Redefining Immigrant Greatness—From Exploitation to Reform
What makes a valued immigrant—credentials, or the ability to endure and build? Jerremy and Dave expose the realities of human trafficking and labor exploitation, challenge America’s fixation on credentials, and highlight stories of resilience such as Olga’s deep patriotism. This finale ties personal narratives to systemic reforms, asking how America can move beyond exploitation and paperwork toward dignity and thriving communities.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Greatness Redefined: Skills vs. Character
(09:51) Olga’s Story—Patriotism and Belonging
(12:16) Exposing Trafficking and Labor Exploitation
(15:40) Lessons Learned and the Next Fight Ahead
📢 Solving America’s Problems Podcast – Real Solutions For Real Issues
Transcript
Immigration’s heart isn’t numbers—it’s people.
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:From a Russian immigrant’s deep love
for America to the stark reality of
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:exploitation, these stories show what it
means to BUILD OUR immigration NATION.
4
:Dave: Who should immigrate?
5
:Who are we welcoming
into the United States?
6
:because I think this comes up in a lot
of our conversations the last few weeks.
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:Who?
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:And like when we talk to Melissa,
you know, her world is very
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:much about STEM businesses.
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:Like, these are developers, these
are scientists, these are people
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:who are good at math and these
companies, they need, the scientists
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:in order to do what they need to do.
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:So the companies are willing to
put up the money, put up the time,
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:energy in order to get those folks.
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:And we learned all about that when
Melissa, but then we also heard, well,
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:yeah, if you're a world class sales
guy, sales salesperson yeah, good luck.
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:Or if you're an incredible entrepreneur
from anywhere in the world, you're
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:not being treated special, right?
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:Even if best salesperson
happens to be Mexican, forget
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:it, they're stuck in Mexico.
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:And then you get people who immigrate
or are pushed into situations that are.
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:Kind of weird, you know, whether
it's having to basically get forced
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:into a marriage in order to stay,
or, vacationing in the United States
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:when you're nine months pregnant so
that your child can be born here.
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:You know, I think we also sort of index
to smart people and college graduates when
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:we need people who can, twist a wrench.
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:And, you know, we need build people to
build our builds and the incredible skill
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:and intelligence necessary in order to,
build anything in the United States.
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:None of that comes with a college degree.
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:And there aren't sadly, a lot of
Americans who even want those jobs.
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:And you know, those skilled
people are immigrants.
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:And I don't know about you.
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:I know a lot of smart people.
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:I have worked with a lot of smart people
in highly technical positions, some of
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:them immigrants, and they, they are,
we don't test for psychopaths, right?
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:You know, like if you are a crazy
son of a bitch, but you happen to
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:have an advanced degree in something,
you're welcome to the United States.
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:But if you are a world class
poet from someplace else,
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:good luck getting in the door.
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:So I think we overindex for certain things
and we say, oh, those must be good people.
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:And we completely under index for
things that we actually need and tie
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:it to jobs and like, okay, so who
should be coming to, the United States?
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:Jerremy: Well, let me
answer your question by
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:asking you a question.
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:How would you define great,
because that's my answer.
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:My answer would be, let's get great people
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:into this nation.
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:If you're gonna immigrate in
here, I want you to be great.
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:I don't want you to be a scum human being.
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:There are scum, human beings.
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:I haven't met a lot myself 'cause
that's just 'cause I have my perception
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:and the people I surround myself
with, but I want great people.
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:So how would you define
a great individual?
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:Dave: It's shown over and over again
that the people who are happy, the people
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:who on their deathbed say I did it.
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:Well, those people.
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:Over index for things like compassion.
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:They're social, they're curious,
they have a bit of a intelligence
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:about them, and they really care.
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:And with those qualities, they succeed
and the people around them succeed.
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:They tend to be a bit more family
oriented community oriented.
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:And those are the people who are not
only the happiest, they live the longest.
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:And that is success more
than anything else for me.
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:So bringing in a job producer that
has hundreds of millions of dollars
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:but is a crazy son of a bitch who
lays waste to everything around them.
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:Is worth very little to me than
somebody who has those other
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:qualities that I talked about.
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:The kindness, the compassion the social
aspects, because they bring more, like
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:the people around them are productive.
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:They are the job creators.
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:They are creating businesses,
they are creating community.
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:They are actually bringing
more to the United States.
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:So I think that greatness is about
those soft skills and those soft
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:skills where you look at that person
and you're like, I admire that person.
