To what extent do ethical obligations, combined with the cultural and

economic value of immigrants, justify the U.S. open its borders to more
refugees and people seeking asylum?

Ainsley Haggart

Senior Project Advisor: Jenny McKenzie

Abstract
Tens of thousands of people are displaced every day and forced into global south states with little
space and resources because of the strict policies enacted by wealthy global north states. This
paper discusses the obligations the United States has to welcome refugees and the economic and
cultural benefits it receives from doing so. It first analyzes ethical responsibility based on
wrongdoings in the past, political and economic interferences that have caused conflict, and
obligations based on the wealth, resources, and development of the U.S. Then, the author
examines how successive waves of immigrants have enriched our culture and added to our
economy. They conclude by breaking down a new policy that includes a plan to address the root
causes of displacement, a higher refugee cap, and a more humane and fair process.

12th Grade Humanities

Animas High School
1 April 2021
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 Part I: Introduction

Donald J. Trump was the first successful president to run on a platform that opposes the

admission of refugees and asylees as its central policy. He presents a far more hostile view on

immigration than the nation has seen in recent history. The immigration policies put into place by

the Trump administration have been so numerous, so broad, and so cruel that they are

unparalleled in any other period or administration. The U.S. has a long history of xenophobia

but, Trump's views on immigration have justified it and deepened the divide, making it central to

political discussion and current events.

When refugees and asylees come to the U.S., they seek international protection to escape

persecution, and in a lot of cases, it's life or death. The process one has to go through to be

granted asylum in the United States has always been long and inhumane, taking several years to

complete, and now, the policies created by the Trump administration have made it close to

impossible to be granted asylum in the end.

The United States was founded and formed by immigrants escaping persecution, and we

will always have a moral and ethical obligation to anyone in need of protection. Because of

ethical obligations, combined with immigrants' cultural and economic value, the United States

should open its borders to more refugees and people seeking asylum. The wealth, diversity, and

full development of resources in the U.S. can be put towards a policy that includes a plan to

address the root causes of displacement, a higher refugee cap, and a more humane and fair

process.

Part II: Historical Context and Background Knowledge

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 To understand immigration today, it's helpful to start at the beginning with the very first

immigrants who went on to form the United States. At the beginning of the nation’s founding,

the United States prided itself on being a free nation of immigrants. In 1630, the Puritans who

settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony were seeking religious freedom for themselves. They were

escaping religious persecution. As stated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:

A refugee is a person outside his or her country of nationality who is unable or unwilling

to return to his or her country of nationality because of persecution or a well-founded fear

of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social

group, or political opinion. An asylee is a person who meets the definition of refugee and

is already present in the United States or is seeking admission at a port of entry. (DHS)

The puritans fit the definition exactly, but most prefer to call them settler-colonists: “a person

who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the

area”(wiki). Therefore the United States is a settler-colonial state; it evolved through settler

colonialism, “a distinct type of colonialism that functions through the replacement of indigenous

populations with an invasive settler society that, over time, develops a distinctive identity and

sovereignty” (Barker and Lowman).

When European colonists came and settled in the new world, they expected to receive

hospitality from the Native Americans. Fransisco de Victoria, a Spanish Roman Catholic

philosopher, theologian, and jurist of Renaissance Spain, is the founder of the tradition in

philosophy known as the School of Salamanca, noted especially for his contributions to the

theory of just war and international law. Victoria asserted that the Spaniards would have a cause

for war if they had been denied to dwell in their lands. He declared, “To refuse the welcome of

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strangers and foreigners, is inherently evil” (qtd. In Glanville 5). The Spaniards came fully

armed with weapons the indigenous people had never seen before. Did that give them enough

reason to fear their intentions? The wealth and current territory of the United States is in part a

product of the violent subjection of Native Americans. This subjection was justified by the belief

of duty the Native Americans had of hospitality to the new settlers or “refugees.” Ironically the

