James Bowie, Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, and William Travis all left their home country and moved west to start over. Their fate helped shape what we know today as Texas. Both Presidents Bush, ages 41 and 43, were born in the Northeast but moved to Texas with the promise of a better tomorrow. Texas has long been a place of hope for immigrants of all ages, backgrounds, eras and creeds, and my family is no different. The free movement and welcoming of people and ideas have made our state and our nation the envy of the world. Unfortunately, instead of leading a discussion about how immigration policy can be improved to continue to strengthen our country and our economy, hyperbole and assumptions – not facts – have turned immigration into a crucial issue in this presidential race. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Republican candidate Donald Trump has supported the restriction of virtually every legal immigration path and the mass deportation of more than 15 million people in this country, including the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants. He says immigrants “steal” American jobs and threaten our country's national security. The American economy is too large to be fueled by Native Americans alone. Immigrants have long been important to the fabric of the United States because they contribute to our overall security, both economic and national. For example, Chinese entrepreneur Liang Ge earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University. His company, Acoustic Shield, has developed a life-saving sensor that can detect gunshots in public spaces. It notifies first responders in milliseconds, compared to current technology, which can take up to 15 minutes. The result is faster response times. Liang is helping keep American communities safe. Also consider Austin-based entrepreneur Mohit Tiwari. Mohit came to the United States in 2005 to study for his Ph.D. in computer science. He currently works as an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin while developing a data security startup that adds critical security protections to developers' applications. It is thanks to entrepreneurs like Mohit that we will be prepared to meet the security challenges of the 21st century. Liang and Mohit are certainly not the only transplants who have contributed to our overall safety. Since Caribbean-born Alexander Hamilton immigrated to the United States in the 1700s, our economy has been fueled by new ideas and innovations from both documented and undocumented immigrants. Instead of deporting the millions of children, women, and men who help make America safer and stronger, we should focus our removal efforts on serious threats. Creating a blanket policy of mass deportation would be disastrous for all immigrants, regardless of legal status. It would hinder community policing efforts by creating mistrust between police officers and immigrant communities. Enforcement efforts would strain our resources and send us into a spiral of deeper debt. Most importantly, our efforts would be misguided, especially since immigrants are less likely than native-born Americans to commit violent crimes. Those who do are in the minority and should be deported – and common-sense immigration reform would achieve this goal. Alternatively, a path to legal status for..