As we approach America’s 250th birthday, I’m hoping we might reflect a bit on the national conversation around immigration.
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It’s actually the same conversation we’ve been having over the past 20, 50, 100, 150 years.
Each generation of Americans seems to settle into the familiar argument that the immigrant newcomers are not like the ones before, that they don’t embrace American values, that they will end up changing the very fabric of America and that far too many are here to harm us.
If history will be our north star, most of today’s fears about the current immigrant arrivals will prove as wrong as the ones before.
Sadly, thus far, we never learn.
Each generation somehow cuts the umbilical cord of the lessons of the past, convinced that the newest arrivals represent a new threat unlike anything the country had faced before.
But we have to find a way to break this “Groundhog Day” version of xenophobia, acceptance, xenophobia, acceptance.
This misplaced xenophobia — as much as it appears American as Apple Pie or baseball — divides, weakens and slows the country down.
While the faces, names, accents and countries change over the centuries, the arguments barely change at all. This reminder might help us break the cycle.
In the mid-1800s, many Americans were convinced that Irish immigrants would never become “real Americans.” They were viewed as too poor, too Catholic, too loyal to foreign influences and too culturally different to fit comfortably into our American neighborhoods.
The concern ran so deep that an entire political movement — the Know-Nothing Party — rose to prominence largely by opposing Catholic immigration. Many Americans genuinely believed Irish Catholics could never be fully loyal citizens because their allegiance supposedly belonged to Rome rather than the Constitution.
Today, that fear seems ludicrous.
The descendants of those supposedly unassimilable Irish immigrants became police officers, firefighters, teachers, judges, governors, military heroes, business owners, members of Congress and presidents.
Then came the Italians.
The objections sounded strikingly familiar. Critics argued that Italians were too different, too attached to old-world customs, too unwilling to embrace American culture. Civic leaders warned that large-scale Italian immigration would damage the character of the nation.
Again, these fears dissolved into the absurd.
Italian Americans went on to become mayors, governors, Supreme Court justices, business leaders, entertainers and cultural icons. Their contributions became so woven into American life that it is difficult to imagine the country without them.
The same story repeated itself with Eastern Europeans, Jewish immigrants, Greeks, Chinese immigrants and many others.
Different decade and nationality, but similar cadence of xenophobia and acceptance. They became American’s Greatest Generation, built the industrial powerhouse and powered American might in WW II.
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For more than two centuries, Americans have repeatedly predicted that a particular group would fail to assimilate, have underestimated newcomers and gotten it wrong each time.
That does not mean immigration has always been easy. It hasn’t.
Integration and “becoming American” takes time. Newcomers face obstacles. Communities experience change. Cultural adjustments can create uncertainty and discomfort. Reasonable people can disagree about immigration levels, border security, enforcement priorities and public policy.
But Americans have too often mistaken unfamiliarity for incompatibility.
We are scared of the differences, and presume, incorrectly, that the chasm between “us” and “them” is permanent.
As an immigration lawyer for more than three decades, I have had the privilege of representing immigrants from around the world. I have watched families arrive with limited resources and enormous grit and resilience. I have seen their children become physicians, engineers, entrepreneurs, researchers, public servants and community leaders.
Many of their stories follow a familiar pattern. The first generation struggles. The second generation advances. The third generation often forgets how controversial the first generation once seemed.
And then America discovers a new group to worry about.
Americans have repeatedly underestimated newcomers. We have repeatedly assumed that today’s differences would become permanent divisions.
What ultimately transformed earlier immigrant communities was not government policy alone. It was families, schools, churches, synagogues, neighborhoods, employers and civic organizations. Becoming American has always been a two-way process requiring effort from newcomers and a concerted welcoming from the communities that receive them.
America’s success has never come from demanding perfection from immigrants on the day they arrive. It has come from creating conditions that allow them — and their children — to work hard, learn the terrain and succeed over time.
Perhaps the greatest irony is that many Americans whose own ancestors were once viewed as outsiders now express concern, and even disdain, for today’s immigrants.
History has a wicked sense of humor.
As America celebrates 250 years of nationhood, history does not tell us what immigration policy should be in 2026. Reasonable people can disagree about visas, refugee admissions, border enforcement, and legal immigration levels.
But history does offer one consistent lesson.
Americans have repeatedly underestimated newcomers. We have repeatedly assumed that today’s differences would become permanent divisions.
More often than not, we were wrong.
As America enters its next 250 years, perhaps the question is not whether immigrants will become part of the American story.
The better question is whether we have learned enough from our own history to recognize that story while it is still unfolding.
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