JD Vance recently expressed his fear and distrust of immigrants: "I don't want to live next to four families of strangers." Well, JD, I don't know about you, but I was raised to believe that a smile and an invitation to a neighborhood barbecue is a really easy way of turning a stranger into a friend. Luckily, the only thing standing between me and a delicious international buffet is a little something called Google Translate.

Despite what MAGA Republicans will tell you, immigration is good for American society. According to the Center for Policy Progress, most immigrants come to the U.S. legally, immigration is vital to a strong U.S. economy, and they pay into things like Social Security without using nearly as many benefits as native-born Americans, on average. In fact, the data show that the massive deportation effort by the Trump Administration has done serious long-term damage to our country, as seen by increased food and housing costs.

Does this mean that our immigration system doesn't need to be fixed? Heck no. It needs an overhaul. In fact, one of the reasons for illegal immigration is because it is virtually impossible to obtain legal status for many immigrants. I don’t know about you, but if I’m in a situation in which I literally can’t feed my own children or I’m worried about being killed by drug cartels, I’m going to do whatever it takes to protect my family, including crossing a border illegally. When the Trump Administration tries to justify deportation of undocumented immigrants by calling them “criminals” for merely crossing the border, it is just an excuse to do what he has long wanted to do: empty America of anyone poor and brown or black.

When I'm elected, I'll defund ICE. Period. Instead of funding an unregulated, above-the-law secret police department, I’ll focus on increasing our resources at the border. This will allow us to have a safe and secure border while efficiently screening immigrants seeking asylum (by the way, “seeking asylum” doesn’t mean “escaped from an insane asylum,” as is often confused by some people). I’ll seek to improve the guest worker program, thereby providing the labor we need while reducing the motivation for illegal border crossings, and I’ll create a quick pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients.