By Ariel T Rodriguez

I’d like to ask those who shout to an immigrant “Go back to your country!” a question:

Do you mean it?

Do you mean it when you say “deport them all,” regardless of how many children will be left without a mom or dad? Or when you shout “Build the wall,” causing panic to an immigrant family whose only crime was to aim at a better way of life, do you really mean it?

I think you don’t.

I think someone told you that deporting all immigrants was the solution, without also telling you about their contributions to this nation. You were told that they were all rapists, drug smugglers and other false accusations. But just now, I think, we are starting to see the real face behind undocumented migration.

These migrant workers are parents and children dreaming of achieving the American-Dream fantasy a movie sold them once. Yet, so far, all they’ve found is a constant threat from ICE, a social rejection from those who want them out and a disappointing reality of knowing their roles in this society are underappreciated.

The worst thing of it all is that major metropolitan areas of the nation, where undocumented labor concentrates the most (Nevada included), need undocumented residents to stay. Otherwise, things would get catastrophic for them.

“One of my biggest fears is that if a family member is deported, the other members would have to leave, too,” said North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee the day I interviewed him during a fundraising event for his re-election campaign. “What’s going to happen to their properties?”

He asked: “Do we disconnect their water, gas and power? … Do we put their belongings in a storage?”

Truth is, city and state officials know about the consequences of pushing the deportation narrative forward, but common residents don’t. Undocumented immigrants play a significant role in the development of states’ growth, says the George W. Bush Institute. Oh! And they pay taxes too.

In fact, unauthorized workers share more than 10 percent of the overall workforce in Nevada, Pew Research Center shows -- a percentage higher than any other state in the nation, including border states. And while these figures could easily scare any anti-immigrant out there, the truth about undocumented labor is that it boosts the state’s economy.

According to a study published in 2017 by Pew Research Center, Nevada is home to 170,000 unauthorized aliens. These numbers place the metropolitan areas of the Silver State as some the 20 cities with the most flow of unauthorized labor. Now think of what would happen if they all leave – additional houses to choose from? I don’t think so.

The persuasion behind deporting more undocumented immigrants is just a whim backed by false accusations, fallacies and the need to scapegoat a minority group. Overall, nothing good would come from it.

The more people who demand undocumented workers to be deported, the closer we get to writing another dark chapter in history books with wasted public resources and leaving an administrative headache to those who govern the cities and states of the biggest metropolitan areas in the nation, Nevada included.

Needless to say, it has been proven that immigrants don’t fit in the description President Trump categorized them in. So, what would happen if they were all to be deported?

Abandoned houses, towed vehicles, unpaid debts and needed workers fleeing their homes – an unrealistic demand people were tricked into believing, but keep on pursuing.

We should put an effort on finding ways to bring these workers out of the shadows and give them a chance – if having lived decades in this nation isn’t enough – to prove themselves worthy of being called Americans too.

I’d like to add that in the 11 years I spent living in Las Vegas, working alongside hundreds of undocumented immigrants, I never met a rapist, drug dealer or criminal of some sort who happened to be an unauthorized worker. They were all normal residents attempting to make Nevada their new home by following the rules, investing in their future and doing the tough jobs average Americans wouldn’t dare to do.

So, to those who rant about immigration and believe undocumented immigrants are to blame for everything wrong in this nation, please answer: is hunting undocumented immigrants, separating families and putting them in cages what you want? Or, were you tricked into believing that?

Ariel T Rodriguez is a bilingual journalist who lived as an undocumented DREAMer in Las Vegas for 11 years. After earning his B.A. in journalism from UNLV, he decided to move back to Mexico City.