This posting is inspired from the NYT article on the same topic dated today, January 3, 2026.💚
America Without Immigrants — Then and Now
Reflections From a Filipino Immigrant Who Came in the 1960s
When my family and I arrived in the United States in the 1960s, America was on the cusp of a new immigration era. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 had just been signed, abolishing old quota systems that had limited non-European immigration for decades. That law changed everything not just for us, but for the country. By opening the door to immigrants from Asia, the Philippines, Africa, and Latin America, it helped reshape the face of America in the latter half of the 20th century.
Looking back, I see how vital immigrants were and still are to the American story. We didn’t come as tourists. We came as builders, caregivers, workers, students, and neighbors. We contributed to our communities in countless ways raising families, paying taxes, starting businesses, and enriching the cultural life of the places we called home.
Today, the New York Times article “What America Might Look Like With Zero Immigration” paints a stark picture of a country trying to shrink its immigrant population almost to zero. The early effects are already visible: employers struggle to find workers in construction and healthcare, school enrollments in some areas shrink, and everyday life slows in cities and towns once energized by new arrivals. The loss is more than economic it’s social and cultural too.
Imagine an America that stops inviting the world in. What happens to families whose roots stretch back generations to distant shores? What happens to industries that long relied on newcomers to fill jobs Americans sometimes don’t want to do? What happens to diversity, innovation, and a sense of openness that once defined this nation?
In the 1960s, we believed in that promise. We were young, hopeful, and eager to contribute. I saw Filipino nurses caring for patients in hospitals long before they became recognized as essential caregivers. I saw friends start small businesses that became cornerstones of their neighborhoods. I witnessed how immigrant churches, festivals, and cultural traditions became part of the tapestry of American life.
Today’s debate often centers on economics and policy how many visas, how many workers, how many admissions. But the real question is more human: What kind of nation do we want to be? Do we want to build walls that narrow our horizons, or bridges that connect us to the world?
The NYT article suggests that without immigrants, America may be quieter, slower, and smaller in spirit. And I think back to my own arrival in a new land full of uncertainty but also possibility and I can’t help but feel that a country’s strength lies in its ability to welcome the dreams of those who choose it.
AI Summary of the NYT Article: What America Might Look Like With Zero Immigration💚
The article examines emerging signs of how the United States is changing as immigration flows slow dramatically under current policies aimed at sharply reducing the foreign-born population. One year into a strict immigration crackdown, sectors of the economy that traditionally relied on immigrant workers, from construction and landscaping to healthcare are beginning to feel labor shortages. Hospitals are struggling to recruit doctors and nurses from overseas, and children of immigrant families are no longer filling local schools in some towns.
Efforts to increase visa fees, cut refugee admissions, and roll back temporary legal statuses have reduced net immigration. Behind these shifts is a broader debate about whether tightening borders might revive an earlier era of low immigration like in the 1920s, when the foreign-born share of the U.S. population fell sharply. But experts caution that fewer immigrants could clash with the nation’s aging population and workforce needs, affecting caregiving roles, business growth, and cultural life. The article emphasizes that immigration has become deeply woven into the social, economic, and cultural fabric of American life, and that halting it could leave gaps not easily filled by automation or native-born labor alone.
labor shortages (especially in essential sectors like food and tech), stagnant economic growth, and increased strain on social security, while immigrants have historically shaped American culture, filled crucial labor gaps, fueled innovation, and contributed significantly to the tax base, shifting from manual labor in the past to high-skilled roles today, fundamentally altering and enriching national identity through diverse foods, music, and arts.
My Two Jade Plants in My Patio in Bloom
Me and My Crystal Necklace- Activity Today- Kudos to Vanessa!
