The American dream grows through sharing with newcomers

From the construction of 19th-century railroads to the creation of 21st-century artificial intelligence, immigrants have played a great role in the American innovation and with that also have had a big impact in the economy.

Just checking the last 25 years of Nobel Prize recipients, immigrants were awarded 40% of the Nobel Prizes won by Americans in chemistry, medicine and physics.

Foreign-born entrepreneurs started a disproportionate share of American small businesses and Fortune 500 companies. Around 66% of U.S. billion-dollar companies (the so-called “unicorns”) have been founded or cofounded by immigrants or the children of immigrants.

In addition, immigrants fill critical gaps across the economic spectrum, from agriculture and healthcare to construction and engineering. Some of these foreign-born workers are key, especially in rural communities across the country.

Here in Iowa, immigrants contribute in many ways to our communities including with around $1.9 billion paid in taxes annually. My own city, Marshalltown, is a wonderfully diverse community. It is diverse in culture and offers community members so many opportunities to learn and grow, regardless of where they were born.

As the native-born population ages, younger immigrant workers sustain the tax base, funding vital social safety nets like Social Security.

Societies that shut off immigration eventually stagnate. They age, lose economic momentum, and grow cautious. America has largely avoided this trap because immigration acts as a constant injection of youth, ambition, and risk-tolerance. The individuals who leave everything behind to come here possess rare traits: courage and a fierce belief in self-determination. By choice, they embody the very traits of the original revolutionaries of 1776. Immigrants contribute to keeping the nation progressive and future-focused alongside their American neighbors.

Critics often worry that immigration dilutes national identity. History shows the opposite. Immigrants do not dilute American culture; they expand it. The beauty of the American identity is that it is not defined by blood or soil, but by adherence to a shared creed of liberty and opportunity. Each wave of arrivals adds new depth to the cultural landscape while fiercely adopting the core values of their new home.

As the United States marks this historic milestone, the challenge is to reform and modernize an outdated immigration system, not to shutter the gates. To maintain global leadership in the next two and a half centuries, America must remain the world’s premier destination for talent and hope. Securing borders and streamlining legal pathways are not mutually exclusive goals; they are dual requirements for a functional superpower.

Recent polling shows that there is an overwhelming consensus for a fair, restitution-based immigration solution. Everyone can urge Congress for bipartisan work on this topic.

Celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States means recognizing that the American dream is not a finite resource. It grows larger, the more it is shared. By continuing to welcome those who wish to build a better life, America ensures its greatest chapters are still to be written.