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:I see this in you all the time.
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:It's like, I admire you as a person
because you have those qualities
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:and great things happen around
you because of those qualities.
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:It's not because you're the smartest or
the richest or the craftiest or the one
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:who's willing to do whatever it takes.
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:You have the qualities that underpin
all of that that are more important.
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:So that's what I think is.
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:Jerremy: Thanks man.
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:So you're saying I'd be a good immigrant
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:Dave: What did you, what was the country?
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:What was the country you chose?
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:Was it wasn't Grenada?
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:Aruba.
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:Aruba?
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:Yeah.
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:Aruba will be lucky to have you.
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:Jerremy: Thanks man.
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:You, but to your point,
I like that answer.
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:Meaning.
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:Imagine if it was as simple as we took
someone who had a lot of wisdom, insight,
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:experience, call them someone that was,
let's just say you're 70 years old.
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:'Cause that's way too
old to be the president.
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:And you say to yourself, okay, since
you're 70 and you have all this wisdom
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:and age and experience and talent, let's
put you on the front lines of hire.
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:Going through an interview process
four hours a day for 80 minutes
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:per person to interview immigrants,
people who wanna come to this nation.
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:And you have this list of questions.
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:And at the end, you've got the job, didn't
get the job you have these people that
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:are trained and talented and awesome
and have care and compassion and can
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:actually listen to stories and judge
I think this person's a great person.
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:'Cause they have those certain qualities.
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:That's what a hiring manager at a job.
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:Of almost any company, they
have to talk to people crazy.
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:Like we have to actually learn who
this individual is because I do think
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:there are some characteristics, what
I said earlier about the physicality
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:of becoming an immigrant, was both a
little bit of a hyperbole, but at the
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:same time would be an actual legitimate
aspect of an interview process of are
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:you healthy or are you gonna come to the
US and be a ginormous burden physically?
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:we don't need any more
obese people in America.
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:We had a health podcast
discussion already, podcast,
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:and over 30% of the US is obese.
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:So there are Okay.
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:Certain levels there that's important.
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:Physicality, like mentally,
spiritually, emotionally.
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:How do you relate to people?
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:What is your general charisma,
kindness, thought process.
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:Do you smile?
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:Do you like other human beings?
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:Do you provide good energy?
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:Are you nice?
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:Do you understand the complexities
of human interaction, like shaking
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:hands and smiling and giving me eye
contact and being a great human being?
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:I think there's plenty of people
that would mind taking that
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:job or that volunteer position,
because that's really the answer.
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:It can be that easy.
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:Let me interview and pass or fail.
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:Do you smell terribly?
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:Are you just unkempt and
mean, and angry and terrible?
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:It's okay, if that person's a genius
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:and they're gonna invent the next
incredible invention, let 'em do it in
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:their home country, because we probably,
as US citizens, don't necessarily want a
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:lot more horrifically, angry, frustrated,
terrible people that are running things.
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:I just think that ultimately, it should be
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:easy or it should still be something
where there is a level of component.
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:And if someone takes the time, energy,
and diligence to, I think you mentioned
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:be an incredible world renowned poet
and they came to a job interview and
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:they said, what's your number one skill?
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:Or like why would you be here?
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:What value do you provide to this
country, company in this example?
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:And they just recited for 17
minutes this beautiful poem.
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:Are they gonna get hired?
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:Probably like that's gonna be
relatively impressive to somebody.
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:And if it's not at that exact job,
maybe that person who's hiring
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:is oh wow, you're not fit for the
front desk at human resources.
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:Like you need to be the copywriter.
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:You need to be in the language
department for this company.
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:And so I think that ultimately is
like, yeah, everyone doesn't have to
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:fit into for everything, of course.
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:But for the people, who
should be in this country,
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:great people.
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:That's who should be here.
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:People that are gonna add incredible
value, who are gonna do great things,
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:who are gonna care, who are gonna
be kind, who can be compassionate,
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:who are gonna do their best to be
an amazing, loyal, caring citizen.
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:And if the time comes, if
it ever needed to happen,
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:Got invaded,
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:would you fight for it?
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:And I think that's a realization
that, listen, I know some people
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:will or will not because of some
reason or rationale, but most people
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:who would consider themselves an
American would go, yeah, if it, I'm
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:not saying put me on the front line.
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:I'm saying if this country got
invaded and we had to, would
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:Dave: How beautiful was that when
Olga said, like she knew she was an
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:American when, at nine 11, she was
like, I would die for this country.
