The USA Is Stronger Because of Immigrants:

How Trump’s Hostile Immigration Machine Threatens American Greatness

By  Dr. Arvind Suresh

“At its core, immigration is a sign of a confident and successful nation. Immigrants’ talent and hard work and love of freedom have helped us become the leader of the world.”

–President George W. Bush 

Immigration has been an intrinsic part of the American story since our founding, consistently serving to the benefit of our nation. From the bedrock of our economic vitality to the rich tapestry of our cultural heritage, the contributions of foreign-born individuals have continually propelled the United States forward. While waves of newcomers from every corner of the world have helped shape this republic, few demographic groups exemplify the transformative impact of the American Dream quite like Indian-Americans. Representing a community defined by relentless work ethic, academic excellence, entrepreneurial grit, and civic commitment, Indian-Americans demonstrate how immigration strengthens the United States across every sector of society.

However, realizing the full potential of our national motto—E pluribus unum, or “out of many, one”—is currently under direct assault. The Trump administration’s immigration agenda stands as an unprecedented, uniquely destructive assault on legal immigration, representing what many legal scholars, economists, and civil rights advocates consider the most hostile, shortsighted policy regime in modern U.S. history.

Demographics of a Growing Community: Nativity and Population Share

To understand the scope of this impact, it is helpful to look at demographic figures from the U.S. Census Bureau and Pew Research Center analyses. Indian-Americans represent approximately 1.5% to 1.6% of the total U.S. population, making up a community of roughly 4.9 to 5.5 million people. Crucially, this community is not composed solely of new arrivals; it comprises both foreign-born immigrants and a rapidly growing generation of native-born Americans.

Approximately 66% of Indian-Americans are foreign-born immigrants who moved to the United States for higher education, specialized employment, or family reunification. The remaining 34% are U.S.-born citizens—the second and third generations born to Indian immigrant parents. This U.S.-born segment represents one of the youngest, most academically ambitious demographics in the country, with a median age of around 13 to 14 years, meaning six in ten U.S.-born Indian-Americans are currently coming of age in American schools and universities. Together, both foreign-born and native-born Indian-Americans form one of the fastest-growing diaspora populations in the United States, driving innovation while anchoring local communities.

A History Defined by Waves of Welcome and Challenge

America’s historic relationship with immigration has always been a complex mix of openness and restriction. During periods of mass voluntary migration, such as the millions who passed through Ellis Island from Europe, the nation actively embraced new arrivals. Conversely, our history also contains chapters marked by explicitly anti-immigrant policies, including the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Barred Zone Act of 1917—which severely restricted immigration from South Asia—and the tragic refusal to admit Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi tyranny during World War II.

Yet, the legacy of welcome repeatedly reemerges during pivotal moments. A major turning point arrived with the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished national-origin quotas and opened doors for skilled professionals and families from Asia, Africa, and other previously restricted regions. In subsequent decades, the United States welcomed thousands of refugees fleeing conflict and passed legislation in the 1980s allowing undocumented residents to seek legal status. The 1965 landmark shift established the foundation for the contemporary Indian-American community. The post-1965 wave brought scientists, doctors, engineers, and scholars whose arrival marked the start of a profound partnership between India’s human capital and American opportunity.

Economic Innovation, High-Tech Enterprises, and Mass Employment

The economic arguments for immigration are clear and compelling. Immigrants benefit the U.S. economy by filling critical labor shortages across all skill levels, driving research, and founding new enterprises. In the realm of technology and high-tech entrepreneurship, Indian immigrants have created massive engines of economic growth and job creation that primarily employ non-Indian American workers.

According to landmark research from Stanford University and Duke University on immigrant entrepreneurship, Indian immigrants account for approximately 33.2% of all immigrant-founded tech startups in the United States. Nationwide, immigrants were involved in founding over 25% of all engineering and technology companies, with Indian founders leading the single largest share of these ventures. In Silicon Valley specifically, Indian immigrants have founded over 13% to 15% of all tech startups.

