The first President of the United States George Washington in a letter addressed to the ‘Members of the volunteer Associations & other Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Ireland’ in 1783 said:
‘The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall wellcome [sic] to a participation of all our rights and previleges [sic].’
The United States of America, more than any country in modern times, has provided a home to immigrants seeking a better life, who in turn, shaped and reshaped the nation demographically, economically, culturally, socially, and politically over the centuries. Immigration has been, and still, is a pillar of the fabric of America. Indeed, almost every American, regardless of bloodline—with the exception of those descended from Native peoples or enslaved Africans—can trace at least part of his or her ancestry to an immigrant.
Immigration, however, has become one of the most malefic socio-political issues the past couple of decades. Given the recent overwhelming influx of illegal immigrants from the U.S.-Mexico border, a number of Americans have come to view immigration as a plague, so much so that they think the new arrivals are ‘invading’ the American homeland.
The Current Polemical Situation
The current anti-immigration sentiment is in part incited by the slanderous hyperbole of certain Republican politicians, leading many to believe that all immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood of our country’. Subsequently, hardliners, i.e., proponents of stronger border enforcement argue that immigration causes uncontrollable issues, like overcrowding, congestion, and extra pressure on public services, as well as downward pressure on wages for working-class families that are already having a tough time in a high-cost and inflationary environment. While this is not altogether accurate, it is not necessarily false.
A sudden sharp rise in crime in parts of Central and South America, combined with the strong U.S. economy, furnished the conditions for the recent surge in immigration. Figures estimate that there are about 11 million undocumented migrants in the U.S. for which sanctuary cities are no longer able assist them. In New York City, for example, so many hotel rooms have been taken up by migrants that it has created a historic shortage of tourist lodging—those less fortunate have been forced to sleep on the streets. To add fuel to the fire, more than 130,000 immigrants convicted of homicide—either in the U.S. or abroad—are living freely in the U.S., outside of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention. One can logically comprehend Americans’ ire, especially with elected officials whose partisan wedge has kept them from resolving the situation.
All things considered, without immigrants the U.S. would not survive economically, nor would it be able to compete with the other world powers, like communist China and the Russian Federation.
Immigration: A Vital Force for the Economy
The bedrock of any equitable economy is employment, which in turn requires a sizeable population. For this reason the U.S. needs foreigners more than ever because the fertility rate is collapsing—Americans are not having children as they used to during the baby boom era. Consequently, there are less and less American citizens in the labor force—the same can be said of Europe, China, and Russia.
Indeed, financial experts sustain that in the absence of foreign-born labor, the U.S. talent pool will continue to decline because of lower birth rates with an accompanying aging workforce of Baby Boomers looking to retire. From 2024 through 2027, 4.1 million Americans will reach the age of 65 each year. The current trend will make it harder to finance social programs, like Social Security.
There mere fact that employees have been quitting their jobs at high rates, and that many millennials refuse to take on blue collar jobs because they believe they are demeaning, makes matters worse. According to a 2021 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), nearly a quarter of workers ages 20 to 34 were not considered part of the U.S. workforce. This amounted to about 14 million Americans who were neither working nor looking for work.
The Success of Immigrants in the Labor Force
There are, however, many Americans who hold that immigration is good and necessary for the continuing vibrancy and growth of America’s economy and society, and there has been plenty of evidence to sustain this argument.
In 2023, ‘foreign-born’ workers comprised approximately 19 per cent of the U.S. labor force, according to data from the BLS. This is a slight increase from 15.3 per cent in 2006. As a result, economists Wendy Edelberg and Tara Watson for the Hamilton Project say that there has been a surprising strength in consumer spending and overall economic growth since 2022. And the flow of immigrants is expected ‘to further boost economic growth in 2024’.
In addition, a new study finds that 80 per cent of immigrants in the labor force are more likely to become entrepreneurs. Immigrant entrepreneurs have tended to have a more profound impact on overall labor demand by starting companies that hire new workers, creating a positive ripple-effect on the economy. In fact, as reported by Forbes, an estimated 45 per cent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children; among them are America’s top companies, including tech giants Amazon (Jeff Bezos), Apple (Steve Jobs), Google (Sergey Brin) and Tesla (Elon Musk).
Immigrants and Global Hegemony
Truculent political fighting has overlooked a fundamental American truth—immigration makes America great. President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized this when he signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. It scrapped the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act, which had drastically cut the total number of immigrants allowed in the U.S., Asians in particular—it made stealthy made exceptions for northern Europeans of Protestant background.
Immigration is a key component that could eventually restore U.S. unipolarity it lost with the rise of communist China and a resurrected Russia as global competitors after the disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Great Recession of 2007-2009. This is not a call for open borders—quite the contrary! Yet it must be recognized that immigrants have not only been a source of American exceptionalism, they have been indispensable to military strength, economic power, and U.S. innovation.
Read more from the same author:
