Reading about this year’s Nobel Prize winners, it struck me once again how much America owes to migrants. Take this year’s prize in Economic Sciences shared by Northwestern Professor Joel Mokyr, an Israeli economic historian who came to this country from Netherlands.
Dr. Mokyr identified the root cause of economic growth and vibrancy which he credited as the result of a society that is fully open to new ideas. His findings affirm how important it is to remain accepting of change.
In another category, Omar Yaghi was honored in chemistry. He migrated here from Aman, Jordan, where his Palestinian refugee family had shared a one-room home with cattle the family was raising. He left at 15 to study in this country, supporting himself by bagging groceries and mopping floors. Now a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Yaghi developed a new form of molecular architecture. Today his theories are being used to capture carbon and to harvest drinking water from desert air.
The number of prizes won by naturalized U.S. citizens shouldn’t come as a surprise. Since the beginning of the 20th century, newcomers have demonstrated an ability to excel in scientific fields. Over the last 25 years, 40 percent of Nobel Prizes awarded Americans in Chemistry, Medicine and Physics were won by those who migrated to this country.
But, although we as a nation have benefited enormously from immigrants and their descendants, immigration remains one of the most fraught social and political issues of modern times.
From his initial appearances on the national stage, Donald Trump campaigned on a hardline anti-immigration agenda. He branded migrants as rapists and criminals, claiming other countries were emptying their prisons and asylums by sending inmates here. He vowed to deport migrants, originally targeting only those who had committed serious crimes. But over time, he has shown himself open to arresting and deporting as many undocumented migrants as possible.
Yet immigration is the very foundation of America. From the early days of the republic, migrants have come here for a variety of reasons, chief among them to escape from war, to practice the religion of their choice, to escape poverty, to obtain an education, and to unite with family members. In the early industrial era, immigrants filled the nation’s labor demands. In 1900 New York City had as many Irish residents as Dublin, more Italians than any city outside of Rome, more Poles than Warsaw, and more Jews than any city in the world, as well as sizable numbers of Slavs, Lithuanians, Chinese, and Scandinavians.
The Pew Research Center has identified three great waves of immigration to the U.S. The Northern European Wave from 1840-1889 brought 14 million from Europe, Canada, Latin America, Germany, England, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden. That was followed by the Southern European wave from 1890-1919 drawing newcomers from Italy, Austro-Hungary, Russia, and Poland. A Modern Era third wave from 1965-2005 saw migrants from Southeast Asia, China, India, Cuba, the Philippines, and Korea.
According to Pew Research, no other nation has as large an immigrant population as America. In 2023, the most recent year with completed data, migrants accounted for one in five U.S. workers, up from two decades earlier. With the exception of descendants of Native People and enslaved African Americans, most Americans can trace part of their ancestry to immigrants either recently arrived or within a couple of generations.
Donald Trump himself is the grandson of German immigrants and the son of a Scottish mother. He has married two European immigrants. His third wife, Melania Krauss, didn’t become a naturalized citizen until July 28, 2006, following the birth of the couple’s son Barron on March 20, 2006.
On Sept. 21, 2025, Trump added to his anti-immigration stance by imposing a $100,000 fee for H-1B visa petitions. So far he hasn’t responded to a letter signed by seven U.S. lawmakers urging him to reconsider that action. In part, they wrote, “America’s innovation economy depends on both strong domestic talent and access to highly skilled workers from aboard.” The letter cautioned that his action would adversely affect start-ups and push skilled workers to competing countries.”
While Trump continues to stifle and demonize immigration, other countries are now welcoming talented asylum seekers unwelcome in America. This is the height of foolhardiness in a country that has achieved so much from having been the “golden door” for generations of wayfarers. As John F. Kennedy once reminded us: “We are a nation of immigrants.” He authored a book by that title and gave credit to immigrants for helping to build our country.
Discover more from Post Alley
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
