I'mmigrant
And another thing that shouldn't be controversial, but is
My last (work) Instragram post is from February, a Day Without Immigrants, where I posted about being an immigrant. Here I am again! Trying to explain why immigrants make us better. It’s hard to write these. Yes, because it’s painful to have to convince people of this. But also because IT SEEMS SO DAMN OBVIOUS.
Stepping outside of myself for a minute, I can see how this would be less apparent if you didn’t live in California, a state that provides this country with over 75% of its fruits and nuts and over a third of its vegetables,1most of which are picked by immigrants. I waited tables on and off for something like 20 years. In every restaurant I worked, in three different states, immigrants washed the dishes and did a lot of the food prep. ICE raids in Los Angeles recently targeted immigrants in garment factories. Ever looked at a construction site? A lot of immigrants there. Without immigrants, your food, clothing, and shelter situations would be very different! And by different, I mean much more expensive.
These are the kinds of jobs that people always talk about when they talk about immigrants. To be sure, this country would absolutely fall apart without immigrants doing these jobs. But immigrants are also your doctors, your lawyers, your engineers, your scientists.2 An immigrant is your acupuncturist!
If you are lucky enough to live near an immigrant community, I hope you’ve taken the opportunity to eat their food and get to know them. The food is almost always delicious and the company is also generally exceptional. I am not just talking about Latinos—if you like sushi, curry, or a bratwurst, you like immigrants’ food!
You may not be doing much about the recent attacks on immigrants by our increasingly fascist government because you may think that it doesn’t impact you. But please realize that it absolutely impacts you. Your life would be much less rich without immigrants. (I mean rich in the general way that a more diverse life is more gratifying, but also I mean rich like money.)
I’m not saying that you have to go out and protest if it isn’t your thing. But donate money to immigrant organizations or those providing legal aid (here are some options). Or just shut down any anti-immigrant speech the moment you hear it. Say hi and smile at a brown person! Frequent their establishments. Leave a big tip. Tell your friends about the spot and leave them a great Google review. Hire some guys from the Home Depot parking lot. Pay them well and give them cold beverages while they’re doing the work you can’t or don’t want to do. Get their phone numbers and hire them again if they do a good job. Call your representatives and senators and tell them that immigrants’ rights are important to you. Tell them that using our military to quell anti-raid protests is not right. That the federal government sending the National Guard here against California’s wishes is a violation of states’ rights.
And if you are one of those people that allegedly only has an issue with illegal immigrants, a word on “legality”: whether an immigrant is “legal” or not basically comes down to whether they are lucky with timing and privilege. Luck has not been on the side of many of people I’ve described above. It was for my family, which I’m supremely grateful for. I’m also grateful to not be the kind of jerk that thinks that this makes me somehow better and that others don’t deserve the same rights.
What I’ve said above isn’t particularly groundbreaking or unique; it’s the rhetoric a lot of people use when defending immigrants. But it’s also a capitalist defense, which is gross. What is really the bottom line here is that all people are important and deserve rights and care BECAUSE THEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS. All people have intrinsic value, whether or not they’re contributing to the GDP.
RFK Jr. and Vaccines
RFK Jr. recently gutted ACIP, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. This body studies the science on individual vaccines to determine their safety and guidelines around who is eligible for them and whether insurance should cover them, if they should be free of charge, etc. He did this despite promising (to a Republican doctor) at his confirmation hearing that he wouldn’t. RFK Jr. has been, at best, wishy-washy on the importance of vaccines and has been associated with groups who are 100% anti-vax.3 He has already appointed new members to ACIP who have made anti-vax statements in the past.4 He recently pledged that this new panel will reevaluate vaccine panels for children.
There are a number of important vaccines on that panel, but I’m going to focus on the HPV vaccine here. Specific strains of the Human Papilloma Virus cause six types of cancer: anal cancer (HPV causes 90% of this), cervical cancer (virtually 100% of cervical cancer is caused by HPV), oropharyngeal/throat cancers (70%), penile cancer (63%), vaginal cancer (75%), and vulvar cancer (69%).5 HPV is transmitted via sexual contact and the vaccine works best when administered prior to exposure to the virus (in other words, before any sexual contact). When administered during that time, it is close to 100% effective at preventing HPV-related infection and cancer.6 Put differently, this is an almost totally effective cancer vaccine. Currently, the HPV vaccine is available for people ages 9-45 (it is still helpful even if you have been exposed to HPV before, for those on the older end of this spectrum, but the CDC only recommends it up to age 267). Remember, we want to reach kids before any sexual activity has commenced.
Despite this vaccine’s efficacy, it appears that it might be on the chopping block. RFK Jr. and the Trump administration in general are not wasting any time imposing their draconian measures, so it’s important to make an appointment with your pediatrician ASAP to get your kids vaccinated for HPV—for their protection and for that of their future sexual partners. (And though women are mostly affected by HPV-related cancers, please don’t let the burden fall exclusively on them—get your boys vaccinated!) Here is the CDC’s information on the HPV vaccine for all the non-footnotes people. :) Get ‘em while you can.
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/
When I interviewed for grad school, I shared a hotel room with a young woman who was also there for interviews. Her parents were migrant workers and she herself had worked in the fields. I can’t remember exactly what her field of study was other than something in the “hard” sciences, but this interview at Emory (a great school!) was her fallback. She was also interviewing at Harvard and MIT. This is someone that moved constantly as a child and performed child labor, being feted by some of the best schools in the world!
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/calling-the-shots-tracking-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-moves-on-vaccines
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01852-z?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=930c04ea0e-nature-briefing-daily-20250613&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-930c04ea0e-51398292
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/infectious-agents/hpv-and-cancer#what-cancers-are-caused-by-hpv-infection
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/hpv/hcp/vaccines.html
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/hpv/hcp/recommendations.html