Immigrants have long helped make America great

One hundred years ago, my father and his family emigrated from Russia to start a new life in the U.S. I was reminded of the dramatic, positive change this made for our family when I participated in a recent naturalization ceremony at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Witnessing the emotions of 19 people as they became our newest fellow citizens, so soon before the Fourth of July, affected me greatly — as have the less heartening events of the past few weeks.

The Supreme Court’s decision upholding the administration’s controversial travel ban, the consideration of an immigration bill in Congress and especially the drastic decision to separate families at the southern border have all raised fundamental questions about America’s values and our relationship with the rest of the world. Regrettably, these developments have reignited an intense, acrimonious national debate over how the U.S. should treat individuals who seek to enter our country.

Much about the present moment is uniquely contentious. At the same time, these debates are consistent with our collective history: Immigration, especially in times of national economic challenge or unrest, has often been met with fierce and sometimes ugly opposition. At the root of the conflict is an enduring debate about what it means to be American — and who, exactly, gets to wear that label.

The American History museum's “Many Voices, One Nation” exhibit illustrates our fraught relationship with immigration — such as a piece of a border fence that was erected along the California-Mexico border to keep people out.

Other items on display include a cap pistol from the 19th century bearing the words “The Chinese Must Go”; an infamous political cartoon from the same period depicting the Irish as “the one element that won’t mix”; and a poster, also from the 19th century, warning against “the insidious wiles of Catholicism.”

Immigration has sometimes brought out the worst in our nation. Other times it has brought out the best as we have remembered what kind of country we claim and aspire to be. History demonstrates that when we have widened the circle of opportunity and welcomed new arrivals from beyond our shores, America has been made better and stronger.

Take, for example, Albert Einstein, for whom the planetarium at the National Air and Space Museum is named. Einstein was not only a brilliant scientist and a Nobel Laureate, but also a German-born refugee and a fierce advocate for immigrant rights.

And there are the many reminders of the millions of uncelebrated heroes who helped build our nation, including photographs of Russian-American steel workers and of Chinese migrants who laid the train tracks that connected America from West to East.

It’s important to reflect on our history and remember how much America has benefited by choosing to embrace, rather than exclude, immigrants from a diverse range of backgrounds. Today it is virtually impossible to imagine an America without the extraordinary contributions of those who arrived here with little more than hope and determination.

David J. Skorton is secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidJSkorton