In the wake of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Minneapolis and the killings of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and the now confirmed killing of Ruben Ray Martinez, many Americans are speaking out against the nation’s immigration policy. Protesters have called for the abolition of ICE, and Senate Democrats have voted to block additional funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Immigration reform, much like in President Donald Trump’s first term, has again been pushed to the forefront.
Debates about immigration policy, to be clear, are nothing new. For the past 20 years, University of Pennsylvania Professor Zeke Hernandez has been researching how immigration impacts prosperity and economic growth. In his book, The Truth about Immigration: Why Successful Countries Welcome Newcomers, Hernandez shares his findings on how much immigration helps the economy while also fact-checking myths from conservatives, such as the amount of crime committed by migrants.
Hernandez shared the findings of his book to the public at the Warminster Free Library on Saturday, as well as offering advice on how to share these facts with those who see immigration as a negative. When having these conversations, Hernandez says that starting with facts can have an adverse effect on changing people’s minds. “There is actually research on this, and I would say that in both the research, but also in my personal experience, if you start with the facts and numbers, you’re doing it wrong. Because for one, it antagonizes people, it makes them feel like they are stupid or that you want to have a fight.”
Instead, Hernandez says to find common ground and then go into the facts from there. Of course, that is easier said than done.
“In many cases, the anti-immigrant side is not willing to be honest. But if they’re willing to be honest, I think we can get to a common ground pretty quickly, but we have to start with those values,” said Hernandez. “My beef is that sometimes when I speak to people who are really dug in is that they have good questions, they just don’t want to hear the answers. They have their own answers.”
The research that Hernandez has found is eye-opening.
In almost every case, his findings have concluded not just that immigration is a net positive, but imperative for a thriving society. Examples he found included how many players from the U.S. National Soccer Team from their famous 1950 FIFA World Cup win against England were either foreign born or had immigrant parents, and how the delayed effects from the National Origins Act correlated to the team missing the World Cup for four decades. Hernandez also found that immigrants are 80% more likely to start a business than non-immigrants, and nearly half of all health care workers are immigrants.
One of Hernandez’s favorite stats has to do with patents, which he talked about during the event.
“The study I quoted that immigrants are responsible for 36% of patents, the more you think about it, it’s mind-blowing that more than a third of our patented technological innovation wouldn’t exist without immigrants. That’s an enormous number,” he said. “And the fact that it’s well documented and credible is mind blowing.”
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“Professor Hernandez has done an amazing job in collecting information about the effects of immigration and where it has helped build and continues to strengthen our nation,” said L.B., an attendee of the event.
Hernandez has also begun research into how ICE raids have hurt the communities impacted by the government’s takeover, from how much less money people are willing to spend to which type of businesses are being impacted the most. While these impacts have been mostly at the local level, there is fear at the national level as millions of foreign tourists prepare to come to the World Cup, which the United States is hosting this summer.
Hernandez believes that these fears are legitimate.
“If ICE behaves the way they behaved throughout 2025, yeah, absolutely,” he said. “And I think we already have indications that demand for tickets is lower than FIFA predicted, and that people are definitely traveling less.”
“We’re seeing that tourism has plummeted from many parts of the world. And you know, a lot of it has to do with the not welcomed sign that is being put out there because of the way ICE is behaving,” Hernandez added. “So yes, and I think people actually have a rational fear right now when you’re seeing ICE agents harass and shoot people and round them up without any kind of discrimination of who is really dangerous or not that is legitimate.”
The current policies of the Trump administration have caused many to have a bleak outlook on the situation. “The whole situation is like a big boil, and it’s going to get really ugly and painful. And at some point, it will pop,” said L.B. “And I pray to God this will be over. But people need to wake up. People are too comfortable looking at their cell phones and their screens and not thinking. Even if morally, they don’t care, financially, they should care.”
Hernandez agreed with L.B.’s assessment. “If I try to project what I’m seeing, based on the numbers, I think that things are going to get a little bit worse before they get better. But I think they have to get worse in order for people to wake up.”
Hernandez then offered an optimistic outlook. “It will get better, and what I mean by that is that I don’t think that the solution’s going to come top-down from political leadership. Solutions are going to come from the bottom-up, because people feel real economic pain from the dysfunctional policies and the way we’re managing immigration in this country right now.”
“Let’s remember that immigration is about us. It’s about our self-interest,” Hernandez said. “It’s not about immigrants necessarily, it’s about us. And if we start there, we will design policies that make more sense than what we have now.”
