I’m the Daughter of Immigrants. Here’s What I Want You to Know
By Heidi Sanchez
By the age of 5, growing up in Arroyo Grande, I had become aware of what the word “immigrant” meant to others. It meant people like my mother and father, who had come to the United States from Mexicoand had bent their backs in the steaming Californian sun, picking strawberries one by one.
As I grew older, the word immigrant followed my family everywhere. It was used in every context, as if it defined us entirely. “Immigrant” was no longer just a part of our story; it became a label that confined us.
No matter what my parents did or where they worked, everything circled back to that single word and overshadowed everything else about my family’s identity. We were immigrants.
This overuse confused me as a child. When people spoke about immigrants, they rarely spoke about them as individuals. Instead, immigrants were grouped into a category – defined by the jobs they held, and how they contributed to the economy. They essentially were cogs in an economic wheel.
Today, this narrow framing has become embedded in political rhetoric. It is common to hear politicians argue that immigrants are “valuable” because they are hardworking or because they take on jobs “Americans won’t do.”
Even “Positive” Political Rhetoric Can Do Damage
While often intended as praise, these statements reveal a deeper problem: They tie the worth of immigrants almost entirely to their economic utility.
Unfortunately, this way of thinking reduces people to functions and overlooks their identities, cultures and customs, and experiences-– the very things that make them human. Immigrants are viewed not as parents, neighbors, or community members, but as economic tools.
This loss of humanity has harmful consequences. It shapes how immigrants are perceived, how immigration policies are justified, and how easily their struggles and sacrifices are dismissed.
It also leads to a greater inability to effectively generate support within immigrant communities, already hindered by restrictive pathways to citizenship, a lack of social-safety nets, and fearful of deportations.
When people are seen primarily as economic widgets – and not as the individuals that they are – it becomes easier to ignore what they endure.
Let’s Have a Different Kind of Conversation
At a time when harmful and dehumanizing practices toward immigrants continue to rise, conversations about immigration are more visible than ever. But visibility alone is not enough.
These conversations must go beyond economics and acknowledge the lived experiences of immigrants as individuals – people who have faced hardship, separation, and sacrifice.
If support for immigrants continues to be framed solely in terms of their economic contributions, we risk reinforcing the very stereotypes that we must challenge.
As the daughter of immigrants, I believe building trust within our immigrant communities requires a fundamental shift in mindset. We must move away from what I call “transactional” language and toward dialogue that recognizes immigrants as people first.
And while some progress has been made on this front, the stereotypical view of immigrants still remains widespread. It is time to move beyond it.
Immigrants should not have to justify their place in society through labor or economic value – their humanity should be enough.
Heidi Sanchez is a student at Cuesta College and an intern with the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party.