Immigrants bring innovations and creative diversity to our communities.

Immigration is the history of the United States, from the newcomers from Asia over 20,000 years ago to the Europeans in the 1600s to the array of nationalities we see here today. Some were brought forcibly and others came voluntarily, seeking economic opportunities and freedom from persecution. In 1986 and 1996, Congress passed immigration legislation, but failed both times to adequately address legal pathways for future immigrants. Thus, today we have a large undocumented population, no legal pathways to immigrate for most low-skilled workers and an immigration system drastically out of sync with our nation’s economic needs and the reality of globalization.

According to public opinion polls, the majority of the U.S. public believes that immigrants should have legal pathways to a lawful status. This reflects recognition that immigration is positive, grows our economy, and gives America a uniqueness of which we can be proud.

How Immigration Fuels Our Nation:

Diversity

Immigration has made the United States extraordinarily unique. Our country models the successful integration of cultures from all over the world into one society. We have learned to live together peacefully in a democratic society, and we have gained immeasurable richness by celebrating both our distinctions and our commonalities.

Innovation

Immigrants bring innovations and creative diversity to our communities. The U.S. has benefited from immigrant talent such as that of Alexander Graham Bell (Scotland), Madeleine Albright (Czechoslovakia), Albert Einstein (Germany), Solomon Fuller (Liberia), Oscar de la Renta (Dominican Republic), Hannah Arendt (Germany), Andrew Grove (Hungary),

Many immigrants today come seeking religious freedom.

Albert Baez (Mexico), David Ho (Taiwan), Farouk El-Baz (Egypt), Cesar Pelli (Argentina), Jagdish Bhagwati (India).

Entrepreneurship and Jobs

Immigrants generate employment. Studies show that immigrants often possess entrepreneurial skills that they use to establish businesses, and are just as likely to be self-employed and own small businesses as the native-born. Immigrant entrepreneurs established up to a quarter of all the Silicon Valley firms, which generated more than $19.5 billion in sales and nearly 73,000 jobs in 2000. The number of immigrant women business owners, most of whom are from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, has increased nearly 468 percent since 1980.

Family

Immigrants tend to come from cultures that value supportive family structures, traditional ideals, respect for the elderly, and a strong work ethic.

Faith

Present day immigrants tend to come from countries with high rates of attendance at religious services. As in the past, many immigrants today come seeking religious freedom.

Freedom

Minnesotans value compassion, and that is reflected in its immigrants, many of whom are refugees fleeing persecution. Minnesota ranks second in the nation in refugee resettlement. The U.S. accepts refugees and asylees to promote democratic ideals and the value of life, practice humanitarianism, and maintain international diplomatic relations.

Community Building

Urban areas that receive new immigrants are most often transformed and revitalized by these newcomers. An array of new arrivals revitalized Nicollet Avenue (now known as “Eat Street”) and Lake Street in Minneapolis, as well as University Avenue in St. Paul. 

Studies indicate a positive correlation between the number of immigrants in a neighborhood and increasing property values. Immigrants reinvigorate rural communities by bringing in new ideas and reversing a trend of declining populations.

Economy

The U.S. economy is incredibly dynamic since millions of jobs are continuously being created, dissolved, moved, and modified. Immigrants make unique contributions to the U.S. economy because they create new jobs through entrepreneurship, fill jobs for which there are

Immigrants make unique contributions to the U.S. economy

no qualified U.S. workers, and take positions that would otherwise be shipped overseas or replaced with computers. Both high- and low-skilled immigrant workers help to meet the growing demand for labor in a variety of industries.

Taxes

Immigrants pay federal and state income, property, and sales taxes. While all immigrants pay various taxes, only refugees, asylees and some legal immigrants are eligible to receive public assistance programs, which are time-limited. Undocumented persons are not eligible for any public assistance program except emergency health care if their life or health is in jeopardy. In 1999, approximately one in five foreign-born householders received benefits such as food stamps and housing assistance. This use, however, is heavily concentrated among refugees and elderly immigrants – populations we are committed to and legally obligated to assist.

Social Security

Immigrants – both documented and undocumented – are large contributors to Social Security, and will play an integral role in financing Social Security as the U.S. population ages. A study found that undocumented immigrants pay $6—7 billion in Social Security taxes and $1.5 billion in Medicare taxes that they will never be able to claim. A recent study indicates that a reduction in legal immigration would devastate the Social Security system, to which new legal immigrants will contribute over $611 billion over the next 75 years.

Global Connections

Immigrants help keep the U.S. internationally competitive and give our businesses a more global perspective—an outlook that is increasingly necessary in this era of globalization. Moreover, allowing people from other countries to live and work among us allows for inter-country and inter-cultural dialogue, which decreases unfounded fears about one another and strengthens our relationships with other countries, thus improving security for the U.S. and its neighbors.

Integration

Throughout our history, Americans have worried about newcomers’ ability to integrate into society. Today, we see the result of the integration of groups once thought to be inferior and incapable of integration, including the Germans, Irish, Poles, Italians, and Slavs. We also know that the proportion of non-English speakers today is much smaller than it was decades ago. In 1890, the proportion of non-English speakers was 4.5 times higher than in 1990. Furthermore, researchers have shown that today’s immigrants learn English at the same rate or more quickly than past immigrants. For social and economic reasons, new immigrants are highly motivated to integrate, and continue to do so.