A few days ago I had the inspirational experience of visiting the colossal 300-foot Statue of Liberty. I must have flown over it dozens of times but have never paid the lady a formal, front-door visit. It’s conveniently situated near Ellis Island, where over 12 million immigrants passed through the U.S. immigration portal between the turn of the century and the mid 1950s.

Among those immigrants was my maternal grandfather’s mother, around the turn of the century, with her two young sons having escaped from the menacing pogroms of Russian persecution.

The words of Emma Lazarus, etched into the base of the statue, gave me pause as I thought of what it must have been like to have trekked on foot from what is now Tallinn, Estonia to England, boarded a steamer to cross the Atlantic Ocean and then pass through the portal of Ellis Island to freedom.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free… I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

My grandfather, William M. Leiserson, rose to become a member of the National Labor Relations Board, chairman of the National Mediation Board and a member of President Roosevelt’s “brain trust.”

Among his immigrant peers during his lifetime were Irving Berlin, Andrew Carnegie, Albert Einstein, Bob Hope, Audrey Hepburn and Henry Kissinger, to name just a few. In addition to my grandfather, Einstein, Kissinger and Berlin all were victims of persecution, looking for safety and opportunity in America. It was Andrew Carnegie who famously said, “The emigrant is the capable, energetic, ambitious, discontented man.”

On my way back from New York, this nostalgic, memory-awakening experience collided with the heated debate going on today over immigration and fueled my interest in doing some fact-finding related to immigration. Some interesting findings included the following:

· During my grandfather’s early years in America (1880s to 1920s) there were approximately 23.5 million immigrants who came to America seeking religious and political liberty and economic opportunity. That’s not too far off from today’s numbers.

· The state receiving the most immigrants? California.

· The country with the biggest percent increase in immigrants to the United States? China.

· Between 2017 and 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, of adult immigrants aged 25 and above, 47% had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 35% of U.S. born.

· Of the 26.8 million foreign-born workers 16 years of age or older in the U.S., the largest share, 37%, work in management, professional and related occupations.

· In 2021, immigrant households had a median income of $69,622, compared to $69,734 for native born households. (Immigration Policy Institute)

Our border control policies are outdated. Illegal immigration is problematic. Reforms are necessary. Addressing things like inefficiencies in current federal immigration law, the fact of overwhelmed immigration judges, workplace abuse and discrimination exploitation of immigrants, and staffing shortages in dealing with asylum seekers are just some of the immigration and policy issues in need of thoughtful remedies.

Yet in spite of the need for these remediations, immigrants to the United States have kept our country vibrant. China doesn’t have immigrant issues because more people are trying to get out than in. Its population is getting old, without the infusion of youth to bolster innovation and economic growth.

Maria Cristina Garcia, professor of American studies and history at Cornell University, noted recently that, “In every generation, we also have people who advocate and fight for continued immigration — business leaders, human rights activists, faith communities — because they feel that immigration is good for the nation.”

The CATO Institute, a conservative-libertarian think tank puts the issue of immigration this way: “Most Americans are immigrants or descended from immigrants who sought opportunity and freedom on our shores. They and their children worked hard, assimilated and added to our nation’s prosperity. Immigrants today continue to become Americans and, in the process, make the United States a wealthier, freer and safer country. However, our current immigration system excludes most peaceful and healthy immigrants. Congress should look to America’s past for inspiration to expand and deregulate legal immigration.”

Closing my eyes and visualizing that magnificent Statue of Liberty, that sentiment makes a whole lot of sense to me.

Then CATO Institute adds: “Mr. Biden can curb the chaos by letting more immigrants come to the United States legally.”

That makes sense to me too.

Bill Sims is a Hillsboro resident, retired president of the Denver Council on Foreign Relations, an author and runs a small farm in Berrysville with his wife. He is a former educator, executive and foundation president.