

It doesn’t matter what country you’re from, or what culture you have — it should never justify the tragedies, like Luis Gustavo Núñez Caceres, a 42-year-old son and brother from Honduras who died on January 5 while detained at Joe Corley Processing facility in Conroe, Texas. 

Or like Liam Conejo Ramos, a Minnesotan five-year-old boy who, with his father, was detained and held in a detention facility in Texas specifically for families.

I cannot believe that this actually has to be said, especially by a student at Wichita State University, but just because someone comes from a different country doesn’t mean that you get to treat them any differently than you would treat any other person. 

But what makes it worse is that the amount of hateful rhetoric and crimes that are committed against immigrants has grown significantly due to the political climate.

Immigrants or children of immigrants should not have to be scared to call the cops to report a crime, or avoid public places, or refuse to speak Spanish in public — all because they’re scared of being asked about their legal status. 

According to Brookings, 16% of foreign-born Latinos have avoided calling the police or reporting a crime out of fear of being questioned about their legal status. The study also showed that 15% of foreign-born Latinos have avoided public places, and 14% have stopped speaking Spanish in public.

But since it doesn’t affect those people who spread hate and can’t understand a different point of view, does that make it correct to ruin a family for the sole reason of them being from a different country?

It should not be the norm that one day immigrants could just be taken away from their families by masked ICE agents, due to the language they speak, or where they’re found, or the way they look. 

The Supreme Court recently voted to allow ICE to profile Americans based on how they look or speak. 

I fear that we, as humans, have lost our ability to feel for others — to feel compassion and be able to set aside our differences. While I wish for greater change and for all of this hate and violence towards immigrants to be gone, it seems like a really big challenge. But all I can do is start small and hope it connects to those who are willing to listen.