Two sources in this story are anonymous due to concerns about immigration status and will be referred to as Source A and Source B.
As students hunch over their desks, teachers assign an endless stream of final projects after APs and air conditioners hum at full blast, their minds cannot help but be drawn to the promise of freedom and adventure awaiting in the approaching summer. We dream about the friends we’ll meet and the places we’ll go, whether it’s to another country to visit family or an exotic location for sightseeing. However, this summer in particular, a shadow looms over the usual excitement as stories flood the news about the Trump administration’s latest policies on immigration.
In the past few months, the Trump administration has taken increasingly aggressive steps to increase the number of deportations from the U.S. and to reduce immigration. Their actions have centered around expanding the criteria for groups liable for deportation and accelerating the deportation process while simultaneously slowing the steps to achieving citizenship and tightening the rules for legal immigrants. This has been achieved by chipping away at certain protections for illegal immigrants and Biden-era immigration policies, and attempting to lift the protected status of illegal immigrants from countries in crisis, such as Haiti or Venezuela. Other actions taken so far include restricting student visas and green card holders, with the additional threat of immediate removal if they commit a crime.
While federal courts have blocked many of the administration’s more extreme actions, the aggression of his policy changes on immigration has been alarming and close-hitting for many Americans, including those within our community. In Santa Clara County, 39% of people are immigrants, 60% of children have at least one immigrant parent and as of 2021, there are 140,000 undocumented migrants within our community. For students at MVHS, these are more than just numbers — the people included are our family, friends and in some cases, ourselves.
For Americans without legal citizenship or paperwork, Trump’s actions not only threaten their livelihood, but they also act as a cage, blocking most prospects of international travel. According to a survey of 105 people within our community, 69% of MVHS students say they feel concerned about themselves or their families being impacted by Trump’s actions, and according to a survey of 95 MVHS students, 18% say that their own travel plans have been affected because of this. For current MVHS student Source A, the new administration’s actions are hitting especially close to home. Her citizenship ceremony happened just a few months ago, but the paperwork acknowledging her new status as an American citizen hasn’t arrived yet. Due to this, Source A, along with many of her family members who are in the same position, had to cancel their plans to travel to Canada over the summer.
“We usually travel every two years,” Source A said. “But because of citizenship issues, we might need to go somewhere other than Canada. If I were to travel outside the country, then there’s no way to prove that I’m a U.S. citizen. But if I then say, ‘Oh, I’m not a U.S. citizen yet,’ then, because of my lack of a green card, I would be sent directly to the authorities. If you’re traveling outside of the U.S. and you want to get back in, it’s very bad not to have evidence.”
Source B is a green card holder and has been a permanent resident of the U.S. for over 10 years, thus able to attest to the difficulties involved with travel. Due to his legal status as a non-citizen, his summer plans to return to his home country and visit family are also deferred due to recent events. Unfortunately, Source B’s green card was stolen six months ago, and the process to obtain a new green card could take over 2 years, likely exacerbated by recent government layoffs.
“I’ve already submitted a lot of money and paperwork, and they have acknowledged that they received all my paperwork and they don’t need me to provide anything else,” Source B said. “I’m still going to wait another 24 months for them to decide whether or not to print, which is what complicates everything. For 29 months, in theory, I can’t travel. There are ways to get stamps on my passport and proof that I’m a resident. But when immigration seems to just have the smallest reason to be suspicious of something, that presents the opportunity that I’m coming back from summer vacation in South Africa and then get sent home. Once that happens, the process of getting back to the U.S. becomes way more difficult.”
Under the Trump administration’s first term, the processing time for citizenship increased significantly due to increased security checks and stricter policies. More recently, staff cuts at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have contributed to the wait times. This has led to a naturalization backlog; for certain individuals, the administration has completely paused green card applications, including approved refugees. Source B’s own journey to becoming a permanent resident was a harsh one, compounded by racist encounters within the system. When he first used his Zimbabwean passport to apply for a student visa in the U.S., the consulate denied Source B’s request because of his nationality. This initial rejection made it increasingly difficult for Source B to obtain a visa because of its presence on Source B’s permanent record.
“The immigration process is extremely difficult and bureaucratic,” Source B said. “There are, in theory, lots of different ways to do it, and some are easier than others, but most of it hinges on either how big the company that you’re coming to work for is or the country that you’re coming from. In countries like Zimbabwe and South Africa, one in every one million green card applications might be awarded. A student in a class I had lived in Israel before, and they were like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting. One in five Israelis gets a green card if they apply.’ So that’s always been a thing in America. If you come from a certain country, you’re much more likely to get that opportunity.”
Source A feels disappointed about the increased processing times the Trump administration has implemented because of the weight becoming a U.S. citizen holds. The oath ceremony, often a revered and momentous time for immigrants, has become much harder to finally achieve.
