Immigrants Are Not the Problem—They’re the Promise

America’s Immigrant Truth: What We’ve Forgotten and Must Remember

Apr 17, 2025

America Was Built by Immigrants

America’s origin story is inseparable from immigration. From the earliest settlers to generations of newcomers arriving by boat and plane, immigrants have literally and figuratively built the United States.

The transcontinental railroads that connected the coasts in the 19th century were laid by immigrant hands. Great American cities, from New York to Chicago to San Francisco, were raised by the labor and ingenuity of people born on distant shores. In fact, it’s estimated that about 40% of Americans today are descended from immigrants who passed through Ellis Island during its operation in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The nation’s very motto, “E Pluribus Unum” (“Out of many, one”), reflects a unity forged from diversity. This country was never a closed, homogeneous enclave; it was intended as a haven where people of all backgrounds could come together to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. America, quite literally, was built on the shoulders of immigrants, and this legacy is one of its greatest strengths. The story of the United States is the story of immigration.

Why They Came Then – and Why They Come Now

Throughout history, immigrants have come to America seeking a better life, though the reasons have evolved over time. In centuries past, many came fleeing religious persecution, famine, or lack of opportunity in their homelands.

Irish families escaping the devastating potato famine of the 1840s, Jews fleeing violent pogroms in Eastern Europe, Italians and Poles leaving poverty and turmoil—all looked to America as a land of hope and opportunity. They sought safety, jobs, and the freedom to worship or speak without fear. America’s promise of open land and open society beckoned millions.

Today, in 2025, immigrants are still coming for many of those same fundamental reasons—safety, opportunity, freedom—but often under even more desperate circumstances. Families from Central America trek thousands of miles to the U.S. border, running from brutal gang violence, extortion, and government corruption in countries like Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Many of these crises have deep roots, sometimes entangled with U.S. foreign policies of the past that propped up dictators or fueled civil wars.

For instance, decades of Cold War-era interventions helped destabilize parts of Central America, contributing to the chaos that now drives people to flee. Migrants from these regions aren’t coming to America so much as running from a hell that, in part, the U.S. helped create. Likewise, refugees from war-torn countries in the Middle East and Africa look to the United States as a refuge from violence, conflicts often exacerbated by great-power politics and arms flows. Others leave behind crushing poverty and climate disaster, knowing that the U.S. economy, while not perfect, offers far more opportunities to work and provide for their children.

In short, whether in 1850 or 2025, people uproot their lives and head for America mostly because they want what earlier Americans wanted: safety, freedom, and a chance to build a better future. They are drawn by the same beacon of hope that has guided immigrants for generations.

America was the promised land for struggling Europeans a century ago; today it plays the same role for struggling families from Latin America, Asia, and beyond. The faces and languages have changed, but the motivations are all too familiar, proving that the American Dream still matters to people around the world.

The Myth of “Coming the Right Way” vs. the Reality Then and Now

A common refrain in today’s immigration debate is: “Why can’t they just come the right way, like my grandparents did?” This argument assumes that immigrants of the past followed the law and today’s immigrants are simply choosing not to. But this nostalgic comparison ignores a crucial fact: the “right way” back then was vastly different and far easier than it is today.

In the early 20th century, and even before, U.S. immigration laws were relatively open. For the millions of European immigrants who arrived around 1900, there was often no extensive paperwork or years-long waiting list at all. In 1907, for example, no passports or visas were required to enter the United States through Ellis Island. A person essentially just showed up at the harbor, underwent a brief health inspection, and if they weren’t visibly ill or a known criminal, they were admitted within hours.

There were no numerical quotas limiting how many Italians or Irish or Russians could come each year. Essentially, if you could afford a steerage ticket and survive the journey, you could build a new life in America. That was the “right way” for earlier generations, simply coming was legal because the law welcomed it.

By contrast, today’s aspiring immigrants face a legal immigration system that is night-and-day different: restrictive, complicated, and often outright exclusionary. When someone says “my ancestors came legally,” it’s important to remember that those ancestors likely didn’t face quotas or decades-long backlogs.

The laws of that era didn’t bar them due to lack of a college degree or a U.S. relative; they just had to not belong to a very few excluded categories. (Yes, there were some ugly exclusions even then—Chinese immigrants, for instance, were banned starting in 1882, and others were turned away for racist or arbitrary reasons. But for huge swaths of immigrants, especially from Europe, the door was open in ways it simply isn’t today.)

