Donald Trump’s presidency has brought along with its discussion of immigration and border security. U.S. citizens have seen Trump and his supporters defend strong interpretations of America’s immigration laws. One supporter, Tomi Lahren, a political commentator and former television host, has gained fame for her extremely conservative views on immigration but also for the hypocrisy that coincides with her beliefs.     

Lahren is known for her strong conservative opinions and often faces criticism for them. Last Saturday, Lahren was seen talking about immigrants and their unreadiness when coming to America during an interview.

“You don’t just come into this country with low skills, low education, not understanding the language and come into our country because someone says it makes them feel nice,” said Lahren. “That’s not what this country is based on.”

However, German journalist and genealogist Jennifer Mendelsohn exposed the immense hypocrisy of this statement after she gave facts about Lahren’s own ancestry.

“Mendelsohn tweeted that, according to the 1930 census, the political commentator’s great-great-great-grandmother had been living in the U.S. for 41 years and was still speaking German,” said Huffington Post. “Lahren’s great-great-grandmother spoke no English after living in the U.S. for a decade, and her great-grandfather’s 1884 baptism was recorded in Norwegian.”

This poses the question, why are people so opposed to immigration when immigrants are what started America?

Lahren’s political beliefs are very different from mine, and I respect most of what she says, but this is not one of them.

The “low skilled” immigrants that come to America are actually, according to weforum.org, “founders of companies such as Google, Intel, PayPal, eBay, and Yahoo! They account for over half of Silicon Valley start-ups and over half of patents, even though they make up less than 15 percent of the population.”

Lahren’s comments on immigration, to be blunt, are clear forms of deceit about the people looking for opportunity and freedom while coming to America. Immigrants have and will continue to be a part of what America is known for: diversity in culture, race and knowledge.