Stop insulting hard-working immigrants

With the 2016 elections not too far off ahead, candidates are bringing up heated topics for debate; immigration being one of them. Some candidates have been negatively portraying the immigrant population here in America and are instilling bigoted values in their supporters. This creates a greater prejudiced society where unnecessary tensions might rise between neighbors.

One candidate has gone as far to say most immigrants are criminals, drug dealers and rapists. That is clearly not the case, but a lot of people are believing everything he says. This creates a skewed vision on the immigrant population, and they start to be viewed as the negative stereotypes that are described on the debates.

Here in Fresno and surrounding areas, many residents will tell you immigrants are some of the hardest-working people they know. Any educated person knows that immigrants are the backbone of this country, as they provide most of the low-cost labor this country depends on.

These people work long hours in strenuous jobs and pay millions of dollars in taxes, so stating that most of them are bad people is a great misinterpretation of the immigrant population and their contributions to society.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 7:12 AM with the headline "Stop insulting hard-working immigrants."