It is hard to believe Cleveland is giving away what other cities are going all out to attract. But we are.
Cities such as Philadelphia, Boston and Minneapolis have made bringing immigrants to their cities one of their top priorities. Not out of the goodness of their hearts, mind you, but because they understand what we don’t: Immigrant entrepreneurs drive the U.S. economy.
In 2008 Cleveland had fewer immigrants than almost any major city in America. And between 2000 and 2006, as Cleveland was losing 35,000 people and Cuyahoga County was losing 135,000, Philadelphia gained 113,000 immigrants.
The fact that Cleveland does not spend much effort attracting immigrants would be understandable if they weren’t here already. But, of course, they are. They come to study at our universities, and when they graduate, we kiss them goodbye. For Cleveland to nurture these dedicated students and then send them packing is a crime. And no one is better prepared to explain the nature of our misdeeds than Richard Herman.
In typical Cleveland fashion, it is ironic that one of the country’s most outspoken advocates for immigrants lives in a city that undervalues them. We should be grateful Herman is a Clevelander and hopeful that one day we will wake up to his message that immigrant entrepreneurs are vital to our economy.
Herman, an immigration attorney, has teamed up with Bob Smith, a veteran journalist at
The Plain Dealer who covers international cultures and immigration issues, to write a book coming out this month called
Immigrant, Inc. The book explains why immigrant entrepreneurs are driving the economy and how they will save the American worker.
If you care about Cleveland,
Immigrant, Inc. is a must-read, if for nothing more than to learn what an immigrant-friendly city could mean for our future. The story of the importance of immigrant entrepreneurs to the American economy begins with several eye-opening facts:
- The rate of immigrant startups is well above the rate for American-born entrepreneurs.
- Immigrant entrepreneurs founded more than 50 percent of the high-tech companies in Silicon Valley and more than 25 percent nationwide.
- Immigrants are more likely to earn an advanced degree, invent something and earn a U.S. patent.
Some of our greatest success stories in America have been from immigrant entrepreneurs. Here are just a few:
- Sergey Brin, a founder of Google, emigrated from Russia as a child.
- Vinod Khosla, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, was born in India. His partner, Andreas von Bechtolsheim, came from Germany.
- Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, was born in France to Iranian immigrants.
And to bring the story closer to home, the authors profile one of Cleveland’s great success stories: Monte Ahuja, chairman of Transtar Industries. Ahuja, an immigrant from India, took a business plan he wrote as a class project at Cleveland State University and parlayed it into the largest seller of transmission parts in the world, employing 2,000 people and doing business in 70 countries.
After making a case that immigrant entrepreneurs are a driving force in America’s economy, Herman and Smith tackle the second part of their promise: explaining how immigrants will save the American worker. This task is more complicated and more controversial.
First off, are American workers even looking to be saved? And second, to point out that immigrant entrepreneurs create jobs can easily be turned into “immigrants take jobs,” and ethnic battle lines are quickly drawn.
To my mind, the best evidence for how immigrant entrepreneurs can save American workers is the most nebulous yet the most telling. The profile of an immigrant entrepreneur as presented in
Immigrant, Inc. is no different from that of an American-born entrepreneur. The difference is not in the traits of an entrepreneur but in the level of desire to succeed.
It is this desire to achieve the American Dream that makes immigrants such a valuable asset to a community. They remind us of the values we once treasured but now increasingly take for granted.
The good news is that Cleveland is waking up to what it will take to succeed in a global economy. We have effective programs here for entrepreneurs and effective programs for attracting and expanding businesses. What could be more important to Cleveland’s future than to develop a program that makes the city a magnet not only for immigrant students but also for immigrant entrepreneurs?
Finally, it is only fair to recognize that achieving this goal is difficult because federal laws regulate immigration. But look at it this way: We’re already educating many of the immigrant entrepreneurs of tomorrow in our universities, so our job is half done. Now, we just need to convince them to stay.