If the average American’s great-grandparents had encountered the kind of labyrinthine rules and caps that exist now, many of them might never have made it “legally” either. Telling today’s refugees and laborers to “get in line” ignores that, for most of them, no line even exists. The reality is that comparing historical immigration to the present system is apples to oranges. What was once a straightforward journey is now a nearly impossible quest. “Coming the right way” meant something entirely different in 1910 than it does in 2025.

Modern Immigration: Harder Than Ever

For those who try to immigrate legally today, the obstacles are enormous. America’s immigration laws have grown so strict and convoluted that becoming an American through the legal process is, for many, practically impossible. Unless you fall into a few narrow categories, there is simply no viable “regular” path to entry.

Consider this: if you are a poor farmer from Guatemala with no family in the U.S., fleeing for your life from gang violence, what legal avenue do you have? There is no visa for “I want to not get murdered and work hard in America.” Unless you qualify for asylum (a protection that has itself been heavily restricted and backlogged), you’re out of luck. The same goes for a would-be immigrant from Mexico who dreams of doing construction or picking crops in the U.S.—there is no immigrant visa for “unskilled laborer who wants a better life,” no matter how honest or hardworking you are.

The employment-based green card system is reserved mostly for rare high-skilled professionals, extraordinary talents, or wealthy investors. It’s not designed for an ordinary person seeking basic work. Family-based immigration is tightly capped as well: American citizens can sponsor immediate relatives like spouses and young children without numerical limits, but for other family categories the waits are staggering. A U.S. citizen can petition for a sibling or an adult child, but because of annual quotas and country caps, those applications can take 20+ years to be approved in many cases. Some people literally die of old age waiting for their number in the visa line to come up.

Even those fleeing danger who try to follow the rules find doors bolted. Asylum, by international and U.S. law, is supposed to be a lifeline for people escaping persecution. Yet recent policies have made it extremely hard to even apply. Under the previous Trump administration—and continuing now in 2025—measures like “Remain in Mexico” forced asylum seekers to wait in unsafe camps, and pandemic-era rules were used as excuses to turn away those legally requesting refuge. The system is so overloaded and deliberately under-resourced that families have to wait years for a court hearing, all while living in limbo.

In summary, the legal immigration routes available today are a tiny funnel that can accept only a trickle of the millions who would come. The vast majority of would-be immigrants have no realistic way to “do it the right way,” no matter how desperately they want to abide by the law. America issues relatively few green cards each year, mostly to people who either have close family here or highly specialized skills. For everyone else, especially the poor and persecuted, the message has essentially become: “No entry.”

This is the harsh reality behind the rhetoric. It’s not that people are too lazy to fill out paperwork; it’s that our laws have made it virtually impossible for most to ever qualify. The system, by design, slams the door on many of the very people who, in an earlier era, built this country.

Related Podcast Episode

If you’re trying to understand immigration in America today, start here.

This episode of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast features Rachel Rutter, a passionate immigration advocate for unaccompanied immigrant children. This episode isn’t just a conversation—it’s an education. Her insights offer a rare, human look at a system that’s often reduced to misleading headlines and politics.

Five Ways Immigrants Benefit the United States

Far from harming the country, immigrants bring numerous positive benefits to America’s economy and society. Here are five of the most significant contributions immigrants make:

1. Entrepreneurship and Job Creation: Immigrants are exceptionally entrepreneurial. They found businesses of all sizes at high rates, from family-run restaurants and shops on Main Street to major tech companies in Silicon Valley. In fact, a significant portion of America’s small businesses are started by immigrants. These businesses create jobs for American workers.

Every corner bodega, tech startup, or construction firm launched by an immigrant doesn’t just provide a livelihood for that owner, it often employs dozens or even hundreds of U.S.-born workers. Immigrant entrepreneurs have played a key role in driving innovation and keeping the American economy dynamic.

2. Innovation and Scientific Advancement: Immigrants are a driving force in American innovation. Many of the breakthroughs that fuel our modern economy have immigrant fingerprints on them. Immigrants (and their children) have founded or co-founded some of America’s most iconic companies and invented technologies that shape the world.

In industries like technology, engineering, and medicine, immigrants are heavily represented among top scientists and inventors. They file patents, pioneer medical techniques, and help the U.S. lead in the global innovation race. Simply put, welcoming skilled minds from around the world has kept America at the cutting edge of science and technology.

