The American Dream is the promise that this country is supposed to offer to every citizen. It is the promise of owning a home, obtaining a stable job and raising a family. However the reality is that the “American Dream” only works when there is an America that is on your side.
For millions of people across the country this is not the case. I mainly write this article in reaction to what I see as the reality for immigrants across the country. Hard-working Americans are forced to live in fear that members of their community will be torn away by federal agents. Low-income students fear that opportunities to attend college will be stripped by legislators bent on ensuring that this country offers no “handouts”. We have a president actively waging war against what he calls “migrant crime”.
Today America, or at least the party in power, is fundamentally opposed to giving immigrants broad access to generational upward mobility. No longer is it enough to come to America and want to make a better life for yourself. It feels as if just existing here as an immigrant warrants attack.
President Donald Trump insists that immigration is a problem to be solved. The White House’s most recent National Security Strategy proudly proclaims in bold letters “The Era of Mass Migration Is Over,” going on to claim increased migration to the United States has “weakened social cohesion.” Beyond this, Trump has repeatedly denounced the entire migrant community. In a Thanksgiving Day post on X, President Trump said that the majority of migrants in the U.S. are “on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs or drug cartels.” In the same tweet he claims that the only solution is “REVERSE MIGRATION.” He finally ends his Thanksgiving tweet stating, “HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder and destroy everything that America stands for — You won't be here for long!”
In reading these tweets, I think about my own family’s story. I think about how America has supported my family. I think about how this country has given us the tools to succeed, to grow and to achieve something significant here. We are no longer living in my family’s America.
My family’s America gave us the G.I. Bill so my grandfather could be the first in his family to attend college. My family’s America gave us well-funded public schools, public parks and after-school programs for me and my father to grow and thrive alongside our peers. My family’s America gave us a loving community to enjoy with people who were like us. In short, my family's American story has been one of care and nourishment rather than rejection and attack.
None of this is to say that hard work was not a crucial part of my family’s story — I am confident that we have worked as hard as anyone to establish themselves in this country. The problem of the American Dream is that for a very large portion of this country working harder than everyone else is just not enough.
When I go back home for break, I pass by an area of my town where our growing Hispanic population lives. There I see mobile homes. I see clothes hanging on outdoor drying racks. I see rusted cars, overrun trash cans and dozens of young children playing outside. I see these images and I cannot help but think about where my family was three generations ago. My grandfather attended a one-room school house in rural Hartsville, Tenn. He did farm labor from a young age. Just two generations later, he lives to see me attending and thriving at a school like Dartmouth.
I ask myself if one day one of those children living in one of those portable homes will get to witness their grandchild attend a school like Dartmouth.
Sadly, right now it seems like this country does not want that to happen. This must change. If America is really going to stand for the dream it supposedly carries with it, then we must elect leaders who understand the importance of two key points: respect and encouragement. Americans deserve leaders in Washington who empower communities to rise above their current realities. When our leaders fail at this, we foster generations resentful of this country. We force generations to feel as if they have nothing to give back to a nation that they believe does not want them here in the first place. That is the real immigrant threat — when America fails those who did everything right.
So, for the sake of immigrant communities in every corner of this vast country, let us reestablish respect. Let us empower those who have so much to gain from being here. And most importantly, let us make deliberate policy efforts to broaden the American Dream to each and every citizen who calls this country home.
That is how we must move forward.
Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
