Trump’s second West Michigan visit of 2024 will be brief, but immigrants are here to stay

Well, here we are again. Trump came to West Michigan in April and he’s back again today — with the same anti-immigrant agenda as before, to be sure. After a week of hateful, anti-immigrant vitriol at the RNC in Milwaukee, Trump is back with his new running mate, JD Vance, which warrants a re-up of the op-ed I wrote for The Detroit News earlier this year in response to his last GR visit (copied below, since it’s blocked by paywall).

The language recklessly thrown around this week and likely today — threats of mass deportation and family separation driven by framing immigrants as criminals, less-than-human, and thieves of jobs — is not only false, but extremely dangerous.

The Trump-Vance policy agenda, guided by Project 2025, is not a plan to make communities safer or more prosperous. Mass deportations would sweep up and devastate the communities and families of everyday people and workers. People like the kind blueberry farmworker I met yesterday while blueberry picking, who last year let my friend’s son sit on top of his harvesting machine for a photo opp. People like another friend’s spouse who should be able to qualify for citizenship through his wife but is up against an immigration system full of roadblocks. People like our neighbors, whose kids play in the front yard and are eager to chat with me and my husband.

We know that these plans will devastate our communities because we saw it happen the last time Trump was president. Families were separated at the border that to this day are still fighting for justice. Young people that I mentored in a youth group saw their mother torn from them, a beloved community member and church leader. A former colleague and incredible artist was plucked from his home of many years. A hardworking father and husband, who I met after his deportation, is now trying to make ends meet in Canada with hopes of one day being reunited with his family.

These are the people in Michigan and beyond that were targeted and would be targeted by these ugly, divisive plans — plans driven by falsehoods and scare tactics.

I said it before in my op-ed, and I’ll say it again: “This type of language has no place in Grand Rapids — a city that is all the richer for our immigrant neighbors, family members, colleagues, loved ones, and friends… If there’s any language or rhetoric fitting for West Michigan and our immigrant communities, it’s this: they’re integral, they’re welcome, they’re loved, and they’re home. Here is where they belong and they’re here to stay.”

May THIS vision drive our vote this November.

Stek: Immigrants are an Integral Part of West Michigan

Published April 10, 2024 in The Detroit News

Last week, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump came to my hometown, Grand Rapids, Michigan, to exploit the tragic domestic violence murder of a beloved community member for his own political gains.

I won’t repeat his sweeping, dehumanizing rhetoric because it needs no more of a platform, but it disparaged our immigrant neighbors with dangerous language reminiscent of authoritarian leaders responsible for some of history’s worst state-sanctioned violence.

This type of language has no place in Grand Rapids — a city that is all the richer for our immigrant neighbors, family members, colleagues, loved ones, and friends.

Immigrants are an integral and irreplaceable part of the West Michigan community. Kent County is home to approximately 54,000 immigrants; and despite making up just 9 percent of the county’s population, immigrants make up 10.5 percent of its employed labor force. While the overall population of Kent County grew by 5.2 percent between 2014 and 2019, the immigrant population increased by 27.2 percent, making 38.2 percent of the county’s total population growth attributable to immigrants.

West Michigan is one of the nation’s top locations for welcoming and resettling refugees. In 2021, Michigan was fourth in the nation for receiving the most refugees and welcomed nearly 23,000 refugee arrivals over the last decade — many of whom made their new homes in Grand Rapids with the support of local non-profit organizations and the newly established Welcome Corps program.

A source of West Michigan pride is that one of our beloved school districts — East Kentwood, just a mile from my home — is Michigan’s most diverse district with students from over 60 different countries speaking over 70 different languages. Another few miles away is my alma mater, Calvin University, which welcomed over 170 students from 38 countries outside the U.S. in 2022, making up a record-setting 17 percent of the student body.

As a city known for having a church on every corner, dozens of faith communities across Grand Rapids have opened their doors to support newly-arriving refugees, host English and citizenship classes, share worship spaces with immigrant congregations, give of their time and resources to immigrant-supporting ministries, and boldly share the message among neighbors that “immigrants are a blessing, not a burden.”

I am the great-granddaughter of Dutch immigrants and a nearly lifelong Grand Rapids resident; over the years, I’ve come to know and love many fellow Grand Rapidians that were born outside the United States — I’m better for it, and so is our city. It’s a shame that our former president did not come to see and celebrate that.

If there’s any language or rhetoric fitting for West Michigan and our immigrant communities, it’s this: they’re integral, they’re welcome, they’re loved, and they’re home. Here is where they belong and they’re here to stay.

Melissa Stek was born and raised and resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A BSW graduate of Calvin University and an MSW graduate of University of Michigan, she is a long-standing immigrant rights advocate and the founder of MountainGem Advocacy & Communications.