No nation has more immigrants than America. As foreign students and scholars at Harvard and other academic institutions learn that their visas may be revoked, I find it hard to sit still as a US citizen. I have spent two-thirds of my life in America but have also lived in 11 different cities across 3 continents. Americans need to be reminded how hard it is to be an immigrant, how immigrants have toiled and thrived in America, and that we or our ancestors were all immigrants at some point.

When I moved back to the US four years ago from Asia, I tried to ride the Metro North train from Westchester County to Manhattan to see what the commute would be like and tried to make conversation with a local resident who looked about my age. I told him I worked for a foreign bank and had just moved here from Hong Kong. He said, “Oh, we send people like you to the State Department for reporting purposes.” This was not just an isolated incident during the pandemic. I have a friend who came to the US as a child from Hong Kong. He practiced law for over a decade, and his name is “Fat L.” — strange spelling if you are an English speaker, but perfectly normal if you come from the hometown of Chow Run-Fat. When my friend was job searching, he didn’t get many interviews. So, he added a random middle name, “Tom,” to his resume. Suddenly, he started getting interviews. Imagine how many more interviews he would have received if he had dropped “Fat” altogether! I hope these anecdotes resonate not only with the one in seven American residents who are foreign-born but also with anyone who has spent time abroad and felt like they didn’t belong.

Let’s run through some statistics to show why, despite all the difficulties immigrants face, they are contributing to the land of the free and the home of the brave. Immigrants make up 14% of the US population but 19% of the labor force. They contribute $1 trillion in annual tax revenue but only receive $700 billion in annual benefits. Immigrants are 80% more likely to start a business, perhaps because it’s harder to join an established firm. Immigration helps keep inflation down through low-skilled labor and attracts foreign investment in stocks through high-tech talent. Thirty to 60% of total factor productivity gains in the US economy came from immigrants in STEM-related disciplines between 1990 and 2010. The US national debt of $29 trillion held by the public is more easily financed at a tolerable rate when more immigrants come to the US during strong economic cycles and leave when times are tough. Think of it as having parents or in-laws who come to the rescue when you need them and leave when you don’t.

However, current policies are restricting immigration, which could shrink our labor force, raise the cost of goods and services, and crumble our national debt. In the 2024 election, many people voted to bring manufacturing back to the US — but do the same people want to work in a factory or a lab? International students at top universities like Columbia and Tufts are probably willing, but some of them have been arrested for peaceful protests. Even US citizens have been racially profiled, mistakenly arrested, and sometimes deported in places like Arizona, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Virginia, and New Jersey. Medicare for legal immigrants may be limited due to federal budget cuts. If hospitals and schools close due to budget shortfalls, everyone in America will be affected.

Deuteronomy 10:19 says, “And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.” No matter who your God is, compassion for one another is at the core of humanity! Every time we move to a new place, transfer to a new school, or start a new job, we get a taste of what it feels like to be an immigrant. But until we advocate for the liberty of others as equally as we advocate for our own, we will always be an immigrant in God’s eyes, and we’ll never make it to the promised land. We must denounce discrimination of any kind, not just against immigrants. Our moral compass is much more important than trotting along party lines or being politically correct. It doesn’t matter if you are a third-generation small-business owner from the Midwest, a foreign-born tech guru on the West Coast, or a homemaker with three kids in the suburbs — call the US Capitol Switchboard at (202) 225-3121 and tell your elected representative that we must fight for the immigrant in all of us!

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.