“It’s unfortunate that Trump’s policies are slowing down the citizenship process when that’s sort of the point of living here,” Source A said. “It’s the American standard. You don’t have to become a citizen, of course, but it’s like, oh, you lived here for eight years. You’re finally able to gain U.S. citizenship after living here for so many years.”
Trump’s immigration policy also raises concerns in those who have the ability and comfort to travel abroad despite the recent deportations. According to Math and Computer Science teacher David Greenstein, who is a U.S. citizen and has traveled to 36 countries and visited all seven continents, Americans already have a poor reputation abroad. He worries that because of Trump’s actions, which the rest of the world largely disagrees with or has a negative opinion of, Americans’ reputations will only deteriorate.
“I’m kind of afraid that, on my travels, people are not going to like Americans, so I’m going to have a more difficult time,” Greenstein said. “It was already difficult in some cases, because when you travel from America, they consider you a rich country. So when you go someplace, they charge you differently than they charge other tourists because you’re rich. Now, it’s going to be worse than that. It’s going to be ‘You are an American. You’re scum. We don’t even want to serve that kind of thing.’”
Greenstein also worries that reduced immigration to the U.S. will affect American productivity and business, along with other essential industrial sectors. According to Greenstein, immigrants remain a crucial part of the U.S. economy, and preventing immigration will hurt Americans rather than help them.
“For this administration, it’s going to have a great impact on what kind of discoveries we’re going to make,” Greenstein said. “It’s going to affect things like the cost of produce. We’re going to have inflation. We’re going to have lower productivity. They’re talking about bringing all the jobs back to America, but people don’t understand that it takes decades to create manufacturing jobs. It’s not going to happen like, ‘Oh, we just shut off the spigot and then suddenly it will generate jobs here.’”
According to Source B, while immigrants greatly affect the U.S.’s economy, the relationship goes both ways, with the U.S. having a large influence on the economies and progress of other countries. The American president and the American presidential administration have a significant impact on nations across the globe, especially through their funding and aid to underdeveloped, third-world countries.
“When George Bush beat Al Gore, I was a high school student living in Zimbabwe, and we were having discussions about the two presidential choices and the impact of either of them,” Source B said. “The second or third day after Bush took power, he signed an executive order similar to some of Trump’s, saying that any clinic that receives funding from the U.S. government can no longer provide condoms as prevention for AIDS because they support abstinence. One in three children when I was in high school had AIDS. It was concentrated in different areas, but that was how prevalent it was in Africa, and condoms were literally one of the only ways to try and slow the spread of it, so these clinics faced losing the funding that they desperately needed. The runoff effects on other countries lead to, ironically, more refugees and small problems.”
However, for refugees forced to flee the instability of their home countries — like Source B mentioned — moving to the U.S. doesn’t offer a safe haven because of how difficult it is to actually achieve legality, and how many contradictions exist to anti-immigrant conceptions of why illegal immigrants “don’t just come in legally” or “leave if they’re so unhappy.” Such ideas rise from misinformation and nationalistic feelings, ultimately creating an unwelcoming environment for immigrants.
“I just feel incredible empathy for someone who has to go through that,” Source B said. “It’s usually family. It’s not like they want to go to a tropical island, travel and see people, right? And it’s also ironic, because a lot of workers who come would like to go back and then come back and work and contribute and then go home and not be a leech on society, and not have to sneak the family in and live in poor conditions and everything like that, now are forced to stay and do just that.”
In our community, the strong immigrant presence and relatively lower undocumented population can contribute to some sense of safety from recent events around immigration. Source A points out that she doesn’t feel that she is as affected by Trump’s policies in Silicon Valley as she would be elsewhere in the U.S. However, it still raises the question of what we can do if we are currently U.S. citizens or otherwise in a good position to protect members of our community who are more vulnerable to aggressive immigration action.
Greenstein says that, as American citizens, we can help by speaking up and protesting against harmful policies and, although the election cycle is long, by electing people to office who will represent and take steps to achieve our vision of what our country should be like and counter the ideologies driving anti-immigration legislation. Source B largely agrees, saying that lobbying politicians for immigration reforms and exercising our voting and freedom of speech rights as American citizens is crucial.
“Because the right is so dominant and loud right now, a lot of people are not brave enough to stand up for that, which is, I think, one of the saddest things about where America is right now,” Source B said. “It’s the complete antithesis of the Statue of Liberty and what America stands for.”
Overall, as MVHS heads into the uncertain future and summer ahead, our unity as a community is vital to weathering the difficulties to come and ensuring our loved ones are safe. If international travel isn’t an option, you can still enjoy your summer through domestic travel; if you feel threatened, reach out to an immigration lawyer or seek support from the community around you. Ultimately, we must all do our best to stand against the ideologies and policies seeking to hurt and oppress, whether we are an immigrant, a U.S. citizen or a student.
