New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the US risks “national suicide” if it doesn’t implement a more welcoming immigration policy. Bloomberg spoke on Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations.
“We will not remain a global superpower if we continue to close our doors to people who want to come here to work hard, start businesses, and pursue the American dream,” Bloomberg said. “The American dream cannot survive if we keep telling the dreamers to go elsewhere,” the mayor adds. “It’s what I call national suicide – and that’s not hyperbole.”
Bloomberg’s speech follows the release of a report by Partnership for a New American Economy. The report studied the role of immigrants in the Fortune 500 Companies. Results show that immigrants or the children of immigrants founded 40% of the fortune 500 companies. Theses companies employ more than 10 million people worldwide and generate over 4.2 trillion dollars.
The report warns of the potential danger of the US immigration laws forcing the future inception of companies to happen outside our country.
“Every day that we fail to fix our broken immigration laws is a day that we inflict a wound on our economy,” Bloomberg says in his speech. “Today, we may have turned away the next Albert Einstein or Sergey Brin. Tomorrow, we may turn away the next Levi Strauss or Jerry Yang.”
