Wall or no wall, here’s what we really lose in the indignant narrative of immigration
By, Lauren Lee Anderson of Moonshot
Rabid hyperbole is fueling cultural divides at increasingly WTF speeds. Nowhere is this more true than the topic of immigration. The evolving status-quo continues to frame the immigrant as a vague and shadowy “other.” The ones who do the dirty work. Illegal people. We don’t know where they come from, but they have bad eggs. Bad hombres. Build a wall.
Let’s define walls both as massive physical barriers used to isolate countries and as each piece of anti-immigration or anti-anybody legislation passed by the U.S government. If we measure today’s narrative against history, we ought to ask who else we might keep out with our future walls.
Elon Musk? (Business magnate, investor, engineer, and inventor. SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity, PayPal.) Sergey Brin? (Computer scientist, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Google.) Andy Grove? (Businessman, engineer, author and a science pioneer in the semiconductor industry. Co-founder, Intel.)
Surely, let’s not keep those people out.
Of course, it’s worth acknowledging that everyone in this short list belongs to the realm of tech, business and, yes, they’re all men. The list is far too long and the contributions too many to count all of the immigrant athletes, entertainers, writers, philosophers, politicians, musicians — women and men of all nationalities — that have massively contributed to the freedom-fighting, pioneering course of America.
They’re a category of Greats, the ones we’re lucky to call “ _____-American”. They’re achievers and they made it to the top, though they didn’t necessarily start there. Many came with pennies in their pockets. Many left their families for the pursuit of the kind of opportunity that America offers. They were lucky for that and we as American people are unquestionably better off for it.
America opened the gates for their dreams and no walls ultimately impeded their contributions. Our predicament today is that we’re becoming increasingly disposed to the view that this other is a fundamental threat, not an asset.
Viewed solely through the lens of a rhetoric that insists on demonizing “the takers,” we risk recognizing (and capitalizing on) the enormous potential of immigrants, a future loss of untold contribution.
It seems obvious to advocate for the next Andy Grove but the reality is, he or she is likely stuck right now — either on the outside behind a wall that already exists or in limbo, undocumented on the inside.
The holy H-1B
Thousands of the world’s best and brightest are trying to get in. They still believe in the brand of the American Dream and will come here to give it their best in exchange for their ability to stay in America, to raise their families, to cultivate their talents.
The potential return on that for America is enormous. Yet they’re walled off by a highly unlikely lottery, complex and expensive application process, long lines, and completely uncertain fates.
Immigrants currently launch more than a quarter of all US businesses. In Silicon Valley that number is 44%. Of the unicorns out there (startups valued at $1B or more) — 51% have foreign founders. It’s no wonder our country’s hottest pocket of venture capital and innovation is so frustrated — starting and building a company (which is hard for anybody) is next to impossible without the H-1B work visa.
Each year there are 65,000 H-1B visas granted — it’s a lottery and quota that is filled within about 5 days in April. It’s a costly and absolutely uncertain path for immigrant entrepreneurs. Silicon Valley is fighting for reform, born of desire to gain access to global top talent and it’s really no surprise. Immigrants are good for innovation.
While there’s no telling quite what reform will look like, in the meantime our northern neighbor has taken the opportunity to advertise alternatives.
Reforming the H-1B situation and creating other avenues for foreign entrepreneurs is one part of the equation, yet it’s unclear how it benefits the other side — the 11 million who stand to be most demoralized by a xenophobic narrative that fails to explore what they could truly give and contribute if we gave them the ability to do so.
If the next Andy Grove isn’t trying to get in, maybe they’re already here
In a recent special edition of Wired, Laurene Powell Jobs wrote a poignant case for young immigrants, stating, “Our policies for immigration are outdated and broken. Immigrants face more obstacles than opportunities, and the waste of human potential is profound. In an era of global competition, America cannot afford to squander the millions of people who want to work and who can help us craft a better future — whether they are destined to become a farmworker, a teacher, or the next Andy Grove.”
Andy Grove didn’t start out as the legend he became. Before he became a quintessential American capitalist, a digital pioneer and leader in the semiconductor revolution, he survived the Holocaust and escaped the Soviet invasion as a Jewish-born Hungarian to New York, penniless in his twenties. And what he started with is what he shares with many of the 11 million in-limbo immigrants: determination, motivation, resourcefulness, self-reliance, patience, drive, perseverance.
The world doesn’t show any signs of slowing and we need tenacity, fortitude, and adaptability in our culture. We need innovators, entrepreneurs, scientists, technologists, pioneers. But we also need the contributions that come from social workers, farm workers, and public and civil servants.
Some of these people are trying to get in and will invest their lives in that pursuit. Some of these people are currently here and undocumented. Some of these people are born-n-bred Americans.
We know we can’t have completely open borders. But how can we have more open minds? How can we change the narrative from “those who take” to “those who give?” How can we recognize that inclusion and innovation are bound together and that investing in both can help secure our future, for generations beyond our own?
The indignant narrative of immigration walls off the ability to establish understanding and trust, the foundation from which we can reach our country’s highest potential. History reminds us that walls are historic symbols of repression, discrimination, ignorance, and division and let’s not forget that we celebrated not the rise, but the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Security is not a wall but a bridge to future opportunities. We can invest in walls or we can invest in people.
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