As Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detain immigrants, sometimes violently, and deport them away from their families under the direction of President Donald Trump, politicians and celebrities have been sharing why they support “hardworking” immigrants.
In response to ICE raids in Los Angeles, Kim Kardashian, for example, wrote on social media that “When we witness innocent, hardworking people being ripped from their families in inhumane ways, we have to speak up,” while Republican Rep. David Valadao of California, recently wrote that he is urging the Trump administration “to prioritize the removal of known criminals over the hardworking people who have lived peacefully.”
Being hardworking and productive are not bad traits, but when people exclusively praise and defend immigrants for being hardworking, it is not the full compliment people think it is.
Immigrants Deserve Dignity And Respect, Regardless Of How Hardworking They Are.
Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of the immigration advocacy group America’s Voice, said when she grew up in Bolivia, working with “ahínco,” meaning to put “your soul and your heart into it,” was a good thing to be. But as a Latina, she has qualms when “hardworking” is used to suggest that “immigrants should just be doing the jobs no one else wants to do.”
