The 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence is a time to consider what it means to be patriotic. Immigration has always been part of our country’s history, and that history is filled with moving stories about why immigrants chose to move to this country.
Like many Kentuckians living in an increasingly diverse state these days, I have immigrants who are neighbors, members of my church and friends of my kids. While immigration is a heated and polarizing political debate when you turn on cable news, the dreams and hopes of immigrants are ones familiar to all of us, and I seldom feel more patriotic than when I talk with them about why they chose to make the U.S. their home.
What I hear most is how much social and economic opportunity is available to people in the U.S., and how much immigrants want to contribute to America’s success. And despite so much of the current narrative around immigration, that’s exactly what the data shows.
Immigration is responsible for 70% the net population growth in Kentucky since 2020. That increase is especially helpful at a time when deaths now exceed births in Kentucky for the first time in recorded history, as an aging baby boomer generation begins to pass away.
The reality is that our workforce would be much smaller without the contributions that immigrants make. If Kentucky immigrants weren’t on the job, there would be 112,700 fewer workers aged 25-54 (our “prime age” labor force) than there are now, and we would have fewer prime age workers than we did in 2000. That would mean fewer goods and services produced and less tax revenue for public services we all need.
Not only would our workforce be smaller without immigrants, but key sectors would see critical shortages that could result in higher prices for all of us. Working immigrants comprise 12% of construction workers and restaurant cooks. They make up 10% of our landscaping workers, 16% of physicians, 20% of maids and housekeepers, and 24% of Kentucky’s software engineers. Each year, over 6,000 temporary migrants come to Kentucky on H-2A visas to farm the grains, produce, meat and dairy that feeds America.
In addition, 13% of main street businesses that interface with the public on a regular basis are owned by immigrants who in turn create jobs for everyone in the commonwealth. Every day, in every sector of our economy, immigrants are producing the goods and services we all benefit from.
Apart from the economic contributions, immigrants make our communities a more vibrant and enriching place to live. And according to the conservative Cato Institute, having immigrants live nearby makes us safer, too.
Despite these advantages, current federal policies are focused on ridding the country of current immigrants and cutting off as much legal immigration as it can. Besides the well-documented, and oft-rogue, ramp-up of deportations by ICE and CBP (including here in Kentucky), the White House has done its level-best to make life more difficult for the lawfully-abiding immigrants who live here now and to roll out an unwelcome mat for those trying to enter through the “front door” with overly restrictive immigration policies. Congress, through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed a year ago, went further by removing various supports like health care and food assistance to lawfully-residing immigrants (like refugees) who once used those benefits to get a stable footing and keep contributing to the economy.
Every country can and should set the rules for how many new residents it can welcome each year from other countries. It is an internationally recognized right of our country to secure our borders and control the traffic in and out. These questions are not up for debate.
What we should consider, however, is not just the costs of allowing immigrants to join us in the Great Experiment, but the benefits, too. As our family and friends, immigrant and native alike, celebrate a historic anniversary, our patriotism should continue to include honoring our immigrant neighbors and the many ways they contribute to our country’s greatness.
This column was published on July 3 in the Kentucky Lantern.
