Legal immigrants have been an engine of economic growth

The words of Luis Gutierrez, “Legal immigrants have been an engine of economic growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship on this continent for longer than we have been a nation,” resound like a timeless hymn to human striving. They call us to remember that the story of civilization itself is a story of movement — of migration, of courage, and of hope carried across oceans and deserts alike. Before any flag was raised, before any border was drawn, there were travelers who built, sowed, and dreamed upon this land. It is their footsteps, not laws nor boundaries, that mark the beginning of nations.

From the dawn of the New World, the spirit of immigration has been the sacred fire fueling the continent’s rise. The Pilgrims who braved the Atlantic, the farmers who turned wilderness into harvest, the inventors who forged machines from the forge of imagination — all were wanderers seeking a place to plant their dreams. Even before the birth of the United States, these seekers laid the foundations of a civilization that would one day call itself a nation of immigrants. Thus, Gutierrez reminds us that the roots of greatness run deeper than citizenship; they run into the soil of human courage.

Consider the story of Andrew Carnegie, a boy who arrived from Scotland with nothing but resolve and the faint smell of coal in his clothes. Through his labor and vision, he built a steel empire that would shape the very bones of modern America — bridges, railways, and cities that rose like prayers of progress. Or reflect on Sergey Brin, who fled Soviet repression and helped create Google, a gateway of knowledge for billions. These souls, once strangers to this land, became architects of its destiny. Innovation and entrepreneurship are not accidents of birth; they are fruits of freedom, watered by the faith of those who journey far to find it.

Gutierrez’s words are also a quiet rebuke to forgetfulness. In times when fear of the other clouds the mind of the nation, his voice breaks through like thunder over still waters: Remember who we are. Every generation of newcomers renews the covenant of liberty by believing in it anew. They remind those born to comfort that freedom must be earned — not once, but again and again, through effort, sacrifice, and gratitude. It is the legal immigrant, bound by both law and longing, who often keeps that sacred promise most faithfully.

Let the hearts of the people not grow cold to this truth. The engine of growth that Gutierrez speaks of is not merely of factories and fortunes, but of human spirit — the energy that compels one to rise before dawn, to learn strange tongues, to build a home from dust. It is the quiet power of those who labor unseen, whose hands build the dreams that others inherit. If a nation’s strength lies in its people, then its soul lies in its immigrants, whose courage renews it with every generation.

From this reflection, a lesson emerges as enduring as the mountains: never despise the stranger who comes to dwell among you, for they may be the messenger of your future prosperity. In your community, open your gates not only with tolerance but with welcome; offer mentorship to the newcomer, partnership to the worker, and faith to the dreamer. In doing so, you do not give charity — you invest in the ongoing miracle of civilization itself.

So let the words of Luis Gutierrez be etched upon the hearts of the living: nations are not built by those who guard their borders with fear, but by those who open their hearts with hope. The story of legal immigrants is not a tale of outsiders entering — it is the very heartbeat of humanity, crossing thresholds in search of light. And as long as we remember this truth, the engine of progress will never cease to turn, and the fire of freedom will never go out.