These high-tech companies do not merely generate wealth for founders; they serve as immense employment drivers for the broader American public. Tech firms founded by Indian-born entrepreneurs have generated tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue and created hundreds of thousands of direct jobs. The vast majority of positions at these enterprises—ranging from software engineers, marketing leads, sales directors, HR specialists, and legal personnel—are filled by non-Indian American citizens and local workers, distributing economic opportunity directly into American households across the nation.

Furthermore, corporate leadership at major U.S. tech titans—including Google (Sundar Pichai), Microsoft (Satya Nadella), Adobe (Shantanu Narayen), and IBM (Arvind Krishna)—highlights how Indian immigrant talent directs American firms toward global competitiveness while managing workforces composed primarily of native-born Americans.

Hospitality, Small Business Ownership, and Local Job Creation

Beyond cutting-edge technology, Indian-American entrepreneurs have built a formidable presence in traditional main-street industries, most notably in the hospitality sector.

Data from the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) reveals that Indian-Americans—predominantly originating from the state of Gujarat—own and operate approximately 50% to 60% of all motels and independent hotels in the United States. Representing tens of thousands of properties across rural towns, highway corridors, and major metropolitan areas, this network accounts for billions of dollars in real estate investment and property tax revenue.

These hospitality businesses are major regional employers. Operating a hotel requires a diverse workforce, including management staff, front-desk personnel, maintenance crews, and housekeeping teams. Indian-owned hospitality businesses directly employ over 1 million Americans, the vast majority of whom are non-Indian local workers.

National Demographics

~4.9M–5.5M total (~1.5% of U.S. pop)

66% foreign-born immigrants; 34% U.S.-born second generation

High-Tech Startups

Founded ~33.2% of all U.S. immigrant tech startups

Generates hundreds of thousands of high-wage engineering, sales, and management jobs

Hotel & Motel Hospitality

Own ~50% to 60% of all motels and hotels across the U.S.

Employs over 1 million local American workers in operations, management, and service

Education & Welfare Reliance

~75% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

~16–17% welfare use; near-zero unemployment claim rates

Healthcare Representation

~8.5–9% of all U.S. practicing doctors

Over 22% of all foreign-born physicians; 176k total health workers

Educational Attainment and Unusually Low Welfare Reliance

A fundamental driver of Indian-American economic self-sufficiency is the community’s extraordinary level of higher education. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, roughly 75% of Indian-American adults hold a bachelor’s degree or higher—more than double the national average of approximately 34%—and over 40% possess postgraduate or professional degrees. This high educational attainment directly correlates with strong labor force participation and high median household incomes, resulting in a negligible reliance on government assistance programs.

Census and Current Population Survey (CPS) analyses show that non-citizen households from India have among the lowest welfare utilization rates of any foreign-born group in the nation, with only 16% to 17% accessing any means-tested benefit program (compared to 37% to 50%+ for broader foreign-born populations). Furthermore, their reliance on cash safety net programs, public assistance, and unemployment compensation is near zero, while their poverty rate hovers around 6%—roughly half the national average. Because the vast majority enter the country on skilled employment visas or to pursue higher education, Indian-Americans overwhelmingly serve as net fiscal contributors who pay significantly more in federal, state, and local income tax than they consume in public benefits.

Overrepresented Pillars of U.S. Healthcare

This high concentration of advanced education translates directly into an outsized presence in the American healthcare ecosystem, where Indian-origin professionals represent a core foundation of clinical care. While Indian-Americans constitute roughly 1.5% of the overall U.S. population, they account for roughly 8.5% to 9% of all practicing physicians in the United States. Looking specifically at the nation’s immigrant medical workforce—which makes up more than a quarter of all U.S. doctors—India is the leading source country, supplying over 22% of all foreign-born physicians (approximately 59,000 to 60,000 doctors). Across the broader health sector, nearly 176,000 Indian-born professionals serve as doctors, surgeons, nurses, and medical researchers, representing roughly 7% of the total U.S. healthcare workforce. This heavy representation is particularly vital in rural, inner-city, and medically underserved areas, where Indian-American doctors frequently bridge critical physician shortages, ensuring millions of Americans receive life-saving medical care every day.

