Our nation is in a state of demolition. Our core founding values are being distorted by our current president and the many people that support him. This country was founded on immigrants and the hope for freedom of religious practice. That is why so many people came to the America’s back when this side of the world was discovered by Europeans.

It was not theirs to claim, but they did. They took the lands of the natives and made them their slaves. They tried to assimilate them to their culture because according to these Europeans, their culture was superior and so were they. I would have thought by this point in time, over 500 years later, this idea of superior cultures would have changed and the people of this nation would not be so inclined to take the basic foundation of this country and bent it to where it only applies to the “majority”, or rather the white culture.

Immigrants, whether undocumented or not, are not the problem. The way people perceive immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, is the problem. They are not all criminals; on the contrary most are not. These are people who are trying to better their lives and get away from war and poverty. Why would they risk a better life here by committing crimes at all? In fact, if we were to compare the crimes committed by undocumented immigrants versus those committed by citizens, I am sure we would find that most crimes in this country are committed by legal individuals. But that doesn’t seem to matter to anyone. Because there is no way our “own” people can be the problem.

The ban against Muslims entering this country is pure discrimination and goes against the laws of this country. Refugees may be understandable because they have no documents, but legal residents and visa holders should be allowed into this country because they have gone through the appropriate process to get into this country. Particularly U.S. residents have a right to come home. They are protected by a lot of the same laws and rights as U.S. citizens are, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states that they have the right to be free from discrimination based on their race, ethnicity, and national origin in employment, education, health care, housing, and other settings. Therefore, no U.S. resident should be turned away from being allowed to enter this country based on where they come from or whether they are Muslim or not.

I realize that the idea behind it is to not allow criminals into this country, but when it comes down to it people can not be trusted to be just and unbiased. Right now there is a big percentage of people in this country who are afraid of Muslims and that is what will dictate whether a person will be allowed into this country or not. Same with any other groups or people, like Hispanics for instance who have been given a hard time lately as well. The people in charge with the authority to decide will only see Hispanic or Muslim or not white and do what their own personal views dictate them to do, any little thing can be picked up as a “threat” against this nation. But in reality all this is just rooted from hate and discrimination and fear of the unknown.

Anyone who thinks that immigrants are the problem should take a look at how their families came to be in this country. There is not a single person living in this nation who is 100 percent American, unless maybe they are 100 percent Native American. And let us be real we do not even have a particular culture to unite us because American culture is taking other cultures and making it our “own”. Who is American? Everyone of us who lives in this country.