The story of David Velasquez and the case for immigrants

A US Border Patrol agent along with a K9 canine agent search for migrants attempting to enter the US, at a checkpoint, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on June 27. Reuters

I first read about David Velasquez last month on his graduation day from Harvard Medical School.

In his cap and gown, he posted a loving tribute to his parents, who had fled war-torn Nicaragua, on X.

His parents arrived in America as asylum seekers. They spoke no English, had no money or friends and they crossed the US border at a gas station. They slept in a church, were often hungry, but were determined to work hard and prosper.

David’s mother worked as a cleaner for $2.25 an hour. They eventually found a shelter home, and David’s father, Calixto, did manual labour.

Despite the fact they could not afford money for diapers, the family raised four boys with strong values and work ethics. David would go on to become the first person in Harvard’s history to graduate with three degrees – from Harvard Medical school, Harvard Kennedy School for government and Harvard Business School.

Attending just one of these institutions is a major accomplishment given the acceptance rate to the Medical School hovers at around the 3.7 percentile of applicants. Getting degrees from all three elite schools is the stuff of dreams – or maybe the result of a first-generation immigrant's drive to succeed.

Given David's background – his Dad, Calixto, had a fifth-grade education when he left Nicaragua, and his three brothers went straight to work after high school – it’s even more remarkable.

When he was three years old, David’s pre-school teacher told his parents that he was a genius and that “He’s going to be someone important.” Education was essential but so were core values. The family raised all their sons “focused on character traits.” Even as a child, David’s mother said what was important was that he was kind. He brought home his school lunch because he knew his parents were hungry and gave it to them to eat.

Throughout his schooling in Los Angeles, David was surrounded by gangs and violence. He focused on maths, running and basketball. It led him to Harvard. “This journey isn’t about me,” David said, “I’m doing it for my community.”

I love the story of David Velazquez.

He could end up running for president of the US someday, and he should. But what I love most is that his story is a counter-propaganda torpedo to the right-wing parties that are sweeping across America and Europe.

These parties aim to stamp out the dreams of people like David.

This week, in my home country, France, Marine Le Pen’s far right party, Rassemblement National (National Rally or RN), which is founded on an anti-immigration stance, became the biggest political force in the country. At RN's core is a policy for “National Preference” or “National Priority”, which means that French citizens will be given priority for jobs, social welfare, and certain strategic jobs.

If they win in the second round of the elections for National Assembly, on July 7, then France – “a country of human rights and enlightenment”, in the words of one far-left assembly man – would transform into a far-right country where anti-immigration, racism and xenophobia would prevail. Even those with dual nationality, like me, would be questioned.

This isn’t just happening in France. The wave of anti-immigration sentiment is flourishing across Europe, but equally, across the Atlantic.

If Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November, which is beginning to seem more likely, the David Velasquezs of the world may not get the chance to thrive.

Leaked plans of sinister recommendations and policy plans, called “Project 2025”, being put together by a group of conservative US thinkers would mean the tools that gave David Velasquez his future will be reduced. This would start with a major reduction of federal financial support to students.

Targets would include the so-called Dreamers, who arrived as children to the US undocumented (under the policy Daca or “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals”) but later attended US schools and identify as American. The legal status of the 500,000 Dreamers could be “reassigned” and “reprocessed” causing delays in status expirations.

Many would be vulnerable to deportation. When I taught at two elite American institutions – Yale and Columbia – I had several Dreamers as students. Their determination, fierce work ethic, courage at tackling life that was so far removed from their comfort zone, touched me profoundly.

“My mother was a cleaning lady but fought to get me piano lessons.”

“I grew up in a trailer van but I knew I wanted to succeed.”

Nearly all of the people I knew with such stories went on to accomplish great things.

But if this wave of anti-immigration occurs, people like them will not be absorbed into society.

In the 1880s, my great-grandparents landed in the US, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, escaping political upheaval in their home in southern Italy. The had nine children. Their priorities in a new country without a language or friends, like the Velasquez, was to educate their children; buy property and start a business.

All their children went to university (except the eldest, my grandmother, who became a councilwoman in Newark, New Jersey after the Second World War), and most went to elite institutions such as Harvard Medical School, which were almost all closed to immigrants in those days.

The stories of my ancestors are a part of me. They shaped me and drove me to work harder and better. But my ancestors were not unusual. Most Americans are descendants of immigrants. And in America, in France, in Canada, in the UK, there are a myriad stories of hard-earned success. Immigrants created the fabric of modern society.

Last April, Donald Trump floated the idea of setting up “migrant detention camps,” testing the bounds of the judicial system, immigration law and civil rights. He and his allies already said they would have militarised mass deportations. To the former president, this is unfinished business from his last disastrous term. This time, Mr Trump wants to go big – he wants to go way beyond building a wall on the southern border.

“Americans can expect that immediately upon President Trump’s return to the Oval Office, he will restore all of his prior policies,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt in a statement, adding he would “implement brand new crackdowns that will send shock waves to all the world’s criminal smugglers, and marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation in American history”.

She added that undocumented immigrants “should not get comfortable because very soon they will be going home.”

I would counter Mr Trump’s team remarks by saying immigrants make an important contribution to US economy. They increase potential output by increasing the size of the labour force. They also contribute to increased productivity. This is explained in a statement from the White House about how immigrants boost innovation.

Economists Jennifer Hunt and Marjolaine Gauthier-Loiselle find that a 1 percentage point increase in the population share of immigrant college graduates increases US patents per capita by 9 per cent to 18 per cent.

I could find plenty more economic proof that counter narratives by Mr Trump, Ms Le Pen and the hoards of other right-wing leaders who want to close borders, about how important immigrants are for countries.

The best example I can give is David Velasquez, who today is a physician in Boston at a major hospital, healing people.

But he’s doing more than that. His journey is going to be a template and inspiration for others. And right now, he is fighting to make “the system work for marginalised people.”