The Trump Administration’s Aggressive Assault on Legal Immigrants

While removing undocumented individuals with serious criminal convictions is a standard enforcement priority that most lawful societies accept, the Donald Trump administration has weaponized federal immigration agencies to go far beyond removing dangerous criminals. Reports, lawsuits, and investigative disclosures confirm that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have targeted law-abiding, highly skilled legal immigrants, international students, and families who are fully compliant with the rules.

The administration’s hyper-aggressive anti-immigrant policies represent an absolute disaster for American prosperity, intentionally sabotaging the legal pathways that bring world-class talent to our shores. Under the guise of national security, the administration has weaponized bureaucracy:

• Attacking High-Skilled Visas: Imposing exorbitant fees, retroactive denial rules, and sweeping restrictions on H-1B skilled worker visas—the primary lifeline for Indian engineers, doctors, and tech leaders—creating administrative chaos for U.S. employers.
• Entrapping Law-Abiding Residents: ICE agents have set traps at mandatory federal immigration offices, arresting law-abiding legal status seekers, asylum applicants, and foreign-born spouses of U.S. citizens who voluntarily showed up for routine green-card interviews or scheduled court dates.
• Cutting Off Spousal Work Authorization: Ending automatic work-permit (EAD) extensions and threatening H-4 spousal work permits, effectively forcing tens of thousands of highly educated Indian women out of the U.S. labor market.
• Destroying Student Pipelines: Threatening F-1 student visas and Optional Practical Training (OPT) programs with astronomical fees and arbitrary restrictions, driving away the world’s brightest minds to competitor nations like Canada, the UK, and Australia.

This systematically engineered environment of fear and instability directly targets law-abiding Indian professionals who have waited in century-long green card backlogs for employment while paying millions in taxes.

The Catastrophic Short-Term and Long-Term Fallout for America

This aggressive, anti-immigrant doctrine inflicts self-inflicted wounds on the United States that hurt the economy in both the immediate present and for generations to come:

1. Immediate Short-Term Damage: The sudden reduction in legal worker visas, administrative freezes, and aggressive enforcement creates immediate workforce deficits across high-tech, healthcare, hospitality, and agriculture. Hospitals face instant physician shortages, tech firms are forced to delay critical research and development projects, and small business operational costs spike—accelerating inflation for consumer goods, healthcare services, and housing.

1. Devastating Long-Term Decay: By projecting an openly hostile and unwelcoming posture, America is surrendering its greatest geopolitical advantage: the ability to attract global genius. When Indian founders, AI researchers, and medical pioneers choose to build their billion-dollar companies and research labs in rival nations, America loses its competitive lead in critical technologies. Furthermore, shutting out highly paid legal tax contributors shrinks the national tax base, directly threatening the long-term solvency of Social Security and Medicare.

The Enduring Spirit of American Welcome

Fortunately, the spirit of welcome endures through the actions of everyday Americans who display compassion and solidarity toward their foreign-born neighbors. Across neighborhoods, places of worship, university campuses, workplaces, and local organizations, citizens consistently step forward to ensure that the United States remains a beacon of freedom, hope, and opportunity.

On occasions like International Migrants Day, we are reminded to be thankful for those who actively embody the core ideals of our republic. The story of Indian-Americans—from main-street hotel owners to tech founders, doctors, teachers, and public servants—demonstrates that when America welcomes immigrants, the entire nation prospers. These individuals work collaboratively with new neighbors to ensure the nation’s foundation remains secure, vibrant, and innovative. To all the immigrants who keep believing in the promise of the American Dream: our country is unquestionably stronger, richer, and more resilient because of you.

About the Author

Dr. Arvind Suresh is an Indian-American scholar of international affairs, currently based in Washington, D.C. He earned his Ph.D. in political science with a focus on U.S. foreign policy and global strategic relations. Dr. Suresh specializes in analyzing America’s diplomatic, economic, and security engagements with major world powers.

He has served as an advisor to various government agencies and international organizations on matters of global diplomacy. His research explores shifting alliances, geopolitical risks, and the role of the U.S. in a multipolar world. Widely respected in academic and policy circles, he frequently participates in international forums and expert panels. Dr. Suresh is committed to fostering cross-cultural dialogue and developing policy solutions for global cooperation.