When Americans move to other countries to live out the rest of their lives, it’s usually for one of many reasons. Perhaps they chased love or got a terrific job offer. Maybe they thought it would be fun. They might have tried to escape the law. Regardless, I’ve yet to meet an American who left because they lacked opportunity in the US.
The first blog in this series discussed a bit about my roots as an immigrant. Still, to understand immigration better, it helps to see the statistics as presented in June 2019 by the Pew Research Center:
The United States has more immigrants than any other country in the world, totaling 44 million. That’s roughly 1/5th of the world’s overall immigrant population.
Immigrants make up 13.6% of the US population, nearly triple the 4.7% in the 1970s.
In the 1980s, the US had the highest percentage of immigrants at 14.8%.
Nearly 77% of immigrants live in the US legally, with 45% opting to become naturalized citizens. In 2018, approximately 800,000 immigrants became citizens.
In 2017, the top three countries of origin for immigrants were 1) India – 126,000, 2) Mexico – 124,000, and 3) China – 121,000.
Almost 45% of US immigrants live in just three states: California, Texas, and New York.
Among native US citizens, 62% say immigrants strengthen the country through hard work and talent, which is up from 31% in 1994.
Some of these statistics surprised me. Whether a person is Indian or Chinese, or they settle in California or New York or are from somewhere else and settle somewhere different, nearly every one of them came to the US for the same reason. They had an inner drive — a deep hunger that made them want to have a better quality of life. They also knew that they wouldn’t be able to follow their dreams and their calling if they stayed in their country of origin.
The hunger for opportunity is passed along by immigrants to their children who are first-generation Americans. Statistically, children of immigrants academically achieve at rates much higher than their peers who have families that have been here for generations.
One doesn’t have to look any further than at the year-to-year participants in the Intel Science Talent Search, a national competition once called the “Junior Nobel Prize.” It has since been renamed the Regeneron Science Talent Search. In 2016, 83% of finalists were children of immigrants, a new high that has steadily grown every year. According to Forbes, that number was 70% in 2011 and 60% in 2004.
I believe this success is because children of immigrants grow up in homes where stories are regularly told about their parent or parents’ homeland. They are observant and don’t take for granted that if things had been a little different, they would not have had the opportunities the US provides.
I’m a student of history. I read about different groups coming to America, be it the Pilgrims (It’s the 400th anniversary this year [2020] of them landing at Plymouth Rock) or Italian immigrants in the early 1900s during the industrial revolution, people came to the US searching for a better life. I think this fact is something that those who have been here for generations sometimes forget about.
Except for the American Indian population, we’re all immigrants of this great nation, whether it’s one generation or six generations ago. We’re all blessed to be part of this amazing land of opportunity.