Stewart Florsheim: Don't Ban Immigrants

Stewart Florsheim reflects on his parents’ journey to the US and how this country benefits from immigration.

In April, I observe Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. It’s an important day for me because my parents were refugees from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. My grandfather was lucky enough to be released from Dachau, but many members of my family did not make it out.

My parents would be appalled by what’s happening to refugees in the US today. The vast majority of refugee processing is on pause. This includes Afghan people with Special Immigrant Visas because they supported America before we left their country in 2021. While the ruling is challenged in the courts, it’s unclear when and what the resolution will be.

President Trump has issued other orders that impact immigrants, including his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. A judge issued a temporary restraining order.

This is the wrong approach, especially when you factor in the positive influence immigrants have had on this country! They’ve filled critical labor needs and increased economic growth. In 2022 alone, immigrants contributed over $579 billion in local, state and federal taxes.

My parents were eternally grateful to the US for allowing them to immigrate. Not only were they able to escape the death camps, but they had opportunities they never thought imaginable. My grandfather, for one, was able to reopen his kosher meat market that had been destroyed.

Other members of my family started businesses and became successful professionals. There was pressure to succeed, but also pressure to give back and do “tikkun olam,” which is Hebrew for “repairing the world.”

My parents’ world did need a lot of healing and it’s clear that our current world needs it as well.

With a Perspective, I’m Stewart Florsheim.

Stewart Florsheim is a writer, teacher and content strategist living in the East Bay.