CONTENT WARNING: THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE CONTAINS SCREENSHOTS OF POSTS THAT DEPICT RACIST & VIOLENT OPINIONS

On Dec. 22, a woman named Debrina Kawam was set on fire by an undocumented migrant, Sebestian Zepeta-Calil. 

That day, a horrific action was inserted unwillingly into our world, affecting Kawam’s family with a devastating loss. But the tragedy didn’t stop there, as this terrible event would also create a xenophobia that hurts a whole community unknowingly.

The aforementioned Zepata-Calil is an undocumented migrant who originates from Guatemala, according to 6abc Action News, “Man pleads not guilty to a burning woman to death on a New York subway train”. He committed a crime that had no justification and for which needs to be held strongly accountable. However, his immigration status colors the narrative and paints a portrait of an entire people that had nothing to do with his crime.  

There are people, ignorant people, in this country who use vulgar and dehumanizing terms when referring to undocumented immigrants, such as the following: 

Spic 

Illegal Alien

Border Hopper

Wetback

Unauthorized Alien

 Illegals 

The list goes on. 

Calil is a murderer. He is a criminal. He committed a horrible act that will never be forgiven. That much is true. But to generalize a whole community? To say cruel things about innocent people who haven’t committed horrifying heinous acts such as this? 

This leads to the idea that if one person is responsible for a cruel and cold-blooded act, everyone else who fits into the category of no legal status will be discriminated against. Disregarding their character, disregarding their emotions, disregarding the fact that at the end of the day these individuals who haven’t committed a crime, are still human and contribute heavily to this country. 

Here are four examples of just online spaces, specifically X, regarding this incident.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Alison Calderon-Lopez

Screenshots taken by

Pictures blurred due to graphic imagery

After the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States, there came a great worry to a targeted community: the ones impacted by the crime above. The ones at the center of this article. The undocumented immigrants of this country.

Right at the start of Donald Trump’s presidency, he vowed to implement the largest mass deportation operation in U.S history. An aide of Trump said that enforcement would begin the second he put “his hand on that Bible and takes the oath of office.” 

There are lots of hurdles to pass through when it comes to the implementation of these mass deportations. Most sources say that states would have to comply with these deportations for it to become totally possible for the removal of all undocumented immigrants, when there are around 11 million or more undocumented immigrants currently residing in the U.S. 

To bring this plan into fruition is costly, but also damaging to so many industries, which include construction, agriculture, and hospitality. Not only that, but undocumented immigrants provide immense amounts of money in taxes. This would significantly contribute to a strong impact on the economy.

The American Immigration Council found that mass deportations would decrease the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by 4.2 to 6.8 percent, due to the loss of workers across the U.S. industries from mass deportations. It would also result in significant reduction in tax revenues for the U.S government; while in 2022, undocumented immigrant households paid billions in federal, state, and local taxes. They also contributed $22.6 billion to Social Security and $5.7 billion to Medicare.

There are 4.7 million mixed-status households (a household in which there is at least one member who is undocumented and one member who is of legal status) and 1.1 million undocumented- only households. 

This should be a reminder of how many families will be separated if they get caught up in these mass deportations. Undocumented/documented immigrants range from all ages when held in detention camps. 

And no, Trump has no sympathy for the people he is deporting. These same people who are being deported are here for a variety of reasons, like sending money back to their families that live in their home countries, leaving their home countries due to violence or poverty, leaving to start new beginnings, or simply ensuring that their children have a better life– to make sure they don’t experience hardships and pains that they had to endure. 

Every single one of these people is a mother, a father, a daughter, a son, an aunt, an uncle, a co-worker, or even your friend. If you personally can’t relate to any of these people, just remember that someone does. 

That being said, for one bad person, there are plenty more good people. Yet this obvious idea has to be instilled into the minds and hearts of so many people who seem to hold all innocent people accountable for one person’s actions. 

The killing of Debra Kawam isn’t the only instance in which one person’s damage has reigned over the immigrant community. 

On Jan, 1, 2025, at approximately 3:15 am, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabber drove a pickup truck into a herd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. 

Fourteen people were killed and 35 people were left injured. 

