I could keep citing facts and making logical and practical arguments in favor of immigrants. I could keep pointing out the lies that underlie the demonization of the hardworking foreigners who come here to bolster our economy and invigorate our culture. I could detail all the ways our attacks on “others” always end up undermining our nation, our security and our freedoms.
But what I really want to say to those supporting mass deportation and a militarized border is this:
They’re people. Immigrants are human beings like you and me. We feel the same pains and suffer the same fears. We want to be accepted and to belong. We love our children, families, communities and cultures. We’re all in search of a better life and a place to call home. Every demonized immigrant has hopes, dreams, a name, a face, a story.
They’re people. And you don’t call people “vermin” or accuse them of “poisoning the blood of our country.” You don’t make up stories about them eating pets, raping women, or murdering children. You don’t scapegoat them and threaten them with violence and deportation. You don’t rip their children from their arms and put them in cages. You don’t treat people that way. Is that so hard?
They’re people. Like us. And if you could just see that they’re in no fundamental way different from your neighbors and friends, you’d remember that nobody deserves to be treated that way. It’s petty, pathetic and cruel. Your fear of “the other” is not about them. It’s your fear. Your hatred isn’t something they’ve earned. It’s something you manifested to simplify a complex world down to a simple us-vs.-them. Hatred can make a person feel strong, focused, clear and decisive. But over time hating only makes you hateful as you become the kind of person who treats those in need with malice instead of compassion.
They’re people. They need love, a bit of kindness and for someone to give them a chance. Like we all do. There’s moral clarity beyond all the rationalizations, justifications and excuses: Lying about people is wrong. Dehumanizing people is wrong. Treating innocent people as criminals is wrong. Separating families is wrong. Putting people in cages is wrong.
And I’m not going to explain why it’s wrong to treat people like garbage. This is not a stance that needs justification. It’s just wrong, and you damn well know it.
Perhaps you tell yourselves they’re less than human to avoid facing the fact that you’ve become the kind of person willing to unleash suffering on fellow humans. But morality is nothing more or less than how we treat one another, and when we ignore it we can’t be surprised at the isolated, divided, misanthropic culture we’ve created.
Whether it’s OK to hurt people is not a political issue. It’s a spiritual one, and if this is how we as a nation — as a people — are willing to treat other humans, is it any wonder it feels like America is losing its soul?
They’re people. Treating them as anything less is not all right, it’s not OK, and I won’t calm down. There is no redemption in cruelty. No possible end justifies the things some politicians are promising to do to people coming here in search of a better life.
Seeing my countrymen so consumed with hate, just itching for violence to give them a sense of purpose, makes me sick at heart. As we look around for enemies in all directions, we miss the cancer growing within — that desperate inchoate fear devouring all that makes us good and decent.
When we inflict or acquiesce to cruelty, we inevitably become the thing we hate. And to escape that self-loathing we ever more frantically try to project our hatred onto others and maintain our illusions of purity. But dehumanizing others only makes us less human ourselves, and no amount of righteous violence can erase the pain of knowing our own capacity for evil.
They’re people. Letting ourselves become heartless, vindictive and vengeful is far, far worse than anything immigrants ever have done, or ever could do, to our country and the people in it. Immigration is a challenge — one we can address. But giving free rein to hatred and fear will only destroy us by making ours a culture, and a country, no longer worth fighting for.
Urie is a lifelong Idahoan and graduate of the University of Idaho. He lives in Moscow with his wife and two children. You can find his writing online at Medium (hopeanyway.medium.com) or Substack (hopeanyway.substack.com). Or, you can email him at ryanthomasurie@gmail.com.
