The Paradox of Immigration: A Nation Built by Immigrants Debating Immigration

The Paradox of Immigration: A Nation Built by Immigrants Debating Immigration

In the United States, discussions about immigration often carry a sharp political and emotional edge. Yet, if we pause to look at history, one fact stands out with stunning clarity: about 99% of the U.S. population descends from immigrants.

The only non-immigrant population in America — in the truest sense — are the Indigenous peoples, who make up roughly 1.3–1.5% of the population today. Everyone else, from the earliest European settlers to the latest arrivals from Asia, Latin America, and Africa, is part of an ongoing story of migration.

So, in a nation built almost entirely by immigrants, isn’t it paradoxical how fiercely some voices condemn “illegal immigration”?

A Question of Definition

The contradiction begins with how we define immigrant.

In demographic and legal terms, an immigrant is someone born outside the United States who later moves there permanently. Anyone born on U.S. soil is considered native-born, regardless of their parents’ or grandparents’ origins.

By this logic, the descendants of European settlers who arrived in the 1600s and 1700s are no longer considered immigrants — even though their families once were. The word has shifted from describing an origin story to marking a legal status.

The Immigrant’s Paradox of Exclusion

Sociologists often refer to this as the immigrant’s paradox of exclusion — the tendency of societies founded by immigrants to become defensive toward new waves of migration.

It’s a psychological and political phenomenon: each generation seeks stability and belonging, and in doing so, begins to “other” the next group that arrives. Yesterday’s outsiders become today’s gatekeepers.

The same narratives once used against Irish, Italian, or Jewish immigrants in the 19th and early 20th centuries — that they would “take jobs,” “change the culture,” or “refuse to assimilate” — are now used against new groups from Latin America, the Middle East, or Asia.

History repeats, but under new names.

Law, Belonging, and Memory

This is not to say immigration laws are meaningless. Every state must regulate its borders and population.

But when debates about “illegal immigrants” turn moralistic — when they paint new arrivals as threats rather than participants in a centuries-old process — something deeper is happening: historical amnesia.

The irony is that by the standards of modern immigration law, most early settlers would have been “illegal immigrants” themselves. They arrived without visas, without documentation, and often at the expense of Indigenous populations who never consented to their presence.

A Nation Created by Immigration

Perhaps it’s time to shift the perspective. The United States is not merely a nation of immigrants — it is a nation created by immigration.

Understanding that distinction matters. It reminds us that immigration is not a recent anomaly but the foundational mechanism of American identity. Every wave of newcomers — whether welcomed or resisted — has reshaped the country’s culture, economy, and moral imagination.

To talk about immigration, then, is not to talk about strangers. It’s to talk about ourselves, our past, and the ever-changing definition of who gets to belong.

Final Thought

The real debate isn’t about borders.

It’s about memory — who remembers where they came from, and who chooses to forget.