The philosopher Byung-Chul Han begins what is perhaps his best-known work, The Burnout Society, by describing how immunological models can be used to describe social developments. 

“Xenophobia,” Mr. Han writes, “is a pathologically escalated immunoreaction that proves damaging to one’s own development.” 

In other words, xenophobia can stunt the growth of a nation, and the United States may become a prime example. Immigrants, especially in light of currently anemic American fertility rates, are like a blood transfusion for a dying country. 

Kim Kardashian gets it. Donald J. Trump does not. 

Since retaking office in January, Mr. Trump has sent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents throughout the country in search of undocumented immigrants. The ramped-up crackdown has led to a spike in deportations—more than 200,000 already this year. With net migration to the United States approaching zero and our already low birth rates, some surmise that the national population may shrink for the first time in its history. 

Mr. Trump, as he did on the campaign trail, focuses on immigrants who are violent criminals to justify a brutal strategy that includes ICE agents donning facial coverings and camping out in courthouses, waiting to apprehend immigrants who appear for hearings. 

But Ms. Kardashian sees through it. 

“In the news you hear, ‘Oh, it’s about people who have committed these crimes and [the administration] trying to help out our country.’ But then you hear about all of the people who have worked so hard to build our country, and so many people that are such a part of our country getting affected,” Ms. Kardashian recently told Variety. “People I know. People my friends know.”

Actually knowing undocumented immigrants makes stereotyping difficult. 

Growing up, it always bothered me when the media called undue attention to certain groups of Christians—like the Westboro Baptist Church, known for protesting against homosexuality at the funerals of fallen U.S. soldiers. I am a Christian, but not like that. Most of the people I know at my church are not like that either. 

And most immigrants who come to the United States—including those who come without proper documentation—are not dangerous criminals. They make this country better. I say that based on more than 20 years of reporting but also on personal experience. A few years ago, a family from Afghanistan moved next door to me. The father had served alongside the U.S. military and fled for his life once the Taliban retook control of the country. When I asked him how I could help, he simply said, “I just need a job.” 

“It’s really tough,” Ms. Kardashian said, “but I think that we have to do what we can to protect the people that have really supported and built our country.”

Some may ask why we, much less the president of the United States, should take policy advice from a reality-TV personality and mogul behind a billion-dollar beauty and shapewear empire. But Ms. Kardashian has successfully lobbied the White House before. During the first Trump administration, the star of “The Kardashians” helped win White House support for criminal justice reform (though Mr. Trump has since seemed to have backed away from the cause). She has also called international attention to the Armenian genocide, which the U.S. government had for years refused to acknowledge and which President Biden officially recognized in 2021.

With some 355 million followers on Instagram, and nearly 100 million more on X and TikTok, Ms. Kardashian has a platform—and is willing to use it to not only elevate her brand but to draw attention to the plight of migrants. (After six years of study, Ms. Kardashian has also recently completed a legal apprenticeship program and is on the cusp of passing the California state bar.)

Immigrants have been building this country for more than 200 years. Nevertheless, time and again, they have been met with anti-immigrant prejudice. Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles (who I used to work for) details some of this in his book Immigration and the Next America: Renewing the Soul of Our Nation.

“Old religious bigotries mixed with new fears that American civilization was being overrun by hordes of poor, depraved, and backward peoples,” he writes of the 19th century. “The nation’s most respected Protestant preachers took to their pulpits and to the newspapers to warn that Catholic immigrants were enemies of democracy and would never make trustworthy neighbors and citizens.” 

Some of those sentiments are similar to statements from the Trump administration. (“America is for Americans and Americans only,” Stephen Miller, the architect of Mr. Trump’s deportation crackdown, said at a campaign rally in 2024.) But according to a Gallup poll released in July, 79 percent of Americans see immigration as a good thing for the country. Ms. Kardashian is more in tune with her fellow Americans than the people now running the country are. 

“Growing up in LA, I’ve seen how deeply immigrants are woven into the fabric of this city. They are our neighbors, friends, classmates, coworkers, and family,” Ms. Kardashian said in June on Instagram, according to a report from Fox News. “No matter where you fall politically, it’s clear that our communities thrive because of the contributions of immigrants. We can’t turn a blind eye when fear and injustice keep people from living their lives freely and safely.” 

The Trump administration’s response was regrettably predictable. 

An official from the Department of Homeland Security posted photos of criminals detained by ICE on X, writing: “@KimKardashian, which one of these convicted child molesters, murderers, drug traffickers and rapists would you like to stay in the county?”

It is grotesque to use such individuals to represent the millions who have made their home in the United States. But once again, the Trump administration falls back on worst-case scenarios to justify an immigration policy that is not only contrary to Christian hospitality but is deeply un-American. My mother and I are immigrants. We are not violent criminals. 

Admittedly, as Pew reports, the United States received an unprecedented number of immigrants from 2020 to 2025: 11 million, including three million in 2023 alone. However tolerant the American people are of immigration in general, a sense of chaos at the border proved to be politically unsustainable. 

Given her influence, I hope Ms. Kardashian’s recent comments about our immigrant brothers and sisters help return attention to the immigration reform this country has needed for decades. At the very least, she has helped shine a light on the Trump administration’s false portrayals and cruel policies. 

Immigration reform will not come through false caricatures. God’s will does not come about through fear and deception. Immigrants are not destroying the United States, but in the long run, xenophobia might. 

J.D. Long García is a senior editor at America.