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:And I'm like, oh my
God, I just got chills.
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:Jerremy: Man.
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:Me too, dude.
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:That's patriotism.
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:And you know what frustrates me?
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:I'm a rampage tyrant today.
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:This I feel, and maybe this is
my newsfeed, maybe it's my media,
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:I'm not sure, but people demonize
patriotism and because they think it's
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:one
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:Dave: Who's doing that?
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:That's ugh.
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:Jerremy: and they go, only hard-nosed
Republicans can be patriotic.
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:No, exactly.
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:I agree.
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:I'm like, what?
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:We're like, what?
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:What are you talking about?
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:And I think if someone wears a
ginormous American flag shirt and
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:American flag pants, I did three or
four polls on this on my Twitter.
188
:The majority of people say, or at least
the people that voted for it, right?
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:They say that they would view
that person as a Republican first.
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:There's that flag, baby.
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:There's that flag.
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:And so it's just man, I don't think that
needs to be the case, nor should it be.
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:It's like being a patriot of
this country just simply says,
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:you know exactly where you live.
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:You know exactly why you live here.
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:As much as I love Aruba and I would
immigrate there, I ain't got a rubian flag
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:anywhere in my house that we
live here and left, right middle
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:center, far either direction.
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:Be an amazing human being, be an
amazing citizen, be an incredible
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:advocate for this country.
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:That is what makes patriotism
in any country exciting.
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:And we all should have a degree
of that, and that needs to
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:certainly be a very important
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:component
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:Dave: Yeah.
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:whoever is demonizing patriotism.
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:I think that got wrapped up in the
hole, woke in the last few years.
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:That is a dying thing.
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:I have definitely seen a lot more
leadership on the left side saying,
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:Hey, no, patriotism is amazing.
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:I spend some time in Turkey and
everybody has a Turkish flag.
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:They're wearing Turkish,
shirts and it's a cool flag.
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:people just love it and
they're proud to be Turkish.
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:it's infectious.
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:we did lose that, but
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:I don't think it was real, I think it was
just something else to make people crazy.
217
:I think it was right coded for
a while, but so was working out,
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:Jerremy: valid.
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:Dave: it was like, oh,
must be a Republican.
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:No.
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:Yeah.
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:It's no.
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
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:Dave: I don't know how we landed on
this side of it, but I still have this.
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:When we label somebody illegal
and when we have illegal ness
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:as far as this immigration thing
goes, we create another class.
227
:We create effectively like economic
slave labor that have, no protections
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:that can be manipulated by fear.
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:And we also create, as far as anybody is
measuring the largest human trafficking,
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:anything on the planet that is only
making some of the worst people on
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:the planet, filthy rich, and leaving
people in these uncertain situations
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:or in, human trafficking situations.
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:Drugs and prostitution, like the worst
things in the United States are tied
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:around this economy of human trafficking.
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:I don't know, man that's gotta,
all of that's gotta stop.
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:You know, like all of it, we have
to make it so it is economically
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:not viable at all to traffic another
human being into the United States.
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:Have them work here for nothing, have them
work in prostitution or like, all of it,
239
:It's just, it's gotta
stop, like all of it.
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:Alright, that was my rant.
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:I don't know.
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:Jerremy: Oh yeah.
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:No, I love, I love your
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:Dave: did we say, oh, this is how,
like I, Melissa changed me completely
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:to be like, ah, let's not focus on the
illegal at all and let's focus on all
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:the business and economic prosperity
and making sure that people can come
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:here and work safely and legally.
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:Wouldn't that get rid of the
illegal aspect of this completely
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
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:Dave: temporary work visas
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:Jerremy: And I think if we spend more
time, energy, and focus on that portion
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:of it to your realization that I think
most people will not have listened
253
:to Dave, is that where they're like,
they don't even think about, oh wow.
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:Companies can traffic
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:humans from different organizations,
from different countries.
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:They're here legally, and then
we induce them into slave labor.
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:Dave: Yeah.
258
:Jerremy: For a
259
:long time like that happens
way more often than it should.
260
:And that should be an
incredibly horrific fine.
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:And I say fine, like penalty, right?
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:You're going to prison for a very
long time if you're getting caught
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:and doing something like that.
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:'cause it's a human life.
