I came to the US legally. What we have now isn’t immigration — it’s chaos.

America has always been a nation of immigrants, and that legacy has been one of our greatest strengths. I know this because I lived it.

As a Lebanese-born American who came to this country legally, built a life through hard work, and now thrives as a venture capitalist and innovator in life sciences, I am living proof of what the American dream can deliver when immigration is done right. My family arrived through the proper channels, embraced the values, language, and culture of this country, and assimilated fully into the fabric of American society. That is how it should be.

The American dream is too precious to dilute. Let’s restore order, enforce the law, and keep it alive for generations to come.

For much of our history, controlled immigration brought talent, energy, and new ideas that fueled American growth and innovation. Waves of legal immigrants from Europe, Asia, and elsewhere contributed enormously while integrating into the American way of life. Immigration worked because it was lawful, deliberate, and tied to assimilation.

But something changed in the 2000s, and it has accelerated dramatically in recent years.

What we see today is an unprecedented surge of illegal immigration, arriving at a scale that overwhelms our systems and defies enforcement. This is not the merit-based, assimilable immigration that built America. It is mass unmanaged entry, often without the time, scale, or structure required for successful integration. The result is strain on communities, erosion of social cohesion, and enormous pressure on public resources.

Assimilation is not optional — it’s essential.

Successful immigrants learn English, respect our laws, adopt our civic values, and contribute positively over generations. When inflows are too rapid and lack incentives to assimilate, pockets of parallel societies form, weakening the national unity that has always been our glue. History shows that when we prioritize assimilation — through language requirements, civic education, and limits on scale — we succeed. When we don’t, division follows.

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This is not a moral indictment of individuals seeking opportunity. It is a condemnation of a broken system that rewards lawlessness and punishes those who follow the rules.

The economic damage is real, and it falls hardest on working Americans.

Illegal immigration represents a direct economic attack on America’s middle and lower classes. Illegal workers compete directly for jobs in construction, hospitality, agriculture, and service industries, driving down wages and displacing American citizens and legal residents who depend on those opportunities. Housing demand rises. Schools and hospitals become overcrowded. Social services are stretched thin, often while illegal workers pay little or no taxes.

The hardest hit are working-class Americans — the very people who built this country and deserve protection from unfair competition.

We are also told that our economy would collapse without this illegal labor. That claim is insulting hyperbole. Nevada, my home state, is resilient. Businesses can and will adapt by raising wages, investing in automation, or hiring legally through existing visa programs for workers who follow the rules and wait their turn.

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Legal, high-skilled immigration adds tremendous value through innovation, entrepreneurship, and productivity gains. We do not need to sacrifice our sovereignty or our workers to achieve growth.

It is time for bold action.

I support a clearly defined, temporary moratorium on most nonessential immigration categories to secure the border fully, enforce existing law, and remove those here illegally. This pause would give us breathing room to reform the system: prioritize high-skilled talent, enforce strict assimilation requirements, limit family-based chain migration that bypasses merit, and restore a steady, controlled immigration pipeline that benefits America first.

That’s stewardship, not cruelty.

America saved my life and gave me opportunities I could never have imagined. I owe this country everything — and that is why I demand that we fix immigration now, before the damage becomes irreversible.

The American dream is too precious to dilute. Let’s restore order, enforce the law, and keep it alive for generations to come.