Kareem Badawi, 23

Tiger Bech, 27

Drew Dauphin, 26 

Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux, 18

Billy DiMaio, 25 

Hubert Gauthreaux, 21 

Reggie Hunter, 37 

Terrence Kennedy, 37 

Nicole Perez, 27 

Latasha Polk, 47 

Edward Pettifer, 31

Brandon Taylor, 43

Matthew Tenedorio, 25 

Elliot Wilkinson, 40 

The attacker died in a shootout with police, after exiting the car and firing at officers. A black ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) flag was found on the truck’s rear bumper; which led the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to call this attack an act of terrorism. This assessment was later retracted by the FBI and disclosed as “a premeditated and evil act”(the FBI also determined that no one else was involved with the attack). A person with familiarity with the investigation advised CBS that at the time of the ongoing investigation, “neither ISIS nor any other foreign terror organization has claimed responsibility for the attack.” 

However, here are some examples of what was said about this incident on X:

Gallery • 4 Photos

Alison Calderon-Lopez

Screenshots taken by

Pictures blurred due to graphic imagery

Shamsud-Din Jabber is a U.S. citizen from Texas. He was a veteran who “served in the Army on active duty from 2006 to 2015 and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009.”

Regardless of his status being publicly accessible, there is a group of ignorant people who refuse to acknowledge that he is a citizen of the United States. Instead of recognizing this, they take out these racist frustrations and blame the Muslim and Arabic communities as an entirety. 

When people act on behalf of their anti-immigrant attitudes, it can drastically affect minorities who they deem as illegal and/or as dangerous. This causes fatalities to occur based on ignorance and lack of empathy. There are 3 prime examples that can be linked to the increase and uprising of anti-immigrant attitudes. 

Balbir Singh Sodhi was a Sikh American. He was found dead in the landscaping area of his store, where he was planning to plant flowers. Sodhi was mistaken for being Muslim and murdered on September 15th, 2001 by Frank Silva Roque, in retaliation for 9/11. 

Balbir Singh Sodhi became the first recorded hate crime that led to mass bias-induced incidents that targeted South Asians and Muslim communities. 

Over 700 incidents aimed towards Arab Americans, including several murders, were reported by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. 

The first detected case of Coronavirus was in China, December 2019. The virus spread quickly throughout the world. This outbreak was then announced as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. 

Throughout time immigrants have had the stigma of being unclean and diseased. Like when European Jews were blamed for the bubonic plague. Or how medical examinations were harsher on Chinese immigrants than on European immigrants when arriving at Angel Island. 

The crisis of COVID-19 brought out many of these historical similarities. A lot of the blame was put on China, with Donald Trump, others, and the media who began to refer to it as “Chinese virus” or “China virus”.

This allowed for the enablement of xenophobia and anti-immigrant attitudes worldwide, specifically towards the Chinese community receiving the most backlash.

Lastly, we have the Laken Riley Act, which was signed into law on Jan. 29.  

This law requires federal officials to detain any migrant arrested or charged with crimes like shoplifting or assault, and any crimes that kill or injure someone. While this doesn’t seem inherently unfair, the law also states that any undocumented immigrant accused of theft and or violent crimes will be detained without bail or release without conviction, stripping any granted constitutional rights that someone of legal status would otherwise have.

This act prevents the Secretary of State from permitting visas to citizens of countries that decline the return of deported nationals, hurting people who otherwise want to arrive legally.

The law was named for Laken Riley, a 22-year-old student at Augusta University College of Nursing, who was killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra while she was out on a run on Feb. 22, 2024. 

President Joe Biden was blamed for her death by Trump and other Republicans, due to Ibarra having been arrested for “illegal entry in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas.” The argument that if this Act had been the law of the land, Ibarro would have never had the opportunity to take her life, was used by Mike Collins, a Georgia Republican. 

A simple finger-pointing can cost an immigrant their safety, regardless of their status. 

An isolated encounter turned into the isolation and discrimination of immigrants, whether they are here legally or not. It further encourages xenophobic and anti-immigrant attitudes, all while exploiting personal and private tragedies between citizens and non-citizens, for the sake of promoting fear and nativist ideologies. 

But I have hope. 

I have hope that everyone who supports or contributes to these ideas can one day realize that we are all the same despite our external differences. We all have hearts that keep us alive, lungs that help us breathe, and brains that help us dictate whether we spread love or resentment with our mouths. We all matter. 

In the end, we are all human. The people of the immigrant community, whether undocumented or documented, earn the right to be given a chance, to be given the same decency as anyone else. The United States is a land built up of and by immigrants, and we should be proud to let it continue to do so.