United States continues to deny hospitality to the large number of refugees attempting to enter

the United States. (Glanville)

Beginning in 1790 race was a centerpiece of the first set of immigration laws. The U.S.

government created laws that prevented black people from coming into “free states'' and

becoming part of the white communities. The next big law passed was the Chinese Exclusion

Act of 1882, which bars Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. This was the first

immigration act to place restrictions on an ethnicity. This act was soon followed by the

eugenicist era, where immigration law was designed to keep out anyone other than those from

certain European countries who were “desirable” white immigrants. It wasn’t until 1965 when

civil rights protests pushed the United States to get rid of what was seen as an openly racist

immigration system (Oh).

Immigrants to the United States have historically had to face xenophobia, racism, and

economic exploitation, and the Trump administration has intensified this legacy. Despite civil

rights efforts in the 1960s to rid the immigration system of openly racist regulations, the Trump

administration was still able to sign an Executive Order that banned foreign nationals from seven

predominantly Muslim countries from visiting the country for 90 days, suspended entry to the

country of all Syrian refugees indefinitely, and prohibited any other refugees from coming into

the country for 120 days (ACLU Washington). The first and second iterations of the Muslim ban

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were struck down by federal judges who said it amounted to religious discrimination against

Muslims. The Supreme Court upheld the third version of the policy in June 2018. The justices

ruled in favor of the Trump administration on the grounds that federal law gives the President

broad authority to suspend entry to the U.S. This helped the Trump administration further

camouflage the xenophobic, racist, and Islamophobic intent behind the policy (Peniel).

Immigrants to the United States have historically had to face xenophobia, racism, and

economic exploitation, and the Trump administration has intensified this legacy. When Trump

announced his candidacy for president, he defended the construction of a proposed border wall

by remarking, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending

people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing

drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists” (Washington Post staff). These words clearly

reveal just how racist he is towards immigrants entering at the southern border.

Trump's directed racism starting with “the wall,” media has portrayed immigrants

entering the southern border as a national security crisis, but in reality, in 2016 when Trump was

elected, the top country of origin for new immigrants coming into the U.S. was India with

175,100, followed by China/Hong Kong with 160,200, and then Mexico 150,400 (Budiman).

Trump ordered the deployment of 7,000 active duty military to the border, which is more than

triple the number in Syria (Meissner). One of his first actions in office was to cut refugee

admissions drastically. As a result, refugee admissions have fallen from 84,994 in FY 2016 to

18,051 in FY 2019, and the refugee ceiling set by the president each year has fallen from

110,000 to 15,000. This is the lowest the ceiling has ever been since the creation of the US

refugee Admissions Program in 1980 (Schmidt 3). As for “Asylees,” the process has become

drastically more difficult and less humane. Laws including: barring people who entered the U.S.

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between ports of entry, dismantling critical benefits for current and potential asylum seekers,

outsourcing asylum obligations to countries that can’t meet them, restricting who is eligible for

asylum, slowing down the processing of asylum claims, denying or restricting asylum seekers

access to attorneys, and restrictions on asylum due to COVID-19 have made it almost impossible

to seek asylum in the U.S. In addition to this, while people are waiting on their court hearing, the

administration has made them stay in harsh and dangerous conditions in detention centers in the

heat of Mexico even if they have demonstrated a credible fear of persecution in their home

countries (Ibe).

Part III: Research and Analysis

The two main reasons why the United States should welcome more refugees and asylees are

ethical obligations and cultural and economic value. This section will first analyze ethical

responsibility based on historical injustices, political and economic interferences that have

caused conflict, and obligations based on wealth, resources, and development. Next, it will

examine how successive waves of immigrants have enriched our culture and added to our

economy.

Ethical Obligations

The United States has an ethical obligation to make up for historical injustices and

political and economic interferences that have caused conflict in other countries: as well as

obligations due to its enormous wealth and resources.

