by Gabriella Kraft

America was built by immigrants. They have built it up from the ground, and then others decided that they had founded the land, even if Native Americans had been there years before them. They were colonizers who decided they could take what they wanted and have no repercussions.

“Nobody is illegal on stolen land.”

It’s becoming a common saying, sadly, to get people to understand that nobody is illegal here, and no one should be getting arrested and killed for their skin color or their accents. 

“Nobody is illegal on stolen land.” It is a way of telling most people who are in support of the current administration that nobody is after their jobs. Nobody wants to harm them. Nobody wants to take away their position in life. Just as they are trying to get by in life, so is everybody else. 

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, “Since returning to office in 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump has taken major steps to reshape immigration policy and enforcement in pursuit of his campaign promise to execute ‘the largest domestic deportation operation’ in U.S. history. As part of this effort, his administration has carried out deportation flights, sometimes to third countries where migrants have no existing ties; ramped up nationwide immigration raids; and granted expanded or new powers to various federal, state, and local officials to enforce domestic immigration laws.” 

His whole point in doing this is to do what the rich politicians in the U.S. want right now. He is simply a poorly strung puppet who needs to be held accountable for the lives he has helped ruin and take.

More from Council of Foreign Relations: “In January 2026, the administration’s enforcement push reached a controversial new phase after federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in separate incidents in Minneapolis.”

There have been more unaccounted-for deaths and families this administration has ripped apart. Is it so hard to let people live in peace? Most, if not all, of these people just wanted to be here and live their lives when it was ripped from them.

It has turned into such a serious cause that whole schools are having walkouts in support of stopping them, including Hoosier schools. 

According to WFYI in early February, “Hundreds of students across Indianapolis and in nearby suburbs walked out of class Monday, bundled in winter coats and carrying handmade signs to join a growing national movement of young people protesting federal immigration enforcement.”

Students have gone through the effort of skipping class, missing a test, and possibly getting arrested for a cause they believe in. Not only does this put pressure on the school system, but also on government officials.

Young adolescent teens understand what’s going on in the country better than most adults. We see what’s happening and want to help stop our country from turning into a warzone, simply because some people don’t like others’ ethnicities or accents.

The impact immigrants have had on America is incomparable; without them, our economy would plummet. 

As stated by the Migration Policy Institute,“Immigrants were involved in the development of 30 percent of patents in strategic industries in recent years, and more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants.”

Immigrants are embedded in all types of American culture and food. For example, according to the Food Timeline, nearly all of today’s popular American foods originated in other countries.

This country is so much more than different skin colors and different views, but we can only grow and build on what we have if it has a good foundation. What’s happening in the country right now is destroying that foundation as we know it. So I encourage you to do what you can to help the cause and fight for what’s right.