Freedom of Movement

I’ve long admired the work of immigrants. I like to humblebrag that I was raised by a single immigrant mother and that both she and my father came to America with nothing. Without their courage and desire—the dose of selfishness that drove them to migrate here and seek a better life—I would be nowhere near where I am today.

Immigrating is hard and risky, and it usually means something went wrong at the point of embarkation. But increasing migration also means our world is more connected and more people have access to opportunities and success. Migrants contribute to technological and scientific advancements, to business innovation, and to a more robust labor force. Between 1990 and 2005, immigrants started a quarter of all venture-backed public companies in the U.S. In 2018, immigrants founded or cofounded more than half of America’s “unicorns” (private companies valued at more than one billion U.S. dollars), and as of 2020, immigrants to the U.S. were starting businesses at nearly double the rate of people born here.

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Percent Increase of Migrants Every Five Years

Source: IOM World Migration Report 2020.