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The concept of enforceable duty of hospitality was created by settler-colonists. It provided a

justification for the establishment of their new communities in the Americas, the mass killing of

indigenous people, the theft of wealth and territory, and the establishment of sovereign authority

over Native Americans (Glanville 6). The obligation to welcome foreigners was forced on Native

Americans by Colonizers.

Thus, the current wealth and territorial boundaries of the United States is, in part, a

product of the violent subjection of Native Americans that settler-colonists justified by an appeal

to a duty of hospitality, the same duty the U.S. government denies to so many people today.

(Glanville 6). An anonymous tract commissioned by the Virginia company in 1620 queried, “[i]s

it not against the law of nations, to violate a peaceable stranger, or to deny him harbor?” (qtd. in

Glanville 5). In these lines, the author portrays the colonizer as a peaceful seeker of sanctuary,

but comparing these events to current times, it is safe to assume they would not be called

colonizers. Based on this definition: “a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation,

especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims'' (dictionary), a terrorist might be a

more accurate description. Researchers have calculated that about 60.5 million people lived in

the Americas prior to European contact, and between 1492 and 1600, 90% of those indigenous

populations in the Americas had died. That means about 55 million people perished because of

violence and never-before-seen pathogens like smallpox, measles, and influenza (Woodward).

With only about 6 million Native Americans still living in the Americas by the year 1600, the

colonists still attempted to eradicate them and their culture with boarding schools. At these

schools, white Europeans would force the indigenous students to cut their hair, use

Anglo-American names, and forbid them to speak in their indigenous language or observe

religious and cultural practices (History.com Editors).

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 Given the aforementioned history of terror against Native Americans, it is ironic that the

United States also has this history of demanding hospitality from Native Americans, and even

more so because the federal government is now denying it from those who need it today.

Contemplating the justice of the Spanish conquests in the New World in the sixteenth century

Theologian Francisco de Vitoria declared, “Amongst all nations, it is considered inhumane to

treat strangers and travelers badly without some special cause, humane and dutiful to behave

hospitably to strangers''(Glanville 5). Francisco de Victoria was right to say that it is cruel to treat

foreigners badly without a special cause. It is sad to see that these ideas were not integrated into

the US immigration policy, which treats foreigners incredibly inhumane without a cause. This

hypocrisy is largely unjust and is further proven in the sonnet “The New Colossus” by poet

Emma Lazarus. This sonnet that was cast onto a bronze plaque in 1903 and mounted inside the

statue of liberty reads:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

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 "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me;

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" (Staff)

The Statue of Liberty was a reassuring sign for many immigrants that they had arrived in the

land of their dreams. To these anxious newcomers, the Statue's uplifted torch suggested

"welcome," and over time, Liberty emerged as the "Mother of Exiles," a symbol of hope to

generations of immigrants (Staff, National Park Services). Is the statue of liberty creating a

misunderstanding for those wanting to immigrate to the U.S.? If you look at the United States

history and current policies, are they doing enough to welcome the tired, the poor, and the

huddled masses yearning to breathe free? This concept of enforceable duty of hospitality is not

being fulfilled.

People justify their actions in many ways. Since the colonial period, many Americans

have believed in a concept known as “Manifest Destiny”; that it was God’s will that the United

States should control the North American territory and that the nation needed to be based on a

common set of political ideals, religious beliefs, and cultural practices. This idea then would

expand beyond the North American continent and extend across the Western Hemisphere

through the Monroe Doctrine. President Theodore Rosevelt added the “Roosevelt Corollary” to

the Monroe Doctrine in 1904 witch defined US intervention in Latin American domestic affairs

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as necessary for national security. This was used to justify U.S. intervention in Cuba, Haiti,

Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic but was then reversed not long after in 1934 by Franklin

D. Roosevelt’s “good neighbor” policy toward Latin America. But this did not stop U.S.

intervention in Latin American countries, especially Mexico. One aspect of Mexican migration

that is not often highlighted is its relationship with US economic and political interests. Between

1876 and 1911, Mexican President Porfirio Díaz oversaw massive economic reconstruction, and

U.S. companies funded many changes. This led to significant U.S. involvement in the Mexican

economy. By the 1900s, U.S. companies owned 80 percent of Mexican railroads, 75 percent of

mining, and 50 percent of oil fields. A study done by the University of California, Berkeley in

2009 proved how this specific U.S. involvement contributed to Mexico's migration flows to the

United States.

