USA Today Strategies - Time to celebrate immigrants

 
A few years ago, I toured the Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn, the New York City borough where my father grew up. My dad, Alex, was the son of hard-working, ambitious immigrants from Eastern Europe. Like most immigrants, they came to this shore seeking a better life for their children — more economic opportunity, more political and religious freedom.
 
Walking around my father's old neighborhood was like taking a trip back in time, except the immigrants I saw were from the Caribbean instead of Eastern Europe, black instead of white, and spoke with a different accent. But they were living much the same lives — students pouring over homework in the library, kids playing in front yards, parents going off to low-paying service jobs or to business they started themselves. Clearly, America meant the same to them as it meant to my family. I could see that these children were the future of America.
Immigrants are America's not-so-secret strength. Some immigrants come here to save their lives, like child refugees from Honduras or gays fleeing persecution, or oppressed women seeking education and careers. Immigrants often experience hardship — sometimes death-defying hardship — to come here.
 
Throughout America's history, most immigrants have been economic immigrants. They may come here for greater freedom or safety, but opportunity is generally the greatest motivation.
 
By being a welcoming place for immigrants, we make a bargain with them: They revitalize our country, and we give them a home.
 
Immigrants overwhelmingly stick to their end of the deal. They bring us fresh, new ideas. They become our scholars. They win Olympic medals. They introduce us to new foods. They create businesses — small businesses — even entire new industries. They keep America vital and competitive.
 
Here are just a few statistics on immigrants' effects on business and job creation from the Immigration Policy Center, the research and policy arm of the American Immigration Council:
 
• More than 40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants.
 
• Those companies employ over 3.6 million Americans, and 10 million employees worldwide.
 
• In 2010, immigrant business owners had revenues of $121.2 billion — 15% of all business revenue in the USA.
 
• A University of Denver study found that between 2005 and 2011, immigrants moving to metropolitan areas led to an increase in employment and a decrease in unemployment.
 
• A Kauffman study found that in 2012, immigrants started businesses at almost double the rate of non-immigrants.
Think of some of the many immigrant entrepreneurs who have made America what it is today:
 
• Levi Strauss: The man who invented blue jeans emigrated from Bavaria in 1850. There are few things more American than a pair of Levi's.
 
• Liz Claiborne: This Belgian-born fashion designer co-founded the famous label bearing her name. In 1986 Liz Claiborne Inc. became the first company founded by a woman to make the Fortune 500.
 
• John W. Nordstrom: The man behind the famous, upscale department-store chain came from Sweden in 1896.
 
• Eugene Kleiner: Austrian-born Kleiner was one of the "traitorous eight," the founders of Silicon Valley, and the original founder of the famed venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
 
• Elon Musk: Tesla Motors, SpaceX, PayPal, household battery power. This serial entrepreneur emigrated from South Africa to Canada and later here to the USA.
 
• Sergey Brin: The co-founder of Google was born in Moscow in 1973 and came to America at the age of 6. Where would you be without Google?
 
• Sofía Vergara: Perhaps known best for her role in as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on the hit TV show Modern Family, Colombian-born Vergara also started the Hispanic talent agency Latin We and launched a clothesline for Kmart.
 
We are all — with the exception of Native Americans — the descendants of immigrants. That's something to celebrate this Fourth of July.