Check out this great article, “Immigrants offer US cities scope for new growth.”  The article focuses on a New York Finnish immigrant who utilizes a community entrepreneurial space for his baking business.  The story continues to discuss the fact that, nation-wide, immigrants are twice as likely to start a new business, describing programs in cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit that incentivize immigrant entrepreneurs who invest money and create jobs in economically distressed areas by offering them green cards. 

Why is this such great news?  For starters, it displays the type of resourcefulness that is required to leverage the US economy back on the road to recovery.  If we’re going to resuscitate our middle class, the answer isn’t for the gigantic corporate banks that survived the recession to continue preying on hard-hit average Joes—we need collective community action and opportunities for self-employed individuals to become financially successful while at the same time providing jobs for others.  This is heartening news because it demonstrates that people can still achieve success through hard work and initiative. 

Another thing I love about this article is that it hints at economic recovery through some of the most classically American values—opportunity and acceptance of disadvantaged peoples from all around the world.  It seems that the recent debate on immigration reform has neglected a few historical realities.  Many of us, though we consider ourselves natural born “Americans” are really just a few generations away from our ancestors who immigrated in search of a better chance at success.  It really hasn’t been so long since the now-accepted populations of German, Irish and Italian immigrants were frowned upon as cultural invaders—and that’s not even taking into account more recent time-tested non-European demographics who have contributed immeasurably to America both economically and culturally.   Part of the American melting pot is its free and easy mix of culture, and the economic benefit of this mix is just one reason why it’s lauded as a crucial aspect of the American way. 

However, immigrants’ higher statistical likelihood to start businesses don’t mean that they’re immune to the pitfalls and bad luck that has become so familiar to small businesses in the past five years—as the article states, they’re “more likely to see their business fail within three-and-a-half years than native-born entrepreneurs.”  Initiative is only one piece of the puzzle, but it’s an undeniably intermeshed series of issues.  Policy-makers around the country—some of whom would rather not see one more Hispanic immigrant cross the US-Mexico border—have to reconcile their immigration stance with their desire for economic recovery; “the states experiencing the largest increases in entrepreneurial activity…saw their Hispanic population rise by more than 80% as well.”  While the burden of undocumented immigrants on US social services is undeniable, now more than ever we have to remain aware of the historical success and undeniable efficacy of immigrants as a crucial part of our economic growth.  As Michael Bloomberg says, “We need the federal government to fix our immigration system, but New York City can't afford to wait.”  I’m not so sure the rest of the country can afford to wait, either.