The 1924 Immigration Act, which sharply curtailed immigrant arrivals, coincided with a 68% drop in invention by immigrant scientists, according to New York University economists.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller recently claimed that American scientific achievement owes little to immigrants, a statement contradicted by substantial research.
On May 31, 2025, Miller tweeted that during the mid-20th century, “there was net zero migration” while the U.S. led global science. However, data show 16 of 30 U.S. Nobel laureates in physics from 1945 to 1974 were immigrants.
Immigrants like Enrico Fermi, Felix Bloch, and Maria Mayer made critical contributions to atomic research and medicine.
The 1924 Immigration Act, which sharply curtailed immigrant arrivals, coincided with a 68% drop in invention by immigrant scientists, according to New York University economists Petra Moser and Shmuel San.
UPENN’s Zeke Hernandez warns, “America’s innovation machine would be decimated” if current immigration restrictions continue.
Immigrants account for 36% of all patents in the U.S. despite being 16% of inventors, and they found over half of billion-dollar startups.
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### Suggested Extracts:
* “During the middle of the 20th century—when the U.S. achieved unquestioned global scientific dominance—there was net zero migration.” — Stephen Miller
* “Sixteen of the 30 U.S. winners of the Nobel Prize in physics were immigrants.” — National Foundation for American Policy
* “You don’t have to have compassion for foreigners to know that getting rid of immigrants is bad for us.” — Zeke Hernandez, UPENN economist