Most accounts of Mexican migration to the United States argue that it was the social

upheaval caused by the Mexican Revolution [...] While the Mexican Revolution

unquestionably played a key role, a closer examination of the number of yearly arrivals

after the turn of the century reveals that Mexican migration to the United States began to

increase in 1908 and grew significantly in 1909 and 1910, before the revolution had taken

root (see Table 1). Similarly, migration levels continued to grow throughout the 1920s,

despite the reduced level of political violence in Mexico. (Bedolla)

The United States’ involvement is not just in Mexico but also in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Central

America. These economic and political interests have had a significant impact on which

countries Latin American migrants originate from, when they come and how they are treated

upon arrival (Bedolla).

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 Today Syria remains the world's largest refugee crisis, and the United States intervention

has a direct correlation. U.S policy toward Syria during the Obama administration was torn

between two often-clashing goals: “The CIA and State Department were focused on ending the

Assad family's decadeslong rule, while the U.S. military was trying to crush violent religious

extremists such as the Islamic State” (Petti). When President Donald Trump inherited this

awkwardly stitched-together policy he added in an element of chaos. He claimed he was ready to

pull U.S. forces out of Syria at the first opportunity, but he hired a collection of hawkish advisers

who thought of Syria as a battlefield on which to make Iran and Russia bleed. Aaron Stein stated,

"He hasn't been able to bring American troops home because his own bureaucracy resists him"

(qtd In Petti). The result has been a disaster, and this U.S. intervention fed into a “bloody,

year-long international conflict” (Petti). It is clear that the United States intervention in Syria has

played a role in the current refugee crisis. 13.4 million people from Syria were forcibly displaced

at the end of 2019, and only 631 Syrian refugees were admitted into the U.S. (UNHCR)(Statista

Research Department).

Syria is but one of many countries facing humanitarian crises and in need of help. In fact,

more than 80 million people today are displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, or

human rights violations. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last

report in 2020 stated that this includes 29.6 million refugees, 4.2 million asylum seekers, as well

as 45.7 million internally displaced people (Wallis). New displacement remains incredibly high.

One person becomes displaced every 3 seconds; that’s 20 people every minute. In 2019 UNHCR

reports showed that there were over 30,000 new displacements each day (USA for UNHCR). For

most people, this displacement is protracted. More than three-quarters of these people have been

displaced for over five years, and more than five million have been displaced for more than

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twenty years. As reported by Luke Glanville “While many states in the Global North perceive

the global refugee crisis in terms of large numbers of displaced people approaching or crossing

their borders, the vast majority of refugees--84 percent of the world's refugees are hosted by the

worlds “least developed” countries, including Bangladesh, Uganda, and conflict-torn Yemen''

(6). The world is split by The Brandt Line, which divides the countries in terms of development

and wealth. The Global North includes the more developed countries, and the Global South

includes the less developed countries (IBG). It is disheartening to know that the Global North

perceives the refugee crisis as a threat to their own countries, as shown when former President

Trump sent 7,000 active-duty militaries to the border. It is not necessarily true that global north

countries do not provide protection to any displaced people, but these countries' efforts only

provide protection to a small fraction of the large number of displaced people. Frequently we

label these people as dangerous, but the truth is they are escaping danger. As countries with

resources, and protection we need to be more empathetic to those suffering.

