Why should immigrants celebrate Fourth of July with Trump in charge? | Opinion

Ever since witnessing 11,502 people take the oath of U.S. citizenship at Fresno State’s Bulldog Stadium (now Valley Children’s Stadium) in September 1996, I’ve chatted with many of our newest U.S. citizens about their journeys, their hopes and dreams.

Our country’s 249th birthday should be a day for celebrations including fireworks, picnics, outdoor outings and gratitude that we live in the world’s strongest and freest nations. The American dream is what has lured people from all over the globe. The vast majority of these new Americans have contributed to our greatness.

Through the years, new U.S. citizens have hailed new opportunities afforded them, including the right to vote, to seek greater employment opportunities in the federal government, or the ability to sponsor relatives overseas for a green card.

Many escaped war, a tyrannical government or poverty.

In 2012, Naval reservist Gilbert Rivera became a U.S. citizen on Flag Day. “It was a duty of mine that I had to do as a citizen,” said Rivera, who joined the military after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was the last of 10 children born to immigrants from Zacatecas, México to gain U.S. citizenship.

At that naturalization ceremony, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services district director Mari-Carmen Jordan, herself a naturalized citizen from México, told Rivera and more than 800 new citizens they “are a unique thread in the fabric of our rich tapestry.”

In 2019, 28-year-old Miguel Ángel Soto of Modesto was overjoyed that he would be able to vote in the following year’s presidential election.

In 1991, Phors Sok told The Fresno Bee of how she fled her native Cambodia on foot and sedated her 4-year-old son so his cries wouldn’t alert police. She trudged more than 50 miles for three days through mud with only water for nourishment. Robbers stole all her jewelry while she waited at a refugee camp on the Thai border.

The same day that Sok was among about 100 who became citizens at a ceremony at Yosemite National Park, Selma’s Saleh Admed watched his 4-year-old son take the oath of naturalization and explained why his children’s lives will be different from life in Yemen. “As an American, you’re No. 1 and you have the freedom to go anywhere. I want the same for my kids,” said Ahmed, who was naturalized in 1983.

In 2005, Miriam García of Merced said she became naturalized so that she could vote “because I’m not satisfied with some of the results.”

“We want to be part of this country,” 100-year-old Ignacio Villegas Arellano, a retired farmworker, told me in 2016 when he became a U.S. citizen. His 94-year-old wife became a citizen a week later. The couple had eight children, 44 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

All are U.S. citizens by choice. Many of the 11,502 who became citizens at the special ceremony that created traffic congestion around Fresno State benefited from the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act signed by President Ronald Reagan.

Don’t expect another monumental presidential effort to fix a broken immigration system anytime soon. Not when President Donald Trump is intent on making history with a massive deportation campaign while asking for funds to finish a border wall and asking for $170 billion in his “Big Beautiful Bill” for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts.

Is there a reason to celebrate the Fourth?

Not all Americans support Trump’s immigration policy. More than half – 55% – of voters oppose the “Big Beautiful Bill,” according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last month. Overall support was 29%.

I bring this up because of an interview this week with Samuel “Paco” Mireles, a home solar sales representative who became a U.S. citizen in 2012.

While the 58-year-old father of two is grateful to have the opportunity to make a living in this country, he does not embrace the current anti-immigrant atmosphere that Trump has unleashed.

Celebrating the Fourth of July is not the same this year for Mireles and his family, who have traveled to New York or Pismo Beach to enjoy the fireworks in the past.

“There isn’t much to celebrate due to the political situation the country is going through,” said Mireles, whose powerful voice is a reminder of the 15 years he spent as a news anchor with the Univision affiliate in Fresno. “Our Latino community is being persecuted and attacked due to immigration raids.”

Mireles came to the U.S. as a working journalist from the Mexican city of Morelia, Michoacán in 2004 and earned his legal residency status five years later. When he left for the U.S., he didn’t sell his house, thinking it could be a safety net should things not work out. Mireles has never thought of moving back to the place he grew up.

“I don’t earn much here but what I earn I’ll never earn in México. That’s why we’re here,” said Mireles, whose relatives all remain in his homeland.

Mireles loves his home country’s culture, its customs, and its food.

When he spoke at a naturalization ceremony in Fresno Mireles told the new citizens to take advantage of new opportunities. “Come and lift up this country,” he said.

That’s a message I wish Trump and his supporters of the “Big Beautiful Bill” would embrace. Lift up this country!