Immigration is one of the most widely debated issues in American politics today. Both major parties take very different stances on immigration, and immigration remains a divisive force in our country today. However, I simply cannot stand those who take a "holier than thou" approach when dealing with immigrants. Being a child of first-generation immigrants, the immigration debate is one that strikes particularly close to home. Nativists need to understand that immigrants are people too.

Our country's history of nativism is a long and rich one. Beginning with the Alien and Sedition acts passed in 1798, anti-immigration has flourished. Anti-immigration legislature is common, one of the most famous being California's Proposition 187. It's goal was to make illegal aliens ineligible for public benefits. Suddenly, children of immigrants were no longer allowed to attend public school. Healthcare, including neonatal care, was denied excluding emergency care. Benefits such as social security and welfare excluded these immigrants as well.

Many arguments against immigration can be easily refuted as well. The argument that "immigration drives down wages" is false as proven by new research. It was discovered that immigration actually increases wages by .6 to 1.7 percent, the reason being that immigrants spend the wages they earn, cycling money back into the economy.

Another common and erroneous argument made is "immigrants abuse the welfare state." This was the reason Barbara Coe, the founder of Proposition 187, decided to create the bill. However, this is largely untrue. Immigrants are less likely to use the welfare state than their native counterparts.

Immigration also increases the graduation rate, as many native born children do not want to compete with immigrants for lower paying jobs. An increased number of immigrants will keep the economy growing. Many immigrant workers take on the lower income jobs that many native born citizens simply do not want.

Those who are anti-immigration fear immigrants. They fear for their jobs, their wages, their tax dollars. They fear increase in crime, increase in national debt, increase in population. Yet, immigration is not scary. Immigrants are people just like us, people who want a new life in a country lauded as the land of the free.

Everyone in this country is an immigrant. The Native Americans arrived in North America 20,000 years ago and are the closest to being true Americans. Everyone else on this continent came after. The United States is a nation of immigrants, the most culturally diverse country, and this is something to be proud of.