In this year’s presidential election, there could have hardly been a larger divide between the candidates than their stances on immigration. President-Elect Trump’s policies called for the building of a wall on the Mexican border, immigration bans, and massive deportations nationwide. The most drastic change he wants to implement is ending birthright citizenship, despite the 14th Amendment stating that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Clinton’s campaign proposed the creation of a pathway to citizenship for immigrants. Trump has said that Mexican immigrants are rapists and murderers, which is an entirely misinformed, absurd prejudice used for fear mongering. It’s also incredibly dehumanizing to witness his referral to non-U.S. citizens as “illegals.” As citizens living in a community with people from all ethnic backgrounds, how can we support ideology like this that further perpetuates an idea of separatism?

People from a certain group cannot simply be categorized as being inherently good or evil. Immigration has far more benefits than it does drawbacks. When immigrants enter the labor force, they increase the productive capacity and growth of the economy. It would be extremely detrimental to our economy to close our borders entirely to those in other countries who want to be able to work in the U.S and become citizens. Our nation was founded on the backs of immigrants from all parts of the world, and with comprehensive immigration reform, we could create a more modernized system to allow those who entered our borders to achieve a more straightforward path to citizenship. And, because public safety is often an argument for why we shouldn’t allow immigrants seeking refuge from terrorism, there would be an established system in place that would screen immigrants before they could secure entry into our country.

So, because immigrants contribute to the growth of our economy, and also diversify the very nation founded with the arrival of immigrants from all parts of the world, it should be allowed to continue, but with the proper safety regulations enforced.