The immigrant nation

President Bush welcomes Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to the Oval Office on Feb. 7, 2005. (White House photo by Eric Draper)

The United States has always been an immigrant country, yet today – as the country turns 250 – many policymakers are pushing to reject newcomers as never before. This momentous anniversary is therefore an important time to look back on our history and the role that immigration has played in it.

Although the United States has always had immigration at one level or another, the topic has never stopped generating controversy. In its early days, the young republic needed ambitious pioneers to settle new lands, to work its fields, and to build new businesses. But there were concerns: Would the immigrants assimilate? Would they share our values of freedom and equality? Would they speak English? Would Catholics disrupt the largely Protestant society?

In 1788 (the year before he became president), George Washington recognized the need for increased immigration, although he also worried about foreign spies and the risk that some newcomers would have stronger allegiance to their countries of origin than they would to the young republic. As he wrote to a friend, he always “hoped that this land might become a safe & agreeable Asylum to the virtuous & persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.” Even Britain’s King George III saw the value of immigration to the rebellious new republic, realizing it would benefit from an influx of energetic, ambitious people. The United States has welcomed many millions of newcomers in the years since – approximately 100 million by some estimates. But this ambivalent attitude – needing immigration but also worrying about it – has always been with us.

I came to this country as a refugee at the age of 6 in 1960, when my family fled Cuba’s communist revolution. Although it was the height of the Cold War, Miami, Florida, welcomed us with open arms. Every person we met there seemed to convey the same message: “Welcome to the United States. We hope you will be successful, because if you are, you will contribute to our country’s success.” This attitude motivated me to work hard and instilled in me undying loyalty to my new homeland. Five years later, in a Brooklyn courthouse, my family and I became U.S. citizens. The presiding judge, a kind elderly man, said to us: “You are more American than those who were born here because you chose to be an American, while they had no choice.”

It is a sad reflection on our times that those generous words would sound out of place in our politics today. These days, the term most used when immigration comes up is “illegal aliens.” The stain of illegality, of intrusiveness, has marred all immigrants in the eyes of many Americans. Even though the government has put in place dramatic, much needed measures to effectively block unlawful entry into our Southern states and to deport undocumented people, sweeping laws to restrict new entrants are being considered. Even the legitimacy of those who are here legally is being questioned, and many immigrants no longer feel welcome. Accusations that they are “criminals,” “rapists,” and “murderers” have fueled a backlash, even though decades of research have shown that immigrants – both legal and undocumented – commit fewer crimes than citizens. There is a good reason for that fact: Newcomers to the United States recognize the blessings of their adopted home and desperately want to avoid risking their good fortune.

A group of Cuban refugees in Manhattan watch President Kennedy delivering a speech on television. (Bettmann via Getty Images)

Absent from today’s public discussion are the contributions many immigrants have made to our society. Examples abound. Alexander Hamilton came here at the age of 15 from the island of Nevis, then a British colony. Around 35% of America’s Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry, medicine, and physics were born abroad. Many of the founders and CEOs of the most valuable companies in the world came to the United States as immigrants. Their work has kept America at the forefront of technology, ahead of China and every other country, and this leadership is more important today – in our current age of AI – than ever. American arts, sports, and even food are all richer thanks to the contributions of immigrants. And countless foreign-born retailers, farm laborers, factory workers, health care professionals, lawyers, teachers, and others continue to make enormous contributions to our country.

Although our economy needs a continuous flow of labor, both low- and high-skilled, Congress and the executive branch have been unable to pass laws that would bring in new legal workers and minimize the demand for illegal labor. During my time as U.S. commerce secretary in the George W. Bush Administration, we tried to pass comprehensive immigration reform but failed – a result of the divisive politics that have only grown worse in the years since. Similar efforts by the Obama Administration met the same fate. Our native-born population is barely growing, and we lack a sufficient pool of legal immigrants. That has forced businesses to choose between hiring undocumented laborers or risking their enterprises. Declaring a new war on legal immigrants, instead of focusing on those who are here illegally, will be self-defeating.

For almost a century, the U.S. economy has been the strongest in the world. Today, that supremacy is threatened by China. The two countries’ models could not be more different. China is a top-down system which relies on Chinese labor; according to some studies, less than 1% of the country’s population is foreign born. The United States, by contrast, boasts a decentralized system that relies on individual liberty and the skills and dreams of foreign-born workers, who currently make up about 14% of the population. Both countries face demographic challenges from aging populations and inadequate birthrates. But China, with thousands of years as an insular culture, will have a much harder time changing course than the United States, which needs to continue to perfect a system that has served us well for 250 years. 

But reform must come, and it must start with leadership. We must remember and repeat those words I heard as young refugee in 1960: “Welcome to the United States. We hope you will be successful, because if you are, you will contribute to our country’s success.”