Photo: Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

When I share resources from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, I know I am amplifying one of the most successful networks of defense against ICE raids in the country.

The Family Support Network hotline, their reporting systems, and their rapid response legal aid have already protected thousands of people in Illinois from being caught in the dragnets of deportation.

They provide not just warnings about ICE activity, but also legal representation and referrals for families torn apart in the middle of the night.

It is one of the few lifelines people can hold onto in the face of fear and uncertainty.

But every time I post these resources on my own network of social media pages, groups, and accounts, there is a predictable chorus of backlash. A few voices always rise with anger.

“Why are you helping people who are bumming off our country?” they demand.

“Why are you helping illegals but not Americans who need help?”

Others accuse me directly, “You’re a criminal helping criminals get away.”

And then there’s the oldest, laziest, most tired insult of them all, “Go back to your own country.”

Let’s pause right there. Because these questions, these accusations, reveal more about fear and misinformation than they do about immigrants themselves.

By the way, I’m from Hawaii. It’s a U.S. state. I’m already in my own country.

First, the idea that immigrants—especially undocumented immigrants—are “bumming off the country” is flat-out false.

Immigrants, both documented and undocumented, pay billions of dollars in taxes every year. They work in our fields, in our restaurants, in our factories, in our hospitals, in our homes. They are the backbone of industries that most Americans take for granted. And the undocumented among them do this without the basic protections that citizens enjoy, often at risk of exploitation and abuse.

Second, the false choice between “helping immigrants” and “helping Americans” is a rhetorical trick. It’s a wedge used to divide working people against each other. The truth is, when we protect the rights of immigrants, we are protecting the rights of everyone. Stronger worker protections, access to healthcare, safe housing, freedom from state violence—these are universal goods. Every person deserves them.

And third, when someone says “Go back to your own country,” I hear the echo of centuries of xenophobia. It was said to the Irish, to the Italians, to the Jews, to the Chinese, to the Mexicans, to the Puerto Ricans, to the Vietnamese, and to wave after wave of immigrants who built this country. It’s not original. It’s not clever. And it’s certainly not patriotic.

What it is, is fear. Fear that sharing resources, like the ICIRR hotline, means losing control of a narrative where immigrants are always “the problem.”

But here’s the truth: immigrants are not the problem.

The problem is an enforcement regime that tears families apart, that terrorizes communities, that wastes taxpayer money on detention and deportation instead of schools and healthcare.

The problem is scapegoating—using immigrants as the convenient target for all of society’s ills while letting the powerful walk away with the wealth and resources of this country.

That’s why I continue to post. That’s why I continue to share the hotline. Because silence in the face of injustice is complicity. And because I believe in a different vision of America—not one where neighbors are torn apart in the dead of night, but one where communities look out for each other, across every line of language, status, and identity.

So when you hear me share the number 855-435-7693, remember it’s not just a hotline. It’s a line of defense. It’s a refusal to bow down to fear. And it’s a reminder that solidarity is stronger than scapegoating.

That’s why I post. That’s why I won’t stop.

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