A Shape Novel Experience
If We All Left
Imagine we all left.
Not just immigrants. Not just one group at a time. Imagine that everyone this country quietly files under "Other" stepped out of the frame at once. Immigrants. Black and brown workers. Queer and trans people. Disabled and neurodivergent folks. The women who keep being told to "lean in" to rooms that never truly open.
Imagine that one day we stopped showing up to work, to shop, to care for your family, to build your companies, to entertain you, to vote, to clean up the mess.
The next morning, America would wake up and find that the economy it thought it was "protecting" had gone with us.
The Moment of Absence
On paper, the damage starts with GDP tables. Here's what we know. Recent federal analysis of current immigration trends estimates that this wave will add about 8.9 trillion dollars to U.S. GDP between now and 2034 and reduce federal deficits by roughly 900 billion dollars. Remove immigrants from that picture, and you delete one of the only engines still pushing growth forward in an aging country.
Add what we already know about race and gender. A Citigroup analysis found that racial inequality has already cost the United States around 16 trillion dollars over the past 20 years. Closing those gaps now could add about 5 trillion dollars in just a few years. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that advancing women's equality could add roughly 12 trillion dollars to global GDP in the near term.
The International Labour Organization has described the cost of disability exclusion as "the price of exclusion," and estimates that leaving disabled people out of work can cost three to seven percent of GDP in some countries.
These losses are happening while we are still here, still trying to build inside a hostile system. If we truly all left, those numbers would no longer describe the gap between the world we have and the world we could have. They would describe the smaller, poorer baseline you chose.
Interactive: GDP Collapse Simulator
Drag the slider to see how much economic value is lost as you push more of us out of the frame.
Trillions of dollars in play
Potential inclusive growth baseline: ≈ $25.9T
Lost under current slider setting: -$0.00T
Remaining potential: ≈ $25.90T
Everyone is still here—for now. You're running on borrowed generosity.
The Collapse of Care
Beyond spreadsheets, start with care—the invisible infrastructure that holds everything together.
Immigrants and people of color—especially Black and Latina women—provide the hands-on care that keeps millions at home instead of in institutions.
Nursing homes would close wings. Home care agencies would turn away clients. Families would quit jobs to fill gaps—if they could.
Facilities already struggle to find staff. Remove immigrant and POC workers, and entire wings close. Some facilities shut down entirely.
Wings closing due to staffing shortages
It's not just aides. Nurses, physicians, therapists, lab techs—remove them, and your neighborhood clinic might not be there when you need it.
% of healthcare workers who are immigrants or POC
When care disappears, worlds shrink. For disabled people and aging parents, losing support means losing independence, safety, and dignity.
"As a disabled woman, I don't have to imagine what happens when the care system fails. I live with the knowledge that if my support disappears, my world shrinks fast."
Innovation Without Us
The United States calls itself the world's innovation engine. If we all left, that engine would stall.
Fortune 500 Origins
Almost half of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or children of immigrants.
Patent Innovation
Immigrants hold a disproportionate share of patents in these fields
The Inclusion Advantage
Based on 15 years of Corporate Equality Index data
The Innovation Engine
Scroll to see what happens when innovators leave
Innovation engine running strong
5 of 5 contributor groups powering innovation
"Take all of that talent out of the equation and the country doesn't just lose a few quirky startups. It loses the people who see around corners because they spent their lives navigating around barriers."
The U.S. says it wants to compete with the rest of the world. It's hard to compete when you've driven out the people who invent the future.
Everyday Life Unravels
Walk through an ordinary day in a country where we all left.Tap each scene to see what changes.
As you scroll, watch the community disappear
"Some people sell a fantasy in which driving 'Others' out will restore order. In reality, that kind of order looks a lot like emptiness."
An economy that loses its workforce, caregivers, innovators, and customers doesn't become more stable. It becomes more brittle.
Experience the Impact
Choose a perspective to see how "if we all left" would affect different lives
Life at the Top: A Quiet Implosion
The consequences don't hit everyone equally. For those at the top, the cracks take a little longer to show.
"For a little while, life at the top would look similar. The portfolio app would still open. The vacation house would still be there."
Tap each luxury to reveal the cracks
The Resort
Five-star service, every amenity
Tap to see the cracks...
Your Restaurant
Signature dishes, full staff
Tap to see the cracks...
Your Apps
Seamless, secure, improving
Tap to see the cracks...
Your Healthcare
Best doctors, quick access
Tap to see the cracks...
Your World
Expansive, connected, vibrant
Tap to see the cracks...
Your Customers
Diverse market, growing demand
Tap to see the cracks...
As you scroll, watch your world shrink
0 connections lost
Your world shrinks with every departure
"Every missing 'Other' is a missing worker, a missing customer, a missing entrepreneur, a missing artist, a missing neighbor."
You don't just lose labor. You lose demand, creativity, and meaning.
The Ask Beneath the Policies
So when you back policies and politicians whose entire platform is making life unlivable for people like me, understand what you are really asking for. You are not asking us to respect the law or restore order. You are asking us to disappear and somehow keep serving you at the same time.
If we all left, your world would still exist. It would also be smaller, lonelier, more fragile, and balanced on a foundation that no longer wants to hold you.
If We All Stayed
But we haven't left. We're still here. Still building. Still caring. Still creating.
The question isn't what happens if we leave. The question is: what world do we build together if we all stay?
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