To My Undocumented Friend, You Are Here To Stay

You, my undocumented friend, are important. You are loved. You are appreciated.

Your heart is bigger and stronger than all of the insults and names this country calls you. This world belongs to all its creatures, and therefore, immigrating does not make you a criminal, it makes you human. A resident of your own world.

Our desire to live made us cross borders and swim across oceans. Some of us would rather die trying than to die at the hands of our own. We never imagined a future outside the soil that birthed us, but that very same soil has been poisoned since it was stolen. They expect us to prosper in the land they tainted with our blood.

You have overcome the unexpected and survived the unthinkable. You moved to a new country with nothing but the clothes on your back, and that is admirable and worthy of praise. It takes special people to endure hate and poverty, yet still love others around them.

You are strength.

If they come for you, keep your head up high for you have done more for this world than those who hold you captive. Someday, they will pay for not seeing us as human beings as their brothers and sisters. For believing they are better than us because of the pigment of their skin.

Someday, we won’t live in fear.

A piece of paper has not stopped us before and it won’t stop us now.

Stand tall for you are not a burden on this country, you are one of its greatest treasures. Your presence brings more than labor to this nation. You bring humility, culture, generations of resilience and love.

Someday, we will no longer have to validate our own existence. Someday, they will know our worth. Walk firm and never look down. May your words express your pride and your actions show what you’re made off.

Hold your loved ones tight and love them everyday. Let them love you back. I don’t know what will happen to us in the next four years, all I know is that I am proud to belong to our community. I am who I am today because of you.

Together, we will survive because we are here to stay.