Dear President Trump,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing not as a politician or an economist, but as someone who has spent a lot of time observing the world and thinking about how we live within it.

For years now, our government has devoted enormous energy and resources to enforcing immigration policies that many experts and ordinary Americans alike find deeply troubling. Under your administration, federal immigration enforcement agencies have expanded operations across dozens of U.S. cities, detaining tens of thousands of people, including many with no criminal history, and resulting in tragic incidents like the death of a U.S. citizen during an ICE operation in Minnesota.

These policies have sparked outrage from civil liberties advocates, state officials, and everyday families who see neighbors and loved ones treated not as humans in need of safety or opportunity, but as political targets.

Our political discourse is consumed by questions of who should be allowed into this country or who should be sent out or blocked at the border. Yet there are far more urgent crises that go under‑addressed: housing affordability, access to healthcare, climate instability, chronic underinvestment in education and infrastructure, economic inequality, and more.

I wonder: if so much of our national attention, money, and political will were instead directed toward creative solutions that build up communities rather than break them down, how different might our world be?

I believe the fixation on punitive enforcement and the obsession with borders or wealth accumulation distracts from the things that matter most to everyday people.

I’m not naïve about the challenges of governance. But I do believe we’ve reached a moment where we must ask deeper questions: Do governments exist primarily to control and restrict? Or to enrich and empower? Do we value money and power over dignity and wellbeing?

I ask you, President Trump, to consider a broader vision of leadership—one that does not measure success in detention numbers or enforcement statistics, but in the wellbeing and opportunity of every person who calls this country home.

Sincerely,

Melissa