PS: We're in an election year, and, of course, you're a huge proponent of immigration reform. Where do you hope to see us go with that in the next year?
DG: What we’ve been hearing so far is a lot of negative rhetoric surrounding immigration especially from some people who are running for the presidency. What I hope to see, despite all of that, knowing the kind of nation we are and can be, is unity. I hope to see that we condemn policies that separate families and destroy our community. I'd like to see deportation stopped. I'd like to see the executive action that President Obama put in place happen, but, of course, the courts are stopping it — it's such a sad thing when you see an immigration bill pass, and then once it gets to the House, it's stopped. And I certainly don't want to hear about this "let's build a wall and let's ramp up 11 million people and deport them." I don’t think that's very smart. I think we need to look at the numbers. We need to realize that immigrants make up a huge part of our economy and see how that is going to affect us in the long run. If we create a path for citizenship, people who are undocumented are going to be able to pay taxes and improve this country's economy.
Also, the visa system needs to be updated. I know it's hard, but, damn, it's important. And if we're talking about it in a national security standpoint, we need to update it. We had a few emergencies this year — we had Syrian refugees, Central American refugees — and we didn't know what to do. And this affects all of us. It affects citizens who are living in this country, who maybe haven't seen their families in years. What are you supposed to do when you’re in this country and you’re waiting 10 to 15 years to see your own child? And then you wonder why people are so desperate to get to each other. I'm not saying everybody gets to come in. No, I'm saying if we had a proper visa system maybe people wouldn't want to come and stay here forever because they're able to go back.
