"What is America? It is a collection of immigrants jawaan baytah (youthful son), coming together to rise and succeed. It takes an extraordinary person to take the risk of crossing borders from everything they knew and held dear to come to a new world. Americans are made extraordinary not by those who are born here, but by those who come here. We must protect their sense of belonging and welcome in our society."

 -Dad

My father came here as a student 32 years ago as a young man with no clue how to make it in a country whose culture and idioms he had not concept of. He raised two children with disabilities without proper nouns in his native tongue, founded two successful companies, put a roof over the heads of countless relatives in addition to our immediate family, and survived the economic crash of 08 by being a man of courage of conviction. He brought the best of his culture--honor, humility, gumption, undeterred conviction to America, and gave jobs to Americans and his fellow New Americans alike.

The Maryland Trust Act makes sure that immigrants like my father feel secure while living that their extraordinary lives as people who bravely chose a new life in a new world. New Americans built Maryland, and are taking us all with them to higher heights every single day. I urge Senators Bobby Zirkin and Jim Brochin of Baltimore County to look beyond the bogeyman that Larry Hogan and Donald Trump have caracatured our immigrant communities as, and vote with their hearts in favor of the Trust Act as a moral statement of who we are as Marylanders. I urge you both to consider the plight of thousands of Marylanders who braved unimaginable challenges to come to our emerald state's shores for a chance at a better life, and are now living in fear merely because of the color of their passports. Please, pass the Maryland Trust Act.