America Succeeds When Immigrants Succeed
America was built on the sweat and hard work of 250 years of successive generations of immigrants coming to help build the strongest nation on earth. Without the skills and entrepreneurial spirit of immigrant business owners, our national economy would be stagnant, local communities would be less vibrant, and our people less able to experience and enjoy the essential contributions of diverse cultures.
For example, midwesterners would be missing out on a pair of Venezuelan immigrant entrepreneurs’ signature dish of pabellón criollo, a hearty and delicious meal consisting of savory shredded beef, rice, beans, and fried plantains.
“In the middle of a Home Depot parking lot, surrounded by the quiet suburbs of Indiana, stands Plátanos Venezuelan Food: a bright white school bus turned into a dining spot,” BORGEN Magazine reports. “From its window, the smell of fried plantains and shredded beef drifts out, as if looking for those far from home. Inside, Daniela Avila Urdaneta and Anthony Rojas, who are Venezuelan migrants, serve homemade food that does more than fill the stomach. Every dish carries a piece of home, sparking smiles and sometimes a few tears.”
For the pair, this schoolbus-turned-eatery has been a journey of both challenges and love. Avila Urdaneta and Rojas originally arrived in Connecticut but struggled to get their bearings. But once in the midwest, the pieces finally began to come together and Plátanos Venezuelan Food was born.
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“Today, their clientele is diverse: from Venezuelans searching for the taste of home to locals and other Latinos eager to try something new,” BORGEN Magazine reports. “Even Noblesville’s mayor, Chris Jensen, has recommended them for local and private events.” Last December, Plátanos Venezuelan Food earned additional praise after Indianapolis Monthly named the eatery to its best-of list. “Step aboard, grab a stool or slide into one of the two-seater booths, and watch as the chefs in back work their magic, sizzling up classics like meat-stuffed arepas and fried plantains.”
But Avila Urdaneta and Rojas aren’t the only Venezuelan entrepreneurs boosting the local economy one delicious bite at a time. BORGEN Magazine reports that just a short walk away, Delinec Fernández, also known in her community as Deli, owns and operates Indiana’s very first Venezuelan bakery. Sweet Deli Venezuelan Bakery got its start as a way to bring in some income during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Today, the bakery serves not only as a cultural bridge