The developed and wealthy countries are not taking on that ethical obligation. A

troublesome statistic is the billions spent by the global north, not on hospitality but on

containment of forcibly displaced people. As stated by the American Immigration Council,

“Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003, the federal

government has spent an estimated $333 billion on the agencies that carry out immigration

enforcement” (1). This money is spent on deterring asylum seekers from reaching their territories

and detaining them for long periods of time in hopes that they will give up and return to their

country of origin or seek asylum elsewhere (Glanville 7). The U.S. border patrol budget has

increased immensely from 263 million in 1990 to 4.9 billion in 2021 (American Immigration

Council). Despite the fact that the U.S. has the money and the resources to protect and hold large

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numbers of displaced people, they choose to spend it on keeping them out. This leads to

overwhelmed Global South countries infuriated by both the shortfall of international assistance

they receive and the exclusionary policies of wealthier states leading to an enormous amount of

displaced people in their territories. This leads them to close their borders and return refugees

early to unsafe home countries. They are condemned for abandoning “their role” when in the

beginning, that role should never have been placed on them. The powerful continue to shift its

duty of hospitality away from themselves and onto weaker states. Lebanon, a densely populated

country with 6 million, is host to 1.5 million refugees from Syria and hundreds of thousands

from Palestine. Even before the large influx of refugees from Syria, the country was in a

precarious economic situation. Lebanon is dependent on importing the majority of what it needs

and has long kept its economy going through foreign loans and financial transfers from Lebanese

nationals abroad. Currently, unemployment is sky-high and the country's currency has dropped in

value by 85 percent, which means that much of the population is no longer able to afford the

necessities of survival. Recent surveys put more than 50 percent of the population below the

poverty line (Christophersen). Global North countries can help more than many of the countries

taking the greatest responsibility today.

There are three main ways for the global north to help refugees: One is to open their

borders to them, two is to assist the country of which they are leaving, and three is to pay poorer

countries to welcome them. Currently, the global north, and specifically the United States, is not

doing enough to help refugees in these ways. Luke Glanville states in Hypocritical Inhospitality:

The Global Refugee Crisis in the Light of History:

From the harms caused by their foolish wars and their reckless provisions of arms and

finance to abusive regimes to their exploitative economic bargaining practices and their

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 contributions to the routinized destruction of the global climate, the affluence, and

security of those who once demanded hospitality from others is inextricably connected to

poverty, vulnerability, and displacement of those whose requests for hospitality they now

deny. (10)

Due to their resources, size, and history, the states in the global north have an obligation to

respond to the global refugee crisis and should take into account not only their capacity to

provide welcome but also their culpability for displacement.

Cultural and Economic Value

Since the colonial period, there has always been constant tension between the desire to

welcome immigrants and the nativists' fear of foreigners of different religions, nationalities, and

races. Benjamin Franklin worried that too many german immigrants would swamp America's

mostly British culture. In the mid-1800s, Irish and Roman Catholic immigrants were excluded as

“lazy drunks”(Griswold). Similarly, Poles, Italians, and Russian Jews were believed to be too

different to ever assimilate to American life. Today the same fears are raised about immigrants

from Latin America and Asia. These fears have been influenced by false information. A growing

body of evidence demonstrates that the way the press frames policy issues can foster fear,

particularly with respect to portrayals of immigrants (Farris). Many may have been led to believe

otherwise, but as stated by the CATO institute “Successive waves of immigrants have kept our

country demographically young, enriched our culture and added to our productive capacity as a

nation, enhancing our influence in the world” (Griswold). The amount of value the US gets from

immigrants is huge but is never talked about. The media seems to always focus on the negative

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pieces of immigrants, but in reality, the positive outweighs the negative.

