The Stories We Carry: What America Risks Losing When It Loses Its Immigrants
A mental health counselor reflects on losing a valued immigrant colleague and what America stands to lose when it overlooks the contributions of immigrant professionals.
The Stories We Carry: What America Risks Losing When It Loses Its Immigrants
By Gerardine Pierre
Every day, we interact with people whose stories we know nothing about.
We see a therapist helping a client through grief. A nurse comforting a frightened patient. A teacher encouraging a struggling student. A social worker connecting families to vital resources.
What we often don't see are the years of sacrifice, uncertainty, resilience, and courage that brought those professionals to where they are today.
As a mental health counselor and the daughter of immigrant parents, I have learned that immigration is not just a political issue-it is a profoundly human one.
Too often, public conversations focus on legal status, paperwork, and policy while overlooking the people behind those documents. We debate immigration without acknowledging the professionals, caregivers, business owners, parents, neighbors, and community leaders who contribute to this country every single day.
Working in behavioral health has given me a front-row seat to those contributions.
A Colleague Whose Quiet Strength Left a Lasting Impression
Over the past year, I had the privilege of working alongside an experienced immigrant mental health professional whose quiet strength left a lasting impression on me. She rarely sought recognition. She simply showed up each day prepared to serve others.
Like many immigrants, she brought a wealth of professional experience, clinical expertise, and compassion to her work. Clients trusted her. Colleagues sought her guidance. She possessed a calming presence that cannot be taught in a classroom.
Yet I also witnessed moments that were difficult to ignore.
There were times when her ideas were dismissed before they were fully heard. People occasionally focused more on her accent than on the value of what she was saying. I watched someone with years of experience work twice as hard simply to receive the same level of respect.
Despite those experiences, she remained professional, gracious, and deeply committed to her clients.
As one of the few employees who shared a similar cultural background, we naturally found comfort in small conversations and words of encouragement. She became someone I deeply respected-not only for her clinical skills but also for her humility and resilience.
She also invested in me. During my own professional journey, she shared therapeutic insights, encouraged my growth, and even helped me prepare for my licensure examinations. Those conversations reminded me that mentorship often happens quietly, through generosity rather than titles.
Then, One Day, Everything Changed
I learned that because of changes affecting her work authorization, she would no longer be able to continue working.
There was no celebration recognizing her years of service. No opportunity for many of her clients to say goodbye. No chance for colleagues to properly thank someone who had poured so much of herself into others.
She simply disappeared from the workplace.
Her clients noticed.
Her colleagues noticed.
And I noticed.
What Do We Lose When We Lose People Like Her?
That experience forced me to ask a difficult question:
What do we lose when we lose people like her?
- We lose experienced professionals who have dedicated years to caring for others.
- We lose trusted mentors.
- We lose cultural understanding that helps bridge gaps between providers and the communities they serve.
- We lose compassion that cannot be measured on a résumé.
When we reduce a person to their immigration status, we risk overlooking everything they have already contributed to the communities they serve.
Immigration status may determine whether someone can legally work, but it does not measure their character, integrity, compassion, or the value of their contributions.
This Is Not About Politics
It is about humanity.
As mental health professionals, we often speak about empathy, belonging, and psychological safety. Those values should not stop at the therapy room door. They should shape how we see one another as neighbors, coworkers, and members of the same community.
America has always been strengthened by people willing to leave behind what was familiar in search of opportunity, safety, and hope. Immigrants have helped build businesses, hospitals, schools, universities, and healthcare systems. They care for our children, our aging parents, and our most vulnerable neighbors. They pay taxes, volunteer, innovate, and strengthen the communities they call home.
I know this not only because I witness it every day, but because I am living proof of it.
I am the daughter of immigrant parents whose sacrifices created opportunities my family might never have had otherwise. Their courage shaped my life, my education, my profession, and my purpose. Their story is one of millions that reminds us immigration is not simply about crossing borders-it is about creating futures.
Today, I have the privilege of serving individuals during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Every day, I am reminded that healing begins when people feel seen, heard, and valued.
That is why I believe our conversations about immigration must move beyond policy alone. We must also recognize the people behind the paperwork.
Behind Every Immigrant Is a Dream
Because behind every immigration case is a human being.
Behind every work authorization is someone serving a community.
Behind every accent is a story of resilience.
And behind every immigrant is a dream that deserves the opportunity to flourish.
If we truly want stronger communities, healthier workplaces, and a more compassionate society, we must begin by recognizing the humanity in one another.
Sometimes the greatest contributions are made quietly.
The question is whether we are paying attention before those voices disappear.
