Given the recent drama about immigration, I wished to present a number of facts that I hope will better inform people of the reality of immigration from a number of aspects.

I am a legal immigrant who moved with my family from Malta to the United States in 2002. Our intention was to return to Malta after the three-year contract expired.

However, after experiencing the sincere generosity and intrinsic spirituality of Americans we decided to begin the procedure toward permanent residence.

From a J1 visa, we proceeded to an H1 visa (which also is temporary, but is called dual intent — meaning it can lead to permanent residence) and permanent residence applications — the green card. With the green card we were then able to apply for American citizenship, which we were granted in 2013.

There area some facts from our own situation that I want every reader to consider before senselessly arguing in one direction or another:

¯ The whole process took more than 10 years and cost us more than $25,000 in lawyer fees, government forms, etc. While on the temporary visa, with a PhD, my annual gross salary was $23,000, and as an alien for taxation purposes I was taxed at 35 percent and an additional $40 a month. At the end of the financial year, I would receive a bill from the IRS for more than $2,000. Additionally, I could not claim any dependents, not even my American-born son. Furthermore, if I committed a crime, my family and I would be deported within a two-week period.

¯ When we first applied for the green card, we applied under the Outstanding Researcher Visa (EB-1B Visa), which required 15 international recommendations. The application was denied unlawfully (according to the lawyer) despite following all instructions. After appealing the decision and being denied again, we then applied under the labor certification process and, following an arduous process, were, thankfully, awarded the green card. After fulfilling the residency requirement, we finally applied for citizenship.

To those advocating unbridled immigration: Where is the justice of handing out citizenship, voting rights and driver’s licenses to those who broke the law coming into the country when a legal immigrant can do none of these without a significant sacrifice?

Moving onto the bigger picture of immigration, I now address, what the liberal media calls a Muslim ban, or more correctly, the executive order “Protecting the nation from Foreign Terrorist entry into the United States” (www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/02/01/2017-02281/protecting-the-nation-from-foreign-terrorist-entry-into-the-united-states.

Let us look at the facts:

The temporary ban affects seven countries (Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen). There are 50 Muslim majority countries (www.pewforum.org/2009/10/07/mapping-the-global-muslim-population).

This amounts to only 14 percent of the Muslim majority countries, and about 13 percent of the total Muslim population of the world (0.2 billion out of 1.57 billion). So how is this a Muslim ban?

A final piece of advice to non-immigrant Americans: Do not lose your generosity, but do not lose your common sense, nor give away your security or even the pride in your own nation.

(Sammut is an associate professor of psychology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.)