The United States has focused on immigrants’ acculturation and assimilation since the

beginning but never seems to look at immigrants’ significant contributions to the American

culture through many things like the performing arts, sciences, and other cultural pursuits. As

claimed by Charles Hirschman, “[A]n immigrant (outsider) heritage may offer certain creative

advantages to the minuscule fraction of persons possessing extraordinary talents. These

advantages include resilience and determination to succeed, curiosity and openness to innovation

born of marginality, and an attraction to high-risk pursuits (because conventional careers are less

open to them)” (Hirschman). Refugees and Asylees who are seeking safety and immigrants who

are mainly seeking a greater future are coming to the US wanting something better. This creates

a deep determination to succeed. They are putting themselves in a situation where they

constantly have to cope with the unfamiliar. Learning the ropes of a new society, mastering a

new language, living and working amongst strangers, and during it all, they are trying to succeed

in a society that doesn't always want them to. Al Jolson is a singer, comedian, and actor who was

born in Lithuania in 1886 and immigrated to the United States when he was a child. In the 1920s

and 30’s he was the most highly paid entertainer in the country, and at the peak of his career, was

dubbed “The World's Greatest Entertainer.” “Jolson climbed to the top of the ladder of the

American entertainment industry by redefining the role and image of a public performer”

(Hirschman). An outsider culturally and ethnically became an American cultural icon whose

style did not represent assimilation but rather the creation of a distinctive “American” genre of

musical performance. Many iconic American singers of the twentieth century, including Bing

Crosby, Tony Bennett, Judy Garland, Eddie Fisher, and Neil Diamond, report that Jolson's style

influenced their careers (Hirchman). Immigrants bring cultural value; this is proven in The

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Contributions of Immigrants to American Culture:

Immigrants and their children are overrepresented in a broad range of rare achievements,

including as Nobel Prize winners, leading scientists, and top-performing and creative

artists. They have broadened our cultural outlook and have sometimes even defined

American culture through literature, music, and art. Immigrants are, by definition,

bicultural and sometimes multicultural. They can navigate multiple languages and

understand how people from different backgrounds think and respond. Some sociologists

label this phenomenon marginality. The classic marginal man was supposed to be subject

to psychological distress, never knowing if he really fit in or belonged to any society or

culture. The flip side of marginality, however, is creativity. (Hirchman)

Al Jolson was not an exception. Immigrants and the children and grandchildren of immigrants

have played a huge role in the development of not just the performing arts but also artistic,

cultural, culinary, athletic, and scientific endeavors.

The social and cultural dimensions of immigration often arouse fears and concerns, just

as they did in earlier historical eras when there were massive new arrivals, mostly from Europe.

Some worry that the immigrants and their children do not share the same social values as those

born in the U.S. or that they will not learn English. Some Americans experience discomfort

about the introduction of new cultures and religions. Not all Americans share these fears, but

they can often drive public discourse about immigration. In 2019, Pew Research Center

conducted a survey that asked whether respondents believe that “Growing number of newcomers

from other countries strengthens American society, or threatens traditional American customs

and values.” From the survey, 41 percent believe that immigration threatens traditional American

16
values and customs, and 57 percent believe immigration strengthens American society. This

survey also shows that there are significant differences in opinion by age, education, and

partisanship; older respondents, those without high school degrees, and republicans were more

likely than others to say that immigrants threaten American values and customs, and those who

do worry about immigration effects are most concerned about Latino and the Spanish language

in particular (Pew Research Center). Integration of immigrants and their descendants across

various sociocultural dimensions is more positive than some fear. Chapter 7: Sociocultural

Dimensions of Immigrant Integration of the book The Integration of Immigrants into American

Society states, “Although language diversity among immigrants has increased even as Spanish

has become the dominant immigrant language, the available evidence indicates that today’s

immigrants are learning English at the same rate or faster than earlier immigrant waves” (303).

There is no reason to fear people who are just looking for something better. Immigrants don't

threaten our culture, traditions, or values, but instead, they enhance them.

