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Let me get one thing straight – every sidewalk you’re standing on, every app on your phone, every burger flip in your local diner – all were built by immigrants or their kids. Period.
We’re not talking metaphor. We’re not talking about “inspiration.” We’re talking literal beams, circuits, and spatulas.
Start at the absolute beginning… 1492. Columbus didn’t sail solo – he crewed a Pinta full of Spaniards who’d have stayed home farming chickpeas if Isabella hadn’t kicked them out. Fast-forward to Jamestown. The first paying passenger list? English, Welsh, Dutch, Africans dragged in chains, French Huguenots hiding in the hold. That colony starved until the Powhatan showed them corn – another immigrant food tech upgrade.
Fast-forward again. Revolution? Who printed Paine’s pamphlets? German presses. Who funded it? French bankers, Spanish smugglers, Dutch lenders. Washington crossed the Delaware in a boat built by Swedish timbermen who’d jumped ship.
Now the myth: “Americans bootstrapped everything.” Nah. The cotton gin? Eli Whitney’s mom came from Wales. The railroads? Chinese tracklayers sleeping in snow so white boys could cash war bonds. The transistor – father of iPhones – built by William Shockley, whose grandpa hopped off a Limerick freighter in ’44.
Pick any empire story.
Hollywood? Carl Laemmle, Louis B. Mayer, Adolph Zukor – three German Jews who’d have been bartenders if Ellis Island stamps hadn’t let them in.
Boeing? Wilhelm Boeing’s dad was a Swiss watchmaker who pivoted to airplanes.
Agriculture? Without Mexican braceros and Jamaican hands, California’s almond orchards would still be dust.
Tech? Sergey Brin left Moscow at six. Elon Musk rode a plane out of Pretoria.
Stats aren’t abstract. The USDA says twenty-three percent of farmworkers are undocumented – pick your strawberries, thank an undocumented hand.
The Census says twenty-five percent of STEM grads are foreign-born – next time your Tesla swerves on Autopilot, kiss an immigrant circuit designer.
And here’s the kicker: most “Americans” aren’t even old stock. In 1900, two-thirds of U.S. steelworkers were foreign-born. In 1980, seventy-five percent of Silicon Valley engineers had parents from overseas. Today, forty-two percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their kids.
Politicians wave Bibles and say “build walls,” but forget Leviticus 19:34 – treat the foreigner “as the native among you.” They’re quoting scripture written by refugees who’d been slaves. Irony so thick you can chew it.
Without immigrants, there would be no…
• Jazz – Armstrong’s granddad came off a boat singing work songs
• NASA moon landing – half the rocket team had accents
• Taco Tuesday – literally
Even our flag… Betsy Ross? Grandparents sailed from Cheshire. The stars? Designed by a guy whose last name rhymes with “Beauregard” but spelled it American.
We don’t “need” immigrants like extra fries. We need them like oxygen. They fill the jobs locals won’t… septic-tank divers, slaughterhouse workers, night-shift nurses. They start businesses at double the rate of the rest of us. They pay taxes, open shops, and coach Little League.
Last year ICE rounded up nineteen thousand people. You know what also happened? The dairy industry begged for H2-A visas because cows don’t milk themselves at two a.m. Chain saw sales also dipped – turns out Mexicans do landscaping.
The bottom line is that America’s not a club. It’s a relay race. We run the baton till our legs quit, then hand it off. If we grab the baton and then lock the track, the whole thing collapses. No more 4th of July fireworks, no more Super Bowl wings, no more Siri reading bedtime stories.
So next time somebody yells “close the border,” ask them to name one thing they’re using that wasn’t touched by immigrant sweat. Silence will be the answer.
And silence – for once – will be honest
Bill Gindlesperger is a central Pennsylvanian, Dickinson College graduate, Pennsylvania System Of Higher Education (PASSHE) Governor, former Shippensburg University Trustee, awarded numerous patents, as well as Founder and Chairman of eLynxx Solutions. eLynxx provides cloud-software for automated sourcing and managing of mail marketing, swag, packaging, and all things print. He is a board member, campaign advisor, successful entrepreneur, published author and commentator. He can be reached at Bill.Gindlesperger@eLynxx.com.
