First, we care about immigrants because they are fellow human beings (learn more about who today’s immigrants are HERE). Beyond that, history demonstrates that when one group’s rights and humanity are denied, it isn’t long before governments seek to curtail the rights of other groups. Therefore, protecting the rights and dignity of immigrants serves to protect these same principles for everyone.
As historian Heather Cox Richardson notes, the Trump administration’s “incarceration and disappearing of undocumented migrants both creates an ‘other’ for Trump loyalists to hate and provides a warning of what could happen to the regime’s opponents.” While Trump has begun with immigrants, this should be seen as testing the water for denying rights to other groups. For example, Trump has floated the idea of deporting US citizens who commit crimes, has suggested that due process rights laid out in the Constitution do not apply to everyone, and has even indicated he might denaturalize citizens and revoke the citizenship of critics.
The crackdown on immigrants has potential consequences for everyone. Even American citizens, military veterans and their families, tourists, and those in the country legally are not safe.
All residents of Massachusetts will suffer from anti-immigration policies, which will particularly affect the economy and healthcare industry. Crackdowns on immigrants have the potential to cost the state between $2.5 & $3.7 billion in lost spending and more than $481 million in lost tax revenue according to research by Mark Williams, a Boston University School of Business master lecturer in finance. The size of the Massachusetts workforce, important to growing the economy, could shrink by 45,500 by 2026.
Massachusetts also relies heavily on immigrants in the healthcare industry. Twenty-five percent of healthcare workers are immigrants, and more than half of nursing assistants are also immigrants. Additionally, at least 46% of home health aides are foreign-born. Anti-immigration action at a time when a growing number of aging seniors need support at home threatens their well-being.
Photo by Dean Moses: Masked ICE agents arrest a man at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan on July 8, 2025.