A comment on a dog rescue post about euthanizing immigrants shows how deeply fear and hate have split our nation. This is not who we are.
At downtown Phoenix ICE office, people protest raids and deportations
People protest raids and deportations at the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Phoenix, on Feb. 3, 2025, briefly blocking traffic.
A few weeks before the 2024 presidential election, I found myself desperate to tune out the noise. Political ads were everywhere — on TV, YouTube, my social media feed, and the endless flyers that hung from my doorknob.
Many of them were peddling a distorted and one-dimensional image of immigrants: we were criminals destroying this country or essential workers single-handedly saving the economy.
As a former DACA recipient who was once undocumented and a longtime immigrant rights activist, I felt overwhelmed. After decades of efforts by immigrants to be seen as human beings, both political parties still reduced us to caricatures.
I feared Trump was going to be reelected.
To regain a sense of agency, I threw myself into volunteering as a social media manager for my local dog rescue. It felt good to channel my energy into helping find loving homes for dozens of beautiful dogs. The work consumed me, offering relief from election season.
But just when I thought I had created a mental refuge for myself, reality barged in.
Dog rescue comment stopped me in my tracks
One Sunday night, 15 dogs were scheduled to be euthanized at the Maricopa county shelter. I posted an urgent plea on the rescue’s Facebook page: “We need you to step up for these dogs. Fosters needed today!”
Within minutes, messages of outrage and urgency filled the comments. “Who kills healthy and well-behaved dogs?” one person demanded. As I scrolled through the replies, hoping for foster leads, a single comment stopped me cold:
“Thank you for what you do. I don’t know why they don’t instead euthanize those illegals invading our country.”
In that moment, I felt as if this stranger’s words had reached inside me and twisted something deep within, leaving me momentarily frozen in shock.
I’ve been a vocal “Dreamer” for more than a decade, advocating for the human rights of immigrants. I’m no stranger to hateful comments or personal attacks, especially in the post-Elon Musk Twitter era, where cruelty thrives unchecked.
But this felt different.
Trump made immigrant targeting a reality
The contrast between this stranger’s love of dogs and hatred for immigrants felt surreal. I wondered what she’d think if she knew the person trying to save these dogs was a formerly undocumented Mexican who crossed the border to seek safety in the U.S. as a child.
Since Donald Trump returned to power, his promises to target immigrants have become a chilling reality.
Images of ICE raids flood my social media feed, and pleas for help pour into my messages from terrified community members. Fox News, the Trump administration and his campaign have convinced millions of Americans that immigrants like me are the enemy — the source of all their problems.
Meanwhile, Democratic strategists point fingers at us too, scapegoating immigrants for their political losses. And now, innocent people across this country are facing the blunt force of all of that blame.
Even more painful is seeing Latinos who supported Trump express shock and disbelief as his policies escalate.
Some fell for his campaign rhetoric that he would only go after “criminals.” But now that ICE raids are sweeping up people regardless of their criminal records — “Dreamers,” parents, children, students and even Native Americans and U.S. citizens who can’t provide identification on the spot — those illusions have shattered.
Narrative is meant to divide the working class
The truth is, in Trump’s narrative, all of us with brown skin are less than human. We’re less than dogs.
How did we get here? It didn’t happen by accident.
For years, billions of dollars have fueled a strategic campaign to create a villain in the imagination of the American working class. Immigrants like me and people in my community are blamed for high grocery prices, stagnant wages, housing shortages and even crime rates.
This narrative is strategically designed to divide us, keeping the working class at odds with itself while those at the very top — the billionaires sitting by Trump’s side who fund campaigns and benefit from exploiting labor — continue to profit.
This is not new. History shows us this playbook has been used time and time again: scapegoat a marginalized group, fan the flames of fear and resentment, and distract from the structural injustices that keep ordinary people struggling.
Deporting me won’t make your eggs cheaper
Here’s the truth: deporting me — or anyone in my community — won’t make your eggs cheaper, your rent more affordable or your family any safer.
Immigrants are not responsible for inflation, the housing crisis or crime. In fact, countless studies show that immigrants contribute to the economy, commit fewer crimes than native-born citizens and enrich communities in ways that go far beyond numbers.
We’re taking care of elderly Americans in hospitals, harvesting this country’s crops and building its highways. We’re saving your dogs.
The ones to blame behind rising costs and economic inequality aren’t immigrants — they are the billionaires and corporations who rake record profits while wages stagnate and benefits disappear.
It’s the powerful elite who convince you to look down on your immigrant neighbor, rather than question why CEOs make 400 times the average worker’s salary.
Don’t let billionaires like Elon Musk divide us
This is why Jeff Bezos was comfortably sitting in the inauguration, smiling with joy, while Amazon workers have continued to strike across the country demanding higher wages, better benefits and improved working conditions.
Elon Musk, the biggest donor for the Trump campaign, is slashing funding for vital programs that support working-class families and downsizing the federal workforce, even firing scientists tasked with fighting the flu that is devastating egg production — while continuing to secure lucrative government contracts that pad his wealth.
Musk was never elected, yet he wields immense power, reshaping policy to serve his own interests at the expense of the very people who keep this country running. As this billionaire takes thousands of people’s jobs, will Americans still blame immigrants for stealing them?
We can’t let billionaires and their greed continue to divide us. I know better than to waste time fighting with that stranger who fantasized about the euthanization of immigrants, and people like her.
It’s time to reject the lies that pit us against each other and focus our energy on holding those in power accountable.
That includes demanding the creation of a humane and orderly immigration system that works for us all.
Unity is the only way forward
We must refuse to let politicians use immigration as a distraction while they ignore the root causes of economic hardship and inequality. A just system offers fair pathways to citizenship that will sustain wages, worker protections and other policies that uphold our dignity — not fear mongering and scapegoating for political gain.
The path to a thriving, equitable society doesn’t run through the persecution of immigrants and brown skinned Americans — it lies in uniting against the systems that exploit us all.
Deporting me or people in my community won’t solve your problems, and it won’t save your dogs.
But organizing and fighting for justice — for all of us — might create a world where it’s easier to help one another. A world where immigrants can contribute in ways big and small without fear of persecution.
A world where we’re all in this together.
Erika Andiola was press secretary for the Bernie Sanders presidentialcampaign and one of the most high-profile immigrant rights activists in the country. On X, formerly Twitter, @ErikaAndiola.
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