Immigrants don't just bring cultural value; they also bring major economic value. In

2017 Immigrants across the U.S refused to go to work, attend school and shop for a day as part

of the Day Without Immigrants, a series of protests intended to illustrate the significant

economic and social impact that immigrants have on the country. Economic experts told ABC

News that the U.S. economy and workforce would be a “disaster” without immigrants (Tan and

Marshall). Some people believe that immigrants will take American jobs and lower wages, or

that they abuse welfare, and increase the budget deficit and government debt. The reality is that

this is simply not true; immigration fuels the economy. As stated in a journal by the Bush

Institute, “[i]n addition to the immigration surplus, immigrants grease the wheels of the labor

market by flowing into industries and areas where there is a relative need for workers — where

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bottlenecks or shortages might otherwise damp growth” (Orrenius). The immigration surplus is a

phenomenon that happens when immigrants enter the labor force. They increase the productive

capacity of the economy and raise GDP (gross domestic product), their incomes rise, and so do

those of non-immigrants. And as stated, that's not the only benefit. Immigrants are more likely to

move than those born in the U.S. when this happens; they are reliving these bottlenecks by going

to places with shortages in labor forces which then increases the speed of the economy. This

happened during and after world war 2 and also during the oil boom of the late 1970s and early

1980s; immigrants were crucial in alleviating shortages in both these events (Orrenius).

Another way to see the economic value is through immigrant entrepreneurship. In 2017

immigrants made up just 13.7 percent of the U.S. population, but 30 percent of all new

entrepreneurs. Immigrants are nearly twice as likely as those born in the U.S. to start businesses.

Big companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Yahoo were all founded by immigrants or their

children, and Microsoft and Oracle are led by immigrants today. On the 2018 Fortune 500 list,

nearly 44 percent of the companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants.

Together these companies brought in $5.5 trillion in revenue; this is greater than the GDP of

every country in the world besides the United States and China (Jawets). It's not just these large

and successful businesses that the economy is benefiting from. Small businesses help create jobs

and power local economies, and 1 in 5 small businesses are owned by immigrants. Besides the

direct economic benefits of these businesses and the jobs they create, they also bring a lot of

value to communities. As stated by the Immigration Research Initiative at the Fiscal Policy

Institute, “Immigrants own more than 60 percent of all gas stations, 58 percent of all dry

cleaners, 53 percent of all grocery stores, 45 percent of all nail salons, and 38 percent of all

restaurants” (Kallick). These are the businesses that represent the life and vitality of local

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communities(Jawets). If we focus more specifically on Refugees and Asylees, it is clear they too

share the major economic contributions of all immigrants. They have a high labor force

participation and become economically positive for the country within only eight years of arrival.

As stated by Tom Jawetz, the vice president for Immigration Policy at American Progress:

refugee employees have higher retention rates than other workers across industry sectors

and geography. The facts are so good that when the U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services, at the request of the Trump administration, prepared a study in 2017

concluding that refugees generated a net fiscal impact of $63 billion over the course of a

decade, the administration led by Stephen Miller suppressed the findings.

The Trump administration tried to find reasoning for why they made dramatic cuts to the U.S.

Refugee Admissions Program, but the results came out positive, so they rejected the findings; it

is safe to say the Trump administration’s decisions were not formed from facts; they were formed

from hate and racism against those from Latin America. While the benefits of immigrants to the

United States are overwhelmingly positive, there are still some downsides. For example, the

immigration surplus does not accrue equally to everyone. It lowers competing workers’ wages

while raising the return to the owners of capital, which includes business and land-owners and

investors. Research also suggests that these negative effects are concentrated among low-skilled

and not high-skilled workers. People should not fear that immigrants will jeopardize the United

States economy, and instead, should appreciate what immigrants do for it.

