When junior Lalee Ibssa thinks of immigration, her mind doesn’t jump to Donald Trump’s wall or that great Thai restaurant on Park Avenue —  she thinks of her mom. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Mafi Ibssa lived in a country being torn apart by military coups vying for power, and her friends and family were casualties in the war. When her sister was captured by rebels, she knew Ethiopia would always be her homeland, but it could no longer be her home.

  Ibssa hired a border runner to escort her and her remaining siblings to safety, walking them across the desert until they reached Kenya. After being detained by Kenyan soldiers for a week, she was finally able to reach her own Promised Land, a country where there was no war or fear of the day to come, the United States of America. Ibssa came to New York City with just ten dollars in her pocket and a heart full of hope, a hope that her kids could one day have a better life than she did.

  “She tells me that if she can do all that, if she can come from Africa and be as successful as she is, I can be too,” Lalee Ibssa said. “There are so many opportunities in America, and you just need to use them.”

  Since the Paleolithic Age, individuals have moved from place to place looking for better, be it improved crops or safer habitats. Immigrants who come to the United States today relocate for the very same reasons: they want a better chance at life.

  “Central American migrants are just looking for a place to work,” Social Science teacher William Milsten said. “Back home, there’s no jobs… They send almost everything they make back home to their families.”

  Immigration has been a huge topic of debate among political parties for the past few decades, especially since in 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau found that first-generation immigrants account for 13.1% of the American population, almost 1 in 8 people.

  There are many people who speak negatively of migrants, claiming that these individuals contribute little to society. Nonetheless, the Economic Policy Institute found in 2012 that immigrants account for 14.7% of the United States’ economic output. Keeping in mind that 13.1% of Americans are immigrants, we see that their economic contributions are greater than their percentage of the population.

  Though there are benefits to embracing immigrants with open arms, this policy is often abused. A 2013 Pew Research Center survey found that there are currently 11.7 million unauthorized immigrants residing in the United States.

  However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. These illegal immigrants can be an asset to the American economy. Many are willing to do whatever it takes to stay in the U.S. and out of their home country.

  Our economy has become heavily dependent on illegal immigrants. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) stated that about half of the hired workers employed in U.S. crop agriculture were unauthorized. If any sort of Trump-esque deportation policy should take place, there would be drastic effects on consumer prices. In the milk industry alone, the USDA estimated that the elimination of the illegal immigrant labor force would cause dairy prices to increase by 61%.

  It’s evident that at this point, we need immigrants and they need us. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean they should be able to stay undocumented in the United States.

  “I am a big believer in creating some kind of work permit,” Milsten said. “It may take registration and ID’s and whatever it takes, but bring them up here. Make sure they’re being taken care of and protected. I don’t want to make the path to citizenship easy. I want to make it hard still, so that people who really want it, do it. But this idea of no status is silly to me.”

  We don’t need to deport every immigrant. We don’t need to displace 13.1% of our population. That would be economic suicide, seeing how dependent we have become on immigrant labor. What America needs to do is find a way to take care of the immigrants who only want a better life.

  But it’s not just people running toward a new future and new hope that migrate, it’s also people running from undesirable pasts.

  The Migration Policy Institute revealed that in 2012 alone, 87,000 refugees were resettled or granted asylum status in the United States, primarily from countries in Asia and Africa.

 These numbers seem impressive, but that’s only until you put them into perspective. Immigrant and refugee numbers are only increasing, especially in light of the current turmoil in the Middle East.

  The expansion of terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and the civil war in Syria has displaced millions of Syrian civilians. The LA Times stated that in the past five years, 4 million people have fled Syria.

  So, where have the refugees gone?

  About 1.9 million people have gone to Turkey and 1.1 million have fled to Lebanon. Yet as of late, Germany has stolen the show, pledging to accept 800,000 refugees in the coming year.

  Meanwhile, the United States lags behind in the global humanitarian efforts to help the Syrians. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war five years ago, the country has only accepted 1,500 refugees.

  It’s not that accepting refugees should be a competition between global powers, but if we allow European countries like Germany to shoulder the brunt of the refugee migration, we are going to see negative impacts on a global scale.

  A 2015 Al-Jazeera article estimated that if 800,000 refugees arrive in Germany this year, the annual cost will amount to $11 billion. The government will have to spend about $14,500 per refugee on food, healthcare and housing.

  The refugee crisis isn’t ending in any foreseeable future. If we continue to leave Germany alone on this accepting path, we will allow the EU’s economic hegemony to suffer economically. A weak Germany is a weak Europe, and a weak Europe equates to a struggling global market.

  The United States needs to step up to the plate, not only in terms of acknowledging its own reliance on both legal and illegal immigration, but also in accepting refugees. If global powers can share the responsibility of caring for refugees, they will be able to alleviate the economic costs these migrants may incur and enjoy the economic benefits immigrants create.

  Ibssa walked from Ethiopia to Kenya just so she could escape the horrors of her homeland. It’s about time we stop running away from our own immigration problems, and that we face them, head on, with understanding and sympathy.