I am passionate about a lot of topics, and this passion that I have for them is because I see an injustice or a misinterpretation of a topic; therefore, I become an advocate for things like feminism, civil rights, immigration, education, etc. In order to maybe enlighten the minds of those who have not taken the time to understand.

With that, it is really common for humans to misunderstand each other, as the lack of communication and the feeling of being different intimidates us to the greatest extent, which is the reason why I am writing about immigration today, since it is a topic that I hear on a day to day basis. For the past year especially, I have listened to many people rant about the problems of immigration, and their opinion of a very human topic; what I mean is that this is not like taxes, commerce or global warming, where you can go online and look at numbers, graphs and trends to develop and opinion. Immigration is a human topic, in which it takes for a person to listen to someone else who has had a first-hand experience with it to understand the hope of what it take to become an immigrant.

It is very easy to say, "Illegal immigrants are taking our jobs and our economy," "Immigrants only come to the United States to become criminals," "Immigrants do not belong here," "If you want to be here, you should do it right like everyone else did."

But I don't think that the people who are saying these things realize that it is so much more than a topic about the economy and jobs. People who immigrate to the United States are not looking to kick you out of a job, they are not looking to cause crime within your community and they are not looking for an easy life; in fact they will face an incredible number of challenges much greater than you could even imagine. They have a story.

They are parents hoping that their kids become so much bigger than they ever have, parents who want to be able to put food on their table every night, regardless of what it takes to do it. They are parents hoping that their son or daughter does not get caught up in the gang that took over their community back home. They are people who willingly left the place they grew up in, in order to have peace in their mind that their child is not going to get kidnapped or hurt on their way to school. And even more heart wrenching is that they are kids, they are 5 to 19-year-olds who hope to one day go to college, to one day become famous, to one day become a teacher, a CEO, a doctor. They are kids who, in their mind, have the same goals and dreams as an average American citizen, but the barriers that their homeland places upon them makes them fight for a better life.

Imagine experiencing one of the said things above. Imagine having your hands tied behind your back because your country of origin is too corrupt, underdeveloped or dangerous for you to live in.

Now knowing this, it perplexes my mind why anyone would be so closed minded toward another person's happiness. Is it just a good-luck-with-that kind of situation? I mean what did you do that was so important that you get to be a citizen of the United States? Nothing. You were just lucky enough to be a child born in the United States, and so were your parents, and so were theirs. It should not be somebody's fault that they were born at a place much smaller than their dreams. They should not be shamed or looked down upon because all they are looking for is a better education, a better life, a better job, a better home, all of which are things that are not handed to them the moment they arrive, but they work endlessly, putting a toll on their minds and bodies in order to achieve those same things you have.

So I guess all I am asking is stop listening to hateful people like Donald Trump and his followers, who give a negative connotation to the word "immigrant." Stop placing a generalized term to thousands of people who each have different dreams they hope to achieve in the United States. Try understanding each face and their story because I bet that by empathizing, your mind will be changed. Eventually all of us come together, because America was built by immigrants, the diversity immigrants bring to this country should inspire us to push for their rights and their dreams, as they may be much more similar to your dreams than you think.