America is stronger thanks to immigrants
There’s a statue in New York Harbor that urges the “poor, huddled masses” to come to our shore, and most of us have ancestors who came to the United States from elsewhere. Despite this, there’s a long history of American ambivalence toward immigration.
At various times, new arrivals from Ireland, Italy, Eastern Europe and China have been subjected to hostility and violence. In the 1970s and 1980s, the polling organization Gallup found more Americans wanted to decrease the flow of immigrants than increase it. Of course, in recent days, former President Donald Trump has said that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
The United States is not the only developed nation with mixed feelings about immigration. France just approved a law making its immigration laws tougher, and Germany has adopted a more restrictive asylum policy.
Still, Americans remain largely supportive of immigration. A Gallup survey this summer found that 68% of respondents said immigration is good for the country. While there is a debate to be had about immigration, and there has long been a need to reform our immigration policies, we shouldn’t lose sight of the value migrants bring to our country.
Right now, about 15% of U.S. residents were not born here. But of that number, less than 25% are undocumented. The remainder are either temporary residents here legally, permanent residents or naturalized citizens. America’s native-born workforce has been aging, and immigrants are more likely to be between the ages of 25 and 54, the prime working years.
And many of those immigrants are working in sectors like manufacturing, transportation, or agriculture, industries that were deemed “essential” in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, close to 30% of workers in the construction industry were born elsewhere. Those workers stimulate the economy, spur job growth, buy things, pay taxes and fill positions that would otherwise go unfilled given the United States’ labor shortage.
Immigrants also bring a range of talents here. A little more than 40% have college degrees, and they receive patents at twice the rate of native-born Americans. They make our communities richer and more vibrant, bringing a range of traditions and ideas.
Simply put, immigrants don’t “poison the blood” of the country – they make the United States stronger.