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Written by: Guest Commentary
Venkates Swaminathan
Venkates Swaminathan is the CEO of LifeLaunchr, a college admissions coaching organization situated in Santa Rosa.
The first flight I ever took was from Delhi, India to New York’s JFK Airport. After attending the University of Illinois, I moved to California to get my master’s degree, and I’ve been in the United States ever since. Here, I’ve established companies, employed people, and developed a life.
Innumerable people have come to America to work, study, and develop, and my journey is no different. Arvind Krishna, my graduate school roommate, is currently IBM’s CEO. After arriving in California, millions of people have gone on to build opportunities and lives.
Indeed, there are other immigration groups than international students. At my niece’s UC San Diego graduation earlier this summer, I went to Chicano Park, where enormous murals adorn an outdoor temple to community engagement, honoring the millions of immigrants whose hard work and inventiveness made California what it is today.
That’s why watching the news today is so difficult. I have a front-row seat to a wave of new federal policies that are changing education because I founded a college counseling service.
The Supreme Court recently allowed the US Department of Education to fire hundreds of workers, which slowed civil rights investigations, delayed financial aid processing, and created problems for communities.
That’s only the most recent setback. Research budget cuts, a slew of new visa restrictions, and attempts to remove diversity and inclusion programs that support marginalized students have all occurred. Of course, long-established immigrant communities in places like Los Angeles have also been impacted by recent ICE operations.
In my profession, I’ve witnessed the knock-on impacts. Some foreign students are scared to apply to universities, to go to a far-off university, or to visit the United States altogether.
I work with a lot of pupils who are either immigrants or the offspring of immigrants. The mother of a college-bound youngster is from Vietnam and used to work at an Oakland nail salon. The student managed the family’s taxes, completed paperwork, and worked while still a high school student.
A full scholarship was also awarded to her. I have no doubt that she will make a significant impact on the world once her education is complete.
After creating an app to identify persistent contaminants in his community’s water system, one youngster, whose parents immigrated from India, was awarded a scholarship to attend UC Berkeley. Another student is currently enrolled in Cal State Fullerton’s nursing program; their parents immigrated from Mexico to establish a life in Southern California.
The state is filled with thousands of these tales. Every young person has the capacity to influence our future by emerging as the next great innovator, leader, or healer.
In addition to their talent and drive, international students provide actual money to California.
READ NEXT
How the Trump administration s vow to revoke Chinese student visas could hurt California
According to the NAFSA Association of International Educators, California’s approximately 141,000 international students supported 55,000 employment in 2023 by spending $6.4 billion. Higher tuition for these students helps pay for resident services and financial assistance at public universities like UC and CSU.
In general, $715 billion, or almost one-third of the state’s GDP, comes from immigrant households. Californians without legal status alone spend around $8.5 billion in state and local taxes annually.
The cruelty is, understandably, the main focus of much of the debate surrounding recent policy changes, but these actions hurt everyone.
California’s immigrant communities are its greatest asset. Students, academics, and workers from throughout the world are essential to our leadership in science, technology, agriculture, and the arts.
Your battle is our fight, protesters who are standing up for the rights and opportunities of immigrants. I can assure you that this will have an impact on you, even if you don’t think so. It affects both your children’s future and your economy. And before California and America lose the very assets that made them possible, officials pushing these policies in Washington and abroad should halt their efforts.
READ NEXT
Protect California s international students so they don t walk on eggshells in fear of ICE
Why these families are willing to risk deportation for college financial aid
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