3. Filling Crucial Labor Gaps: Immigrants frequently do essential jobs that keep the United States running, often in sectors facing worker shortages. In agriculture, for example, immigrant farm workers ensure Americans have fruits and vegetables on their tables. In healthcare, immigrants work as doctors, nurses, and home health aides caring for an aging population. In construction, food processing, hospitality, and childcare, immigrant labor is often the backbone of the industry.

By taking on these difficult and necessary jobs, immigrants complement the native-born workforce rather than “stealing” jobs. They often fill roles that employers struggle to staff, which in turn prevents bottlenecks and price spikes. This contribution keeps entire industries afloat and benefits consumers with stable prices and services.

4. Economic Growth and Fiscal Contributions: Immigrants contribute robustly to the overall economy and public finances. When an immigrant comes to America and finds a job, they aren’t just earning money for themselves, they’re also spending that money in local businesses, paying rent, paying taxes, and contributing to economic growth. Immigrants pay billions in federal, state, and local taxes each year. Yes, even undocumented immigrants pay taxes (for example, through sales taxes and often income and payroll taxes via ITINs and other means.

These tax contributions help fund public services and even shore up programs like Social Security. Numerous economic studies have found that, over time, immigrants tend to give more to the economy in productivity and taxes than they take in government benefits. By increasing the size of the labor force and consumer base, immigration boosts GDP and can even raise wages modestly for many native-born workers by increasing overall economic activity.

5. Cultural Enrichment and Renewal of American Communities: Beyond economics, immigrants immeasurably enrich the social and cultural fabric of the nation. They bring diverse languages, foods, music, and traditions that become part of the broader American tapestry. The result is a more vibrant, creative, and resilient society. Think of the culinary variety alone, from pizza and bagels to tacos and sushi, so much of what Americans cherish in daily life has roots in immigrant cultures.

Immigrants also tend to have strong family and community values, and they revitalize neighborhoods by opening stores, fixing up homes, and participating actively in civic life. Newcomers keep our cities and towns demographically young and dynamic, counteracting the aging population trend. Each wave of immigrants infuses fresh energy and optimism into the American experiment, much as previous waves did.

This continual renewal is part of what has always made America exceptional. Rather than eroding an “American” culture, immigrants strengthen and redefine it for each generation, ensuring that American culture isn’t stagnant but alive and ever-evolving.

In sum, immigrants are not a burden on America—they are a boon. They create jobs, bolster innovation, perform essential work, contribute to the public treasury, and enrich our communities. These benefits are well-documented and felt in communities across the country. Every American, whether they live in a big city or a small town, likely enjoys some product, service, or cultural contribution made possible by immigrants. The data and everyday experience both point to the same conclusion: immigration is an asset, not a liability, for the United States.

Debunking the Immigrant Crime Myth

One of the most pernicious myths spread about immigrants, especially by demagogues in politics and media, is that they bring crime or pose a public safety threat. Donald Trump infamously launched his 2016 campaign vilifying Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and criminals, and that drumbeat has continued into his 2025 presidency with constant insinuations that undocumented people are dangerous.

Let’s be unequivocal here: these claims are not supported by facts. In reality, immigrants (including undocumented immigrants) are, on average, less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans. This has been borne out by decades of research and crime statistics across the country.

For example, numerous studies using data from Texas (one of the few states that tracks criminal convictions by immigration status) have consistently found that both undocumented and legal immigrants have significantly lower crime rates than U.S. citizens. Immigrants tend to avoid activities that would risk their status or draw attention from law enforcement, whereas U.S.-born citizens unfortunately commit crimes at higher rates per capita.

On a national level, as the immigrant population in the U.S. increased over the past several decades, crime rates actually fell dramatically. The period from 1990 to 2020 saw the foreign-born share of the U.S. population more than double, while FBI data showed violent and property crime rates plummeting to half-century lows.

If the anti-immigrant fearmongering were true, one would expect more immigrants to mean more crime, yet the opposite occurred. Of course, correlation isn’t causation, but it strongly undercuts the notion that immigrants fuel crime waves. Instead, communities with higher immigrant populations often have lower crime rates than demographically similar areas with fewer immigrants.

Moreover, immigrants often become the victims of crime rather than the perpetrators. Vulnerable due to their status or language barriers, many immigrants are preyed upon by exploitative employers, smugglers, or even criminals in their own neighborhoods, knowing the victims might fear going to the police. This makes Trump’s portrayal of immigrants as violent offenders not only wrong but cruelly ironic. It scapegoats a group that is statistically law-abiding and frequently in need of protection themselves.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean no immigrant ever commits a crime, individuals of any background can break the law. But as a group, immigrants do not drive crime. The “immigrant criminal” trope is a classic xenophobic lie, recycled in different eras against different groups (the Irish and Italians were once stereotyped as mobsters, for instance).

