🇺🇸 Are the United States becoming less welcoming?
For decades, the United States built part of its economic and cultural strength on the ability to attract immigrants, skilled workers, students, entrepreneurs, and investors from around the world. But that environment is changing—not just in Washington.
In an analysis published this week, The Economist highlights the growing adoption by different U.S. states of policies that make the country less receptive to foreigners and immigrants.
The issue is not limited to border control. Some states have adopted measures that restrict immigrants’ access to certain services, make integration harder, or create a more hostile political environment for the presence of foreigners. In other cases, local authorities have taken a much tougher stance toward irregular immigration.
The phenomenon reveals an important shift: U.S. immigration policy is no longer only a federal matter and is increasingly becoming a dispute between states.
For supporters of these measures, the aim is to regain control over immigration, protect jobs and public services, and respond to voters’ concerns.
For critics, however, there is a long-term economic risk: a less welcoming America could also become less competitive—just when countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other developed economies are competing for the same global talent.
The great irony is that the ability to receive people from abroad has always been one of the traits that helped make the United States a superpower.
In trying to protect itself from the world, America may end up driving away the very people who helped build it.
For decades, the United States built part of its economic and cultural strength on the ability to attract immigrants, skilled workers, students, entrepreneurs, and investors from around the world. But that environment is changing—not just in Washington.
In an analysis published this week, The Economist highlights the growing adoption by different U.S. states of policies that make the country less receptive to foreigners and immigrants.
The issue is not limited to border control. Some states have adopted measures that restrict immigrants’ access to certain services, make integration harder, or create a more hostile political environment for the presence of foreigners. In other cases, local authorities have taken a much tougher stance toward irregular immigration.
The phenomenon reveals an important shift: U.S. immigration policy is no longer only a federal matter and is increasingly becoming a dispute between states.
For supporters of these measures, the aim is to regain control over immigration, protect jobs and public services, and respond to voters’ concerns.
For critics, however, there is a long-term economic risk: a less welcoming America could also become less competitive—just when countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other developed economies are competing for the same global talent.
The great irony is that the ability to receive people from abroad has always been one of the traits that helped make the United States a superpower.
In trying to protect itself from the world, America may end up driving away the very people who helped build it.
