According to 'fake' news sources, during the 2016 presidential election Hispanics made up about eleven percent of the electorate which was up ten percent from 2012. An estimated 58.9 million Hispanic people live in the United States comprising eighteen percent of the American population. Furthermore, one in seven U.S. residents is foreign born, including you, the reader. In 2018, over 106,147 asylum seeker applications were presented to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. With these kinds of statistical facts, it can be inferred immigration is certainly on the rise, especially those searching for a safe haven in the supposedly United States who come from countries of violence, persecution, and turmoil of their own. Immigration has always made America great bringing varied values while creating a true melting pot. And as the lyrics say in Lin Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton, 'immigrants, we get the job done.' Sure, you can point fingers and say I'm a millennial living at home with mom and dad and have no inclination of the outside real world or know the importance of a job, but as a privileged Irish American white male actor, I have witnessed time and time again these hard working immigrants 'getting the job done' at restaurant and customer service jobs to help support their own American dream of simple inclusion and sense of belonging. Jobs which no one truly likes to work. From dishwashers, to construction workers, to asylum seeking students, there is nothing these refugees will do to try to assimilate and make America their newfound home. Such themes were presented at Music Theatre Wichita's 2019 season closer In the Heights also written by Lin Manuel Miranda which ran from August 7th-11th at Century II Concert Hall.