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:And I think the more we just realize
to your aspect of having the ability
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:to work and then doing it legally
versus illegally and piecing all the
267
:past work together, that is keep people
safe, make it, like you said, non
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:economically viable for that to happen.
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:For anything to even be created
illegally with illegal labor, slave
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:labor, traffic, labor, all that
should be really looked down upon.
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:And that is absolutely
something that's just not.
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:Really openly talked about at any
high level of American government,
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:and I don't necessarily think that
this is the time to theorize as to why
274
:that is, but that is something that's
really very un openly talked about.
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:Dave: Boo
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
277
:Big boo.
278
:I agree.
279
:But I like how you said that Melissa
280
:changed you, meaning I think both of
us had some fun tweaks and adjustments
281
:and this whole evolution of this
podcast, because that's the reason
282
:that we're doing this for so long.
283
:I want our listeners to know that
is I personally need to learn more
284
:and spend more time and energy
to just really uncover topics so
285
:that I can have not my media fed.
286
:Boilerplate closed perspectives that
just got fed to me that I never explored.
287
:But to hear different opinions, hear
different points, look back at them.
288
:Dave does an incredible job at taking
AI to distill a lot of information
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:and to piece a lot of this information
together and really show us what
290
:we're talking about visually and
lyrically, and literally put it on a
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:page so that we can understand what
we discuss, how we discussed, at what
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:points were made, why they were made,
and what we're gonna do about it.
293
:And I think that's really cool that this
entire series did give us tweaks for sure.
294
:Both of us adjustments on,
Hey, think about this way.
295
:Consider not only that
opinion, but this opinion.
296
:And every single person that we
interviewed and discussed just really gave
297
:us a new, fresh perspective on the tiny
adjustments that we can not only make now,
298
:Dave: It's a, through this series
I knew coming into this, it would
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:be very, it's a hot topic, right?
300
:And at the end of this series, you know,
like all of that energy is out of me.
301
:And is very, very frustrated with the
political class where it should be, right?
302
:Like that's the responsibility of the,
is at the people who have abdicated
303
:doing anything about this for 50 years.
304
:And Americans not really paying attention
to it or being, you know, made crazy
305
:about, well, it's illegal immigrants
and they are taken away from you.
306
:Like, that's a, a dividing line.
307
:I'll give you some inside baseball here.
308
:I actually should pro I, I'll run
this by her, but Melissa's episode
309
:for all of our listeners here.
310
:For everybody we interview we send
out early, early cuts to anybody we
311
:interview and we're like, Hey, here it is.
312
:Great interview.
313
:You know, like, if you need any
changes or updates, just let us know.
314
:And by and large, it comes back
with a thumbs up and out it goes.
315
:Other than like a CEO that comes
back and says, Hey, you know, I
316
:dropped like way too many F-bombs.
317
:Can you cut out like 10% of my F-bombs?
318
:I'm like, yeah, sure, no problem.
319
:And then other than that we do, light
editing to make sure it sounds okay.
320
:But you know, like it's extremely rare.
321
:But with Melissa's episode, she
came back, you know, remember
322
:she's an immigration attorney.
323
:She came back and she said, Hey, this,
you know, this one section is, um.
324
:She was like, you know, like, you know
what I said was technically correct, and
325
:in the context of what you and I were
talking about, it was perfectly fine.
326
:And I think 99.99%
327
:of everybody that listens to it would've
been like, okay, yeah, no problem.
328
:Yeah, that makes sense.
329
:But you know, the 0.99%
330
:that is angry about this is going
to get angrier by this answer.
331
:And she was like, yeah, could
you do me a favor and like
332
:clip this And it wasn't much.
333
:We're talking 10 seconds, right?
334
:And we actually answered the question.
335
:I just took out, you know, a few
sentences and then I had to take a
336
:little bit extra out because you sounded
337
:stupid.
338
:Jerremy: It was like literally
339
:two
340
:Dave: and it was totally innocuous.
341
:I don't think she would mind me saying
it was really around our discussion of
342
:businesses firing Americans, but opening
up a bunch of visas, To hire foreigners.
343
:And what we learned there
well that's not the case.
344
:Like these companies actually are big and
where they're hiring and where they're
345
:firing are in totally different areas.
346
:And mind you, businesses have to
spend a lot of money on this process.
347
:Often the immigrant is actually being
paid more than the American because
348
:of this stupid table that the US
government puts together on, salaries.
349
:And the companies come back and it's
like, I cannot pay, an immigrant,
350
:a hundred thousand dollars extra
than my American counterpart.
