We Need More Immigrants, Not Fewer
By
Leonard Zwelling
Maybe I am forgetting my American history. My recollection is that in the late 15th century, Christopher Columbus and others began exploring North America after having realized that the northwest passage to India was not going to be found sailing west from Europe. Many of those who sailed here, stayed here. Since then, everyone who is currently an American citizen or ever was one came here from somewhere else unless their family happens to be American Indian.
That means almost everyone currently living in the United States came from away, as the Canadians might say. Among those people whose ancestors came from somewhere else are Donald Trump and Stephen Miller. According to Rabbi Claude, Miller’s maternal great grandfather got here in 1903 fleeing Russian pogroms. One of his paternal ancestors applied for naturalization in 1932. Stephen Miller’s family is not a long-term American one. Like me, Miller is the product of recent immigrants.
In my own case, my maternal grandparents came from Russia and my paternal grandfather was from what is now Romania. My paternal grandmother was born here. As is the case for so many Ashkenazi Jews, without the United States and my family’s ability to immigrate here, I would never have been. It would have been far more likely that my parents would have died in concentration camps during WWII.
Without immigrants, America would not be America. We would not be strong. We would not be the envy of the world. We would not have the churning economy we have. Even if you can trace your family back to the Mayflower, your family is still an immigrant family.
On June 27, I was privileged to attend the wedding of the daughter of the woman who has been our housekeeper for over 25 years. Hundreds of people attended the ceremony, the vast majority of which was in Spanish. Our housekeeper and her husband are naturalized Americans. Their children were all born here. The vast majority of the attendees at this wedding spoke Spanish as a first language, but could readily switch into English on the fly, something I wish I could do. They all have jobs, earn money, support their families, and pay taxes. The service and the reception were celebrations of their Central American culture, but the lobby of the church was decorated in red, white, and blue bunting to get ready for America’s 250th birthday. They, like my own family, came here from somewhere else, often running away so they didn’t get killed. Some just came for the opportunity. Either way, America saved us all.
In every industry from academic medicine, to construction, to agriculture, immigrants have made and are making huge contributions to the country. They make things better for all of us. As a second generation American, I am proud to call them my friends and neighbors. We cannot have enough of these people who only want a chance to prosper here just like your family did when they came.
We cannot survive as a free and prosperous country without immigrants. The more, the better. In case you have not noticed, we are competing with a seemingly monolithic country called Communist China for world domination. The Chinese have about three or four times more people than we do. They can produce stuff at a fraction of the cost that we can. To be blunt, we need all the help we can get. We are in a tough battle for our own survival as a free nation.
I am not sure where Donald Trump’s or Stephen Miller’s heads are when it comes to immigration. Should we have a secure southern border to prevent illegal immigration? Of course. However, for all of those people who want to come and seek the American dream, and especially for all the foreign PhDs and Masters candidates who want to stay, perhaps we can figure out a way to make that easier and quicker.
America was built by immigrants, waves and waves of them. We need them to keep coming. The mindset of the Trump Administration that immigrants commit more crimes is just false and the ones who do ought to be deported. We have mechanisms for that. We don’t need to round up everyone to catch a few bad apples.
We need more immigrants. We need to welcome and them and offer them a permanent place in our society. Without them, America is not America. Trump and Miller need to go back and look at their own families before they make such an effort to keep out new Americans.
