The Nuances of Illegal Immigration

Zabinski has noted that certain elements of the media oversimplify illegal immigration when she says it’s actually a complex issue.

“[With illegal immigrants], there’s this dichotomy of either being helpless or being a criminal,” Zabinski said. “Most of the undocumented people that I know fall into neither bucket. The stereotype makes it easy to digest this image but the actual reality of it, I think, is just way more than most people can handle and more than people are really willing to grapple with.”

Although Zabinski’s experience as an undocumented person felt insurmountable at times, she says it has given her an inner strength and faith in herself she wouldn’t have developed otherwise.

“It’s safe for me to say that there’s nothing that I’ve dealt with that has been as challenging as being an undocumented person,” Zabinski said. “If you’re able to jump through all these hoops, you’re going to come out on the other side being super savvy and super resilient to a lot of the other challenges that life is going to throw your way.