Musings of an Immigrant
I’m an immigrant. I was born in Montreal, Canada and came to the United States as an immigrant when I was 25 years old. I first came down on a NAFTA Visa, worked to get a green card, then eventually, over 10 years later, got my citizenship. I did the hard work to go through the process, then I built a number of businesses in the United States, I employed a lot of people, I paid my taxes.
That’s what the United States is supposed to be about. I came because I saw opportunity. It’s been great for me and I’d like to think, good for the country as well.
But my case is easy because I speak the same language and I look like an American. I don’t get harassed as a foreigner, nobody tells me to go home, nobody thinks I’m a terrorist. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told someone that I’m an immigrant only to have them look at me in surprise, then say “not really, you’re from Canada”. Then they laugh. Like that absolves me of the “bad parts” of being an immigrant.
For years I have found that reaction odd, but didn’t put much thought into what was underpinning the sentiment. I wish I had, because it’s not good. It’s the same anti-immigrant sentiment that’s given rise to the election of Donald Trump.
The United States is the land of opportunity and immigration is the bedrock of our success. Why shouldn’t everyone have the same opportunity that I’ve had? What’s wrong with immigrants?
Everyone wants immigrants “like me”, of course. “David”, they would say, “you’re not the problem, it’s the terrorists that we want to keep out”. It’s as if they’re saying, “you’re from Canada, you’re ok.”
Contrast my story with that of my colleague at Techstars, Ahmad Sufian Bayram. He’s one of the kindest, most giving people I have ever met. He’s working hard to develop entrepreneurship in the middle east. He’s an entrepreneur, like me. But he’s from Syria.
So, why am I “ok” and Ahmad is not welcome?
Obviously, the concept of immigration is not the problem.
Nor is it the fear of terrorism; if you spend 5 minutes with Ahmad, you’d know that he’s no more likely to be a terrorist than I am. When my mother came to visit in the days after the September 11 attacks, I asked her how she felt traveling. Her response sticks with me; she said “Oh, the world is a dangerous place, we knew that”. The point is that there are no absolutes. Sure, we could close our borders in the name of security, but then we choke off our ideals. The argument that “he could be a terrorist, and you can’t take any chances” doesn’t hold water.
In fact, the problem is our biases. There is no other way to say it, other than to say that we are discriminating based on religion or national origin. This discrimination is based on fear. We want people that look like us, think like us, pray like us. But that’s not what makes America great. What makes us great is being welcoming and accepting of those that are different. It allows for more ideas and perspectives to infect our thinking, shape our decisions and do great things.
At Techstars, we help entrepreneurs succeed. Every day, I get to see first hand how diversity helps make that happen, by generating great ideas and building great companies. Biases get in the way of that.
I despise Trump’s executive order of Jan. 27 banning immigrants from certain countries. Despise is a strong word, but it’s how I feel. I feel that way because we are eroding our ideals. By not embracing immigration, we are turning our back on diversity and inclusion. And that is the opposite of what makes America great.
