Look, I get the instinct to take care of your own first. It feels natural, like tribalism from our evolutionary past. But that instinct is exactly what we need to push past. Prioritizing citizens over legal immigrants creates a two-tier system that hurts everyone. When you treat immigrants as second-class, you breed resentment and division. That weakens social cohesion, which evolution shows is critical for group survival. We're hardwired to cooperate with our in-group, but today's in-group has to be bigger than just birthright. Legal immigrants pay taxes, start businesses, and contribute. Making them wait for basic services just creates a resentful underclass. It's not practical either. Our economy depends on immigrant labor in healthcare, tech, and farming. Slowing that down hurts citizens too. We're all in this together, whether we like it or not.

Picture a town where the water supply runs low. The citizens-only crowd wants to cut off the immigrants first. But what if those immigrants are the ones fixing the pipes and running the treatment plant? That's the flaw in this whole priority thing. I get why people want to look after their own first. Our brains evolved to trust the familiar tribe. But that tribal instinct is outdated when we're talking about legal immigrants who are fully part of the system. They're not outsiders. They're contributing members. When you create a hierarchy where citizens always come first, you're basically telling immigrants they're second-class no matter how much they give. That's a recipe for resentment, not cooperation. And evolution shows that groups that cooperate well outcompete groups that don't. Plus, it's bad economics. Immigrants fill critical gaps. Slowing their access hurts everyone, citizens included.

Here's a surprising fact: studies show that immigrants are actually more likely to start businesses than native-born citizens. About 25% of new businesses in the US are founded by immigrants, despite them being only 13% of the population. So when you say we should prioritize citizens first, you're literally suggesting we deprioritize the people driving innovation and job creation. That hurts citizens too. I hear you saying we should treat both groups equally in most areas. But the problem is that "prioritize citizens first" always ends up meaning immigrants get the leftovers. We've seen this play out with healthcare access, housing assistance, and education. Our tribal instincts make us want to protect our in-group. But legal immigrants are part of our in-group now. They chose us. They pay into the system. Treating them as second-class just creates the kind of internal friction that evolution shows destroys group cohesion.