In June, American businessman Donald J. Trump announced he was running for President of the United States. In his announcement speech, he made outrageous remarks about Mexicans: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best … They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems to us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people!”
Trump’s remarks are not only inaccurate, but also racist and defamatory. The fact that a hate speech was on national television for weeks and attracted followers just makes life harder for Mexicans and Latinos in general.
According to pewhispanic.org, approximately 33.7 million Mexicans live in the United States today. Mexicans have migrated to the United States for centuries now, largely motivated by lack of opportunity in Mexico. They come to work, not to steal or kill. From 1940 up until the 1990s, Mexicans came mainly to the United States to work blue-collar jobs on farms and construction sites. After the 1990s, motivations shifted towards academics and job opportunities in the tech industry.
Donald Trump’s assertions that America’s Mexican population is mediocre and criminal are beyond inaccurate. In recent times, it has been Mexico’s best – intellectuals with master’s degrees and PhDs – coming to the United States in pursuit of better standards of living. Mexico’s best cinematographers live in the United States; two of them just recently won Academy Awards! There are numerous Mexicans working in science in America, such as Deborah Berebichez, a physicist who earned her PhD at Stanford.
A Mexican doctor, Alfredo Quinonez-Hinojosa, is director of the Brain Tumor Surgery Program at John Hopkins Hospital, as well as a Professor in Neurosurgery, Oncology, and Neuroscience. Mexican jockey Victor Espinoza was the last person to win the Triple Crown in horse racing. Both men came to the United States knowing almost no English and got their starts in low-paying jobs. The opportunities they found here allowed them to prove themselves and become the best in their fields. I myself came to America to study after obtaining a scholarship and I have many Mexican friends here working for Chrysler and General Motors factories (legally) as a result of their hard-earned engineering degrees.
Another issue with Trump’s speech is his failure to provide real solutions. Sending back all illegal immigrants is not a realistic solution. To remove the Mexican immigrants who make up large parts of America’s agricultural, construction, service and factory workforces would require millions of dollars in deportation costs. Families would dissolve and many more kids would grow up without crucial parental guidance.

It’s not wrong to say Latinos in the United States commit crime and take part in organized crime, but the majority of Mexican criminals choose those paths as a last resort. New generations of Latinos have limited possibilities because poverty and poor education make it hard to care about or be aware of things like standardized tests and college applications. These are young U.S. citizens who simply lack opportunity, not demon-driven invaders.
Donald Trump’s solution is to deport parents and revoke the citizenship of sons and daughters. The United States cannot have a president with ideas like these. Kicking people out of a country because of their ethnicities is not only racist but also bad for the economy and society in general. These people have dreams, ideas and the potential to contribute to the economy in myriad ways.
Trump’s speech simply makes integration harder in a country that already has enough racial issues. In this era, we need to ignore differences and find similarities in goals and objectives. If we stop classifying ourselves by race or political opinion and learn to cooperate, we will accomplish great things. A shining example is Jordy Munoz, founder of 3D robotics, who spread his knowledge about drones across the internet. Eventually American businessman Chris Anderson discovered Munoz’s talent and partnered with him to create 3D Robotics, a company that just fundraised 50 million dollars. Great things happen when we learn to see past race and uphold intellect.