It persists today largely as a political weapon. Trump and his MAGA allies use fear of immigrant crime to justify draconian policies and to distract from other issues. It’s much easier to blame an external “other” for complex social problems than to face reality. But Americans concerned about safety should know the truth: Immigrants are not the threat they’re made out to be. In fact, welcoming immigrants and integrating them into society makes us safer, by fostering trust and cooperation with law enforcement instead of driving people into the shadows.

The real threats to American lives, whether gun violence, opioid addiction, or homegrown extremism, will not be solved by walling off the border or demonizing immigrant families. Focusing on facts over fear, it’s clear that immigrant crime myths are exactly that: myths, with no basis in the statistical reality of America’s cities and towns.

The Path Forward: Humane Immigration Reform

Many Americans are waking up to the urgent need for a better immigration system—one that aligns with our values of fairness, justice, and human dignity. The status quo is both cruel and unsustainable.

So what would a humane and effective immigration reform look like? First and foremost, it means creating a system that recognizes the humanity of migrants rather than treating them as invaders. Comprehensive immigration reform should provide a roadmap to citizenship for the roughly 11 million undocumented people already living, working, and contributing in the United States. These are our neighbors, colleagues, and in many cases family members who have been stuck in limbo, some for decades.

Bringing them into the legal fold would not only honor their hard work and allow them to fully participate in society, but it would also strengthen the rule of law (by eliminating a huge shadow economy) and boost the economy (as those workers could change jobs, start businesses, and invest in education without fear). Past proposals have included stringent requirements like background checks, English language acquisition, and paying back taxes, reasonable steps that undocumented immigrants are largely willing to take in exchange for being recognized as Americans on paper, as they already are in spirit.

Humane reform also means vastly expanding legal pathways for those who want to come here in the future. If we want people to come “the right way,” we need to offer them a right way that isn’t a dead end.

This could include increasing the number of work visas for various skill levels, so American employers can hire foreign workers openly instead of via black markets. It should include modernizing the asylum and refugee system: rather than making desperate families trek to the border, the U.S. can set up processing centers abroad, invest in speeding up asylum case adjudications, and ensure that those fleeing danger can find safety here without unnecessary hardship.

Family reunification visas should be cleared of their backlogs so that close relatives aren’t kept apart for decades by bureaucratic quotas. In short, the legal immigration system needs to be updated to meet the realities of the 21st century, more flexible, more generous, and more focused on keeping families together and meeting our economy’s needs.

One bold idea increasingly discussed is the concept of “open borders,” or something approaching it. While that term can be alarming to some, in practice it doesn’t mean chaos, it means treating migration similar to how we treat the movement of people between states in the U.S. or between countries in the European Union.

It’s worth remembering that for much of American history, we basically had open borders for huge groups of people, and the country thrived as a result. Advocates of this idea argue that letting people move freely to where opportunities exist would dramatically increase global prosperity and is the most moral approach, given that arbitrary birthplaces shouldn’t determine one’s life chances.

Open borders in an absolute sense may not be politically feasible in the near term, but it’s an important vision pushing the conversation toward greater openness. At minimum, the U.S. can move in that direction by demilitarizing the border and focusing enforcement on genuine security threats (like stopping weapons and drug trafficking, which are international issues) rather than treating every migrant like a criminal. We can ensure due process and decent treatment for anyone who does arrive, no more children in cages, no more family separations, no more secretive detention centers where abuses occur.

A humane system would use community-based case management for asylum seekers (which has proven effective at ensuring people attend their hearings) instead of imprisoning families. It would grant work permits quickly so that migrants can support themselves while their cases are processed, benefiting everyone.

Another key aspect of reform is addressing the root causes of migration. Long-term, the most humane immigration policy includes foreign policy: helping stabilize and develop the countries people are fleeing. This means rethinking the U.S. role in Latin America and elsewhere, stopping support for repressive regimes, aiding anti-corruption efforts, promoting economic development, and taking serious action on climate change (since droughts, hurricanes, and other climate disasters are displacing more people).

