It's rather natural, I think, for us human beings to be uncomfortable around other people we do not know. And if those "other" speak a different language, do not dress as we like, and have perhaps a different colored skin, our discomfort is heightened significantly.
I have just stated a few of the reasons many of us Americans do not like immigrants or are extremely uncomfortable when dealing with them. We fidget. We look for an escape. Or, more likely, we try to purge the immigrants from our very lives. Send them back to where they came from, or even to another country strange to them. Out! Out! Dang immigrants! We don't need you. We don't want you. Allow us, please, to get on with our lives as surrounded by "sameness" as possible.
What a tragedy! Immigrants are people. They flock to the USA in search of a better life for themselves and their families. In other words, they immigrate into the USA already deeply in love with the country.
Yes, they need jobs, and income! But so do most adults. Yet, the immigrants are good news for the USA even in this respect. For the immigrants will take almost any job to be assured some amount of income. They clean our toilets. They scrub our dirty floors. They pick our fruit, our nuts and our cotton.
So, it matters! That we see immigrants for who they are, namely people in search of a better life. We deny that to them at our own peril. We need them, physically, mentally and spiritually. For they are human beings, just like us!
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