Leaving America is not an option

By: Ashley Neyra 🇵🇪

Image via NBC New York

On Nov. 6, People across America watched as the news broke on former president, Donald J. Trump's re-election, and would become the 47th President of the United States. To many Marylanders, it was a shock to hear. 

More startling was the sheer number of Americans displaying how easy it would be to obtain their dual citizenship as a result of being a European grandchild; in the faces of people who had no choice but to stay in a country that sees immigrants as less than.

Throughout the day, several people turned to social media to express their feelings about the election and their plans for moving forward with the upcoming changes that came with a new president. 

Several plans involved leaving the U.S. and traveling to other countries, such as Europe. They are able to do this through generational citizenship. A popular country was Ireland, where citizenship could be given if you had great grandparents or even grandparents of Irish descent.  

It has become difficult to overlook the white privilege that arises in society when things get hard and many Americans have a simple way out. It was quickly forgotten that the immigrants who might be affected the most can not leave. 

According to an article published by The Census in 2024, over 45 million immigrants call the U.S. their home. It has become everything they know and love. 

For many immigrants, leaving America isn't an option. Their home countries are no longer safe. PBS says that many migrants from the Northern Triangle consisting of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, civil wars in the 1980s left weak governance and economies and brutal violence. 

Unfortunately, these places are no longer called home.

Chart via KFF/LA Times Survey of Immigrants

For many, coming to the U.S. gave them a better chance to help their families back in their home countries and allowed them better opportunities to feed their families. Many people don't understand the risk many immigrants endure to even touch the ‘land of the free.’ 

Now the very people that once used to pride themselves in being american and living the land of opportunity, are the people wanting to leave. Along with leaving  the people who have worked for this country built their homes and sidewalks.

It has become hard to understand that we now live in a world, where people who call themselves proud Americans are trying to escape their very own home. 

It’s difficult to grasp when suddenly the most logical option becomes to leave the mess to the ones who don't have the voice to fix it. 

Where former president John F. Kennedy said in his inauguration speech “I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation.” For a nation that was once so brave and full of pride to now not know how to do anything but sulk and run. It’s very un-American.