At age 13, I found myself on a small boat, along with my brother, who was 11, and 10 other undocumented immigrants. Accompanied only by the darkness of the night and by the ferocious power of the Atlantic Ocean, we were crossing at midnight through one of the corners of the perilous waters of the Bermuda Triangle. Our goal was to reach the coast of Miami undetected by the US Coast Guard. We all thought that we were going to die. We were all praying, and crying, and imploring the Lord to help us stay alive. Almost 40 years later, my feelings during that ordeal are still vivid in my mind. I had not seen my parents for several years, and thus I was asking God for just 1 more second, so that I could see my parents again, and touch their faces, and feel their warmth and their love. In that moment, when I thought that I was going to die, I was not thinking about the opportunities that my parents had told us we would find in America, or about the prospect of a better life and a better education. I was just begging for the simple gift to be reunited with my parents, even if it was for just 1 second. Since then, I have learned to have a deeper appreciation for the gift of being together with my family. As such, it really tears at my heart when I see families ripped apart as a result of our current immigration policies.I am now a professor of cardiothoracic surgery for the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/North-well. I have had the incredible privilege and honor to attend some of the most prestigious universities in America, including Princeton, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But what qualifies me to write this article is something unrelated to my educational pedigree. You see, I actually know firsthand what it feels like to live in the shadows of American society as an undocumented immigrant. The fact is that behind the façade of a normal life, our days are filled with fear and the torment that someday we, or one of our loved ones, will be discovered by the immigration service and sent away from our family. I also know what it feels like to live away from your parents and the people that you love. I have witnessed my own family and many members of my community suffer these fears for many years.Just to be clear, we are talking about millions of hard-working, law-abiding, decent people who love this country, but are trapped in a legal battle to become permanent residents and do not see any hope or help available. This is in fact a human tragedy right in our own backyard, and it is one that can be resolved. I would propose a plan to enact legislation that would enable the law-abiding immigrant community to come out of the shadows and begin a process of legal residency in the United States, with an eventual path to full citizenship over a period of 5 years. The people that I am talking about are not criminals or rapists; they are hard-working people who are just looking for dignity and for an opportunity to be part of the American dream. This plan is the most compassionate and pragmatic way to solve this problem. It would not be the first time in our history that we have acted with compassion and empathy to solve or improve our immigration problems.When I was an undocumented student at Princeton University in the mid-1980s, I had the support of a Democratic senator, Bill Bradley; a Republican governor of New Jersey, Thomas Kean; and a Republican president, Ronald Reagan. At that time, there was a true, honest, bipartisan effort to come up with a plan for immigration reform and to try to do what felt most compassionate. Currently, I feel that the element of compassion is missing from our debate on immigration reform. We have almost forgotten that we are actually talking about humans and not about aliens from another planet. Many of our political leaders have embraced rhetoric of division and have promoted fear and anger toward immigrant communities in ways that are derogatory and divisive. Nonetheless, my love and respect for our country have not changed and will never change. I adore the United States and everything that it represents. We have the most balanced democratic system in the world. Furthermore, I still feel that this is the most compassionate country in the world. I have confidence that if most of the people who oppose a compassionate solution to immigration reform actually made a personal acquaintance at a human level with an undocumented family in America, their feelings would change. Imagine that instead of having a “day without an immigrant,” we had a day where all of us who are American citizens would reach out to an undocumented family and simply listen to their story.I feel that our discussions about immigration reform have been so polarized by extreme groups that we have lost touch with the people who are really being affected. I know, for example, that people who read my book, Undocumented: My Journey to Princeton and Harvard and Life as a Heart Surgeon,1 really start to think about immigration reform from another point of view. They truly begin to see the human side. They begin to see that we are not talking about criminals, or rapists, or terrorists. We are in fact talking about the people who labor with extreme devotion on our farms picking the fruits and vegetables that we eat every day, in the kitchens of the restaurants that we visit, cutting the lawns of our homes, helping many families with child care, and so on. Once most Americans really meet these people in a personal way, they will change how they feel about forcing them out of our country.So, what would I do if I could change the debate on immigration? The way I see it is very simple. It is very difficult to change how people feel concerning immigration by just talking about the facts and the data, especially now that we have been inundated with countless stories of false news. We know that for every point of information that someone on the left has about the beneficial impact of immigrants, someone on the right will have a different interpretation and then will passionately talk about a crime committed by a few undocumented immigrants or examples of how they may be stealing jobs from American citizens. I myself have been accused of having stolen a position at Princeton and at Harvard from a well-deserving American citizen. I have often been involved in such discussions with people who I know are good people. I get this. Nonetheless, this is a very important topic that affects all of us, especially all of us in health care delivery, and we need to have an honest discussion that examines all viewpoints. So when our politicians come together and discuss immigration reform, I would hope that they all make an effort to visit an undocumented family at their home and listen to them. If they cannot, I hope that they will read my book; this is an invitation into the life of undocumented families in America: our struggles, dreams, and desires. I know that if politicians did this, they would no longer fear undocumented immigrants, and they would make a greater effort to have an open mind and an open heart when they decide how to proceed with immigration reform.One of my current activities outside my hospital duties is reaching out to young immigrant students. Despite the rhetoric of hate and division, I still advise undocumented students to be patient and to keep on dreaming. In fact, I tell them to dream big! I tell them to use all their energy to become the best students they can possibly become. There are already several great universities that will accept you even as an undocumented student if they feel that you meet their requirements. I tell them to use all their feelings of despair to fuel their passion for more education. After all, I am a big believer in the concept that only through an education can you improve your chances of finding compassion and opening up the doors to better opportunities. This is in fact how the general immigrant community feels. They know that if they are productive members of our society, they will eventually be rewarded with compassionate and fair treatment from our society.My current clinical job is at the Northwell Health System, the largest health system in the state of New York. I am the chief of cardiothoracic surgery at South-side Hospital in Bay Shore and also the director of surgical heart failure for the system. We have made a conscious effort to bring state-of-the-art care to all the regions that we serve in our system, including the regions that have a high concentration of patients who are underinsured. Our system treats thousands of immigrant patients, both legal and undocumented. After the last election, many people in the Latino community felt marginalized by the inflammatory and divisive rhetoric initiated by our current president. Many were concerned about seeking medical assistance even if they were critically ill. Immigration reform will allow people to feel comfortable about seeking medical assistance. It will also allow people to go and see their doctors for both early diagnosis and preventive care. In the long term, immigration reform would save us hundreds of millions of dollars so that we can concentrate on preventing diseases rather than treating the ravaging consequences of long-standing diabetes and obesity, which have become so prevalent in our community.I honestly feel that on many levels, it is our moral and ethical obligation to support and demand a comprehensive plan for immigration reform. Because such reform will not be a simple undertaking and will take years to resolve, we have made a strong effort as a system to reach out and provide this community with some peace of mind by letting them know that our doors are open and that we will continue to treat everyone who needs help with respect, compassion, and human dignity.