Through the eyes of an illegal immigrant | Erik Gomez | TEDxPSU

Erik, who crossed the border from Mexico with his family when he was six, walks us through his life as an illegal immigrant chasing the American dream. Through his story we are able to look at the contentious debate surrounding immigration through a different lens. Morales leaves us with several questions that could change the way we think and talk about immigrants.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Americans have a very complex
relationship with immigration.

Most every American recognizes

that the United States is a country
that was built by immigrants,

and immigrants are often upheld

as one of the foundations
that make this the unique nation

that it is today.

But some would argue
that America is not just a unique nation;

America is the greatest
nation in the world.

Those same immigrants whose stories
people have romanticized

for the last 150 years or so,
are often also vilified.

It's not uncommon for us to hear
that immigrants are lazy,

they're dangerous,

they're coming to this country
to steal jobs from hard-working Americans

while dragging down the economy
and bringing diseases with them.

But such a negative assessment
is nothing new,

because these are
virtually the same things

that some Americans have been saying
about immigrants and immigration

for the last 130 years.

When people are speaking about immigration
in such a negative and hostile way,

there is usually some type of fear
that is connected to that hatred.

In regards to immigration, I believe
that that fear stems from this belief

that if too many immigrants
come to this country,

Americans are going
to lose their way of life.

And that's perfectly understandable.

It's one of the motives
or one of the things

that drives this "English-only" mentality

and the many references to this being
a Christian culture, a Christian nation.

But English is the de-facto language here,
and Christianity is the dominant religion,

and that's not going to change
at any point in the near future, if ever.

So why the extreme fear?

I believe the fear is directly
connected to people's belief

that this is the greatest
country in the world.

Think about it.

How often have you heard

that this is the greatest country
in the world from somebody

that doesn't even own a passport,
and has never visited another country?

Not even Canada.

Yet, the sense remains
that everybody around the world

wants to come to the greatest country
and live here permanently.

Last year, I stumbled across some polls
from Gallup that caught my attention,

and to be honest with you,
they kind of shocked me.

It seems that Gallup likes
to ask people, on a yearly basis,

in 150 different countries,

if they would relocate permanently

from their current country
of residence to move elsewhere.

I can imagine that it's very difficult

to ascertain exactly
how many people in war-torn areas

want to leave those places,

but Gallup is a company that employs
a lot of brilliant individuals,

so I'm going to assume
their conclusions are fairly accurate.

And here's what Gallup found.

As recently as three years ago,

13% of the world's
7.3 billion residents said

that they would make the decision

to permanently relocate
and live elsewhere.

The thing that shocked me

was that out of the 650
or so million individuals

that would relocate permanently,

only about a quarter of them
actually listed the United States

as their desired destination.

I know what you're thinking;
140 million people is a lot of people,

and you're absolutely right.

But that's not the whole world,
as many Americans like to think.

Also, it doesn't necessarily mean
that all 140 million people

would have the means
to come to this country.

I understand there's lot of limitations
with these numbers and the conclusions,

but for me, they point
towards something more significant,

and they lead me to ask
two questions for myself.

The first question is:

what would it mean for us,
as a country, to live with this idea?

How would our way of thinking and talking
about immigration change or differ

if we didn't live under the idea

the whole world is clamoring to come
and live in the United States?

The second question is:

how would our politicians
and our lawmakers talk differently

about immigrants and immigration,

especially during a political year
- we have an election coming up -

if we didn't have this mentality

that is based on fear
and a lack of education?

As it was already stated,
this is an issue that is personal to me.

At the age of six, I crossed
the border illegally with my family,

and I lived in this country illegally
until I was 14 years old.

Imagine being that young
and going to school every single day;

and every single day,
no matter what you do,

and no matter how hard you try
to focus on your classes,

you have this little thought
in the back of your mind,

and that thought is,

"Is my mother going to be home
when I get off the bus this afternoon?

Because your mother is working illegally

in one of the many mushroom plants
in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania,

where they have immigration
raids on a regular basis,

and people get deported
directly from their jobs.

Also imagine being that young,
going to school,

and learning in American history
about all the amazing things

that immigrants have brought
to this country

and all the waves of immigration,

that they have welcomed
and the Statue of Liberty,

and the land of the free,
and this and that.

But you leave school,
and you're constantly being reminded

that you're not welcome here;

that you need to go back to your country,

and that even when you learn the language

you're still not going to be
fully accepted as an American.

As you can imagine,

that's quite a confusing place
to be in when you're that young.

My whole life, I grew up
listening to people

make disparaging
comments about immigrants.

And often times,

the nastiness of those comments
were directed towards my people; Mexicans.

Recently, presidential
candidate, Donald Trump

called us all rapists, thieves,
and drug smugglers.

And he was cheered
by all of his followers.

Donald Trump was again, speaking
about Mexican immigrants like myself,

but the thing that was most
concerning for me

is that he was talking
about people like my parents,

who are two of the most
hard-working individuals I know,

and they are two of the most honest people

that I've ever had the privilege
of interacting with in my life.

I can't help but wonder

would Donald Trump supporters
continue to cheer him on

if they didn't believe that this was
the greatest country in the world?

Would Donald Trump continue
to make those comments

if people were more
educated about immigration?

If as Americans, we get this confounding
idea out of our heads

that this is the greatest
country in the world,

and that everybody wants
to come and live here permanently,

might we be able to change the way

that we think and talk about
immigrants moving forward?

I want to leave you
with one final thought today.

Just like Americans love their country,

so to do other citizens in other countries
around the world; including Mexico.

I know that may surprise some of you,
but we do love our country.

Mexico is an amazingly beautiful place,
with incredible people living there.

We have traditions that date
back to the pre-Hispanic era,

but you never hear about
that in this country.

You hear about the drug cartels,

you hear about all the murders
that are happening,

and you hear that Mexico is not safe.

But do you know what they hear
in Mexico about the United States?

In Mexico, they hear
about all the mass shootings

that are happening in this country;

in movie theaters, schools,
and even in churches.

Gallup has another poll that they do,

and this poll measures the happiness
in many countries around the world.

As recently as 2014,
they polled 143 countries,

and they assigned each country
a Positive Experience Index score.

What this score measures
is how often people smile,

laugh, learn, or do something interesting
that brings joy to their life.

The highest score
any country received was an 89.

and the lowest score
any country received was a 47.

Mexico's score came in at a 76,
and the United States came in at a 79,

just three points higher than Mexico.

Perhaps if the Positive Experience
Index score of the United States

was significantly higher,

then we would see this massive wave
of Mexican immigrants

rushing to come to the United States
and set up permanently.

But as it is, not that many do.

And relatively speaking
to the rest of the world,

neither do that many other
immigrants around the world.

I like to imagine what kind
of world we could create

if we kept all of this information
in the back of our minds moving forward.

I will say this -- Mr.Trump is
absolutely right about one thing:

it is time to make America great.

But the only way we're going
to accomplish that

is if we change up the lens
that we are viewing immigration through,

and if we start to embrace the immigrants
that are already in this country,

and the immigrants that will continue
to come to this country;

and embrace all the diversity
and all the different cultures

that they bring with them.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)