Part IV: Conclusion and Discussion

Today, many Americans would call the United States “the melting pot of the world,” but

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in reality, we have never accepted all races and nationalities. The majority of early immigration

was only for white Europeans, and non-European immigrants were welcomed only if they were

to fulfill the needs of white settler-colonists. As this paper has sought to show, society is

constantly changing, and the asylum and refugee policy needs reforming to be more equal,

humane, and empathetic. The United States has a moral and ethical responsibility to welcome

more refugees and asylees because of how it was founded, how it has intervened in other

country’s politics, and its status as a developed, wealthy country privileged with ample natural

resources. By allowing more refugees and asylees across the border, displaced people and the

United States will benefit together.

Thus, in order to address the current issues of racism, cruelty, and hypocrisy in the

system, there needs to be policy changes and a lift in the admissions cap. This conclusion will

lay out the author’s proposed changes, which include a plan to address the root causes of

displacement, a higher refugee cap, and a more humane and fair process.

To solve the immigration crisis for the long term, it is important to address the root cause

of displacement. It is heartening to see much-needed aid to help make life safe and livable in

Central America, included in President Biden’s immigration bill, the U.S. Citizenship Act of

2021. This bill codifies and funds the president's $4 billion four-year plan to address these

underlying causes of migration. Included in the bill is: increasing assistance to El Salvador,

Guatemala, and Honduras, conditioned on their ability to reduce the endemic corruption,

violence, and poverty, creating safe and legal channels for people to seek protection, and

reinstituting the Central American Minors program to reunite children with U.S. relatives (Staff,

The White House).

20
 The current Biden administration is acting on a number of fronts to reverse the Trump-era

restrictions on immigration to the United States. One big piece of Biden’s plan is to boost

refugee admissions. The new proposed admissions cap would be 62,500 refugees for the current

2021 fiscal year and 125,000 for the 2022 fiscal year, which starts in October. (Krogstad and

Gonzalez-Barrera) Biden has also made immigrants from Venezuela and Burma newly eligible

for a Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

One priority is issuing an Executive order to reverse a policy called the Migrant

Protection Protocols (MPP) or the “Remain in Mexico” where asylum seekers make their claim

in front of a U.S. border official, then are forced back into Mexico to wait for their cases to be

heard by a judge (IRC Editors). They are having to wait at the border in harsh conditions and

could be in danger from threats in Mexico. The Biden administration has begun allowing tens of

thousands of asylum seekers who were forced to wait in Mexico for a chance to obtain protection

in the United States. This is a great step forward, but while the Biden administration was dealt a

bad hand after Trump’s harsh policies, more change needs to happen.

On March 28, 2021, Representative Henry Cuellar released photos of a detention center

in Donna, Texas. In these photos, people are forced together in pods under terrible conditions.

The pods are only supposed to be holding 260 people, but one is reportedly holding over 400.

These photos were released by Cuellar because the Biden Administration has removed media

access to the facility. While Biden has ended the family separation policy, his administration has

continued to turn away Asylum Seekers unless they’re unaccompanied minors. This policy has

forced many asylum seekers to send their children to the U.S. alone. After this revelation,

President Biden put Vice President Kamala Harris in charge, and Representative Cuellar said,

"I'm glad that the president put the vice president in charge because we need somebody that can

21
look at the comprehensive view of what we're seeing here. It's not a simple solution" (qtd. In

Quinn). The refugee crisis is seen by many as a complicated issue that has no simple solution,

but our moral imperative is clear: Our founding by immigrants created a great nation of

free-living people, so we must continue as a global leader to set an example of empathy,

kindness, and protection to those with the greatest need.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people whose lives and livelihoods are

shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and regain control of their future. Text

RESCUE to 40649 to get messages from the IRC on ways to stay involved. How can you make a

difference right now? Here are a few ways to take action: donate online to the IRC or donate

goods locally, call or write your representatives, speak out and spread the word, volunteer,

welcome a refugee in temporary need of shelter through IRC partner Airbnb, invest in a refugees

future, and learn about solutions and stay informed. (IRC Editors)

22
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