351
:She goes, well, that's what it is.
352
:And it was in that world, right?
353
:And we were talking about it, the
three of us were like, we get it.
354
:But there just a couple of
sentences in there that were like,
355
:oh, that could piss somebody off.
356
:And she was like, Nope.
357
:Out.
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:And I'm like, no problem.
359
:And that comes back to, I think
people listening to this whole
360
:arc of us, I'm hoping that the one
thing that they take from it is
361
:that this is not an angry issue.
362
:This is not an us versus them.
363
:This is about America.
364
:You wanna be angry at somebody, whoever
you voted for, be angry at them because
365
:they have abdicated all of this.
366
:That's what I want people to be angry at.
367
:Jerremy: I like that ultimately
it's gonna be a policy situation
368
:and who you voted for or even
better, who you did not vote for.
369
:Be angry at somebody in this
environment that actually has the
370
:ability to create that change.
371
:And not only be angry, but
give 'em some solutions.
372
:And those solutions can be coming
on podcasts just like this one.
373
:Having open conversations,
give ideas, right?
374
:Come up and sit down
with what should we do?
375
:Why could we do it?
376
:Where could we do it?
377
:How could we do it?
378
:Make adjustments, make tweaks,
make alterations, give thoughts to
379
:really creating integral changes.
380
:That's.
381
:I feel we did a great job at, during this
during this briefing, during this entire
382
:series, is just having a way to create
potentially policy centric reframing,
383
:Making systematic or systemic fixes and
tweaks and adjustments that allow for some
384
:radical changes in the Immigration Nation.
385
:Yeah.
386
:Dave,
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:What are we talking about
388
:next?
389
:What's on the docket for our
390
:listeners?
391
:Dave: voting, voting,
392
:Jerremy: what do you mean voting,
393
:We gotta vote.
394
:Like how
395
:can we possibly
396
:talk
397
:Dave: solving America's
problems is voting.
398
:This can go like a lot
of different directions.
399
:There's so
400
:much.
401
:Jerremy: tons.
402
:You got my tweet, right?
403
:I I, yeah,
404
:Dave: I think
405
:Jerremy: I did send him a voice memo.
406
:I'm like, Hey man, can
you come on my show?
407
:So we'll see if it's a yes or no, but
for our listeners there was someone
408
:who was very political, who talked
about, we, how they should update or
409
:how we could update the voting process.
410
:And dude got so much hate mail for
just wanting the idea, the simple
411
:thought that we should make voting
easier and people are hating on this.
412
:And that just blew me away.
413
:A pretty intricate stance
414
:on voting.
415
:So I want every single one of our
listeners to tune in very closely into
416
:our next series, because I can assure you
this will be one of my most passionate
417
:topics
418
:Dave: that.
419
:That's incredible.
420
:I.
421
:I'm totally stoked about this one.
422
:I'm putting together
the research on it now.
423
:You know, like we start all
of these with a research and
424
:I'm like, man, it's bonkers.
425
:Voting is bonkers.
426
:I think we did it again my friend.
427
:It's also a little Easter egg in
the show notes for Olga and Vena.
428
:So I'm gonna prompt our listeners
to look at the show notes.
429
:There is something very
special hidden in there.
430
:I'll give you a little hint.
431
:Olga talked about an amazing cookie.
432
:There might be a little recipe
snuck into the show notes for
433
:Jerremy: Easter Egg, if you like
434
:cookies.
435
:Dave: Much better than whatever the.
436
:Mayonnaise drenched stuff
you were talking about.
437
:Ugh.
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:But yes, next up on
solving America's problems.
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:Probably fewer cookies,
but a lot more on voting.
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:Alright my friend.
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:Wrap us up.
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:Jerremy: Friends and family
team and fans, Americans of
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:all shapes, sizes, and colors.
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:Thank you for being here.
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:Thank you for listening.
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:This is solving America's problems.
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:We will continue to solve problems and
continue to have incredible conversations
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:with remarkable people just like yourself.
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:But we need your help.
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:Share this episode and any other
episode that you feel called to share.
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:Give us a five star review.
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:If you feel we have deserved it and
we have brought high quality, high
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:produced content, give us love.
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:Follow us on X, follow us on Instagram.
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:You know where to track us down.
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:We look forward to not only hearing from
you, but continue to solve your problems.
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:Continue to hear your voices.
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:Put great people in great places,
and solve America's problems.
