I was sitting in my living room last week when an unexpected knock came at the door.
As a begrudgingly middle-aged woman alone in her home, it startled me. But in all likelihood, it was probably just an Amazon or FedEx delivery. Nothing to worry about.
But for others, that knock could mean something entirely different. It’s not just a package delivery or a friend stopping by for a visit — it could be men wearing masks preparing to arrest those inside for the crime of wanting to be an American, but not going about it the right way.
As of this writing, the Department of Homeland Security is on a mission to gut our nation’s already challenged infrastructure — from our food supply to hospitality and construction — leaving us with higher prices, rotting crops and a worsening housing shortage.
President Donald Trump, who is giving DHS and ICE their orders, has wavered on what exactly he wants.
“Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”
A single-day pause on immigration raids on farms and hotels went out.
The next day: the policy was reversed, and ICE arrested over 70 migrants at a meat processing plant in Omaha, Nebraska.
This unraveling is taking place through the deportation of people who’ve worked incredibly hard to get to the United States. People who pay taxes, put food on our tables and strive for better lives for their children.
Now we’re seeing stories of families being ripped apart. Immigration agents are unsure whether someone is an American citizen or not. Entire communities living in fear. It’s bad policing — plain and simple.
It’s no different than arresting the wrong person for a murder. We should be embarrassed by the way our government is treating human beings who are guilty only of wanting a better future for themselves and their children.
Are there people coming to this country with bad intentions? Yes. But are there also Americans who leave their homes every day with harmful intentions? Also, yes.
Some might say this makes me less conservative — or even unpatriotic. I reject that entirely. In fact, I would argue that the free market relies on people coming here. They come because America offers more opportunity than any other country on earth. We millennial Americans aren’t having children at a rate that can sustain our population. Without immigrants, we are a shrinking country.
Immigrants come to live, work, go to school and contribute to society. They pursue the American Dream — something conservatives and Republicans have claimed to champion for generations.
Meanwhile, we have enemies in the world — people who are offended by my ability, as a woman, to speak freely; people who are threatened by our global leadership in many industries; people who are, quite frankly, jealous of the abundance we enjoy in this country.
And yet, the majority of people coming here are not enemies. They’re people with the same dreams my family had nearly 300 years ago: a dream of something better.
My ancestors came here by ship, forged new paths, and quite literally expanded this country. After landing on the East Coast, they traveled by foot, wagon, or horseback all the way to the far west of Kentucky before 1800.
So how is traveling through the Cumberland Gap in 1797 all that different from an immigrant making the treacherous journey through the Darién Gap in 2025?
Back in 1797, the federal government wanted my ancestors to move into the middle of the country. It even gave Samuel Garrison — my ancestor — land in return for his service in helping free this country from the king.
Samuel, his wife, and seven of their nine children left a prosperous life in North Carolina and set off for a land full of promise. They believed that what lay ahead was worth the journey — and they were right. They went on to have two more children and built a new life in a new place. That included bringing Samuel’s sister and her husband and other relatives over the following years.
America has always stood as a beacon of freedom and opportunity — not because we tear down our borders, but because we uphold our values. But in trying to appear tough, we’ve created a system so tangled and broken that only the desperate or incredibly fortunate can navigate it. That’s not strength — it’s bureaucracy that fails us.
We should be opening legal, orderly pathways for those who want to work hard, raise families, pay taxes and contribute to the fabric of this nation — not terrifying children. Making it easier to become an American doesn’t undermine our country — it strengthens it. It reflects the principles our Founders fought for and helps secure the future that every generation of Americans has worked to build.
Free Press contributing columnist Andrea Bitely is the founder and principal of Bitely Communications, a Lansing-based public affairs firm specializing in political, corporate and crisis communications. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online or in print.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: America’s free market needs immigrants | Opinion
Reporting by Andrea Bitely / Detroit Free Press
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