By contributing to better conditions abroad, the U.S. can reduce the desperate push factors that drive uncontrolled migration. It’s not about “keeping them there,” but about making sure people aren’t forced to leave their homes in the first place. In parallel, the U.S. can cooperate with other nations to create regional migration frameworks, so responsibility is shared and migrants can find protection in multiple places, not just make a beeline to the U.S. border.

Crucially, any reform must also reckon with the MAGA-era abuses and ensure they are never repeated. The Trump administration’s approach to immigration, from the Muslim travel bans, to terminating DACA protections for young immigrants, to the notorious policy that ripped children from their parents at the border, represented some of the darkest impulses of our democracy. These policies were driven by xenophobia and authoritarian disregard for law and compassion.

As citizens, Americans must demand that their government never again engages in such deliberate cruelty. We need strong legal safeguards that protect the rights of immigrants and checks on executive power so no president can so easily trample on constitutional and human rights. The immigration system should be managed by civil servants and laws, not the whims of a demagogue who sees political gain in stoking fear.

Ultimately, immigration reform is about choosing what kind of nation America wants to be. Will it double down on fear, exclusion, and fortress walls? Or will it return to the path of openness, justice, and faithful adherence to the values inscribed in our Constitution and Statue of Liberty?

The strong voices of protest and solidarity, everyday Americans marching with signs that say “All Are Welcome Here” and “Love Thy Immigrant Neighbors,” faith groups offering sanctuary, businesses speaking out for their immigrant employees, suggest that there is a deep well of support for the humane path. These Americans understand that welcoming immigrants isn’t just an act of charity; it’s an investment in the country’s soul and future.

True immigration reform, rooted in fairness and empathy, would strengthen America’s democracy and moral standing. It would also directly rebuke Trump and the nativist movement that has betrayed the nation’s ideals. In pushing for reform, Americans affirm that MAGA fear-mongering does not represent the whole country and that the arc of our history bends back toward inclusion.

Wrapping This Up

America faces a fundamental choice in how it treats immigrants, and by extension, how it defines its very identity. The truth is that immigrants have always been integral to America’s success, they have built our infrastructure, enriched our culture, and powered our economy. They come, now as in the past, seeking refuge and opportunity, often from hardships that few of us can imagine.

Yet today, they find a system rigged against them, fueled by political lies that scapegoat them for society’s problems. The hard facts dismantle those lies: immigrants commit fewer crimes, work hard, and contribute greatly. Anti-immigrant hysteria, stoked by President Trump and his MAGA enablers, is not only baseless but dangerous. It endangers the very democratic and constitutional principles that define the United States.

When a government starts degrading and dehumanizing a whole class of people, ripping apart families, ignoring due process, flouting international law, it chips away at the rule of law and our national conscience for everyone. History has shown that the erosion of democracy often begins with the mistreatment of minorities and outsiders.

The core argument is simple: America cannot be great by turning its back on immigrants, because to do so is to turn its back on itself. If we are to remain a beacon of freedom and justice, we must align our policies with our principles.

That means rejecting fear in favor of facts and compassion. It means holding leaders like Trump accountable when they spread falsehoods and division. And it means demanding concrete changes: a fair path to citizenship for longtime residents who lack papers, a modernized legal immigration system that lets people in rather than shuts them out, and an asylum process that lives up to the inscription on the Statue of Liberty – “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” These are not radical ideas; they are deeply American ones, rooted in our founding values and historical experience.

For the everyday voter, the practical takeaway is this: Don’t fall for cynical narratives that blame immigrants for our nation’s challenges. Instead, recognize the humanity in those coming to our country and the mutual benefits that compassion can yield.

Support policies and politicians that treat immigrants with dignity and common sense. Educate friends or relatives who have been misled by fearmongering, using the truth as your guide. Remember that nearly all of us have an ancestor who came here looking for a better life; today’s immigrants are no different. By welcoming them, we renew the spirit of America.

In the end, a just and sane immigration system isn’t just about immigrants, it’s about America’s soul and the kind of democracy we want to be. A nation that welcomes newcomers, that upholds the rule of law while extending mercy, is a nation that stays true to its highest ideals.

The road to reform won’t be easy, but it is necessary. The shoulders of immigrants have carried America to greatness before, and with fair and humane policies, immigrants will continue helping America thrive for generations to come. The truth about immigration is that when we open our hearts and our doors, we all benefit. It’s time for America to remember that truth, act on it, and in doing so, redeem the promise of its founding creed.

Mitch Jackson, Esq. | links

The Crime Myth: Why Immigrants Are Not to Blame for Crime in America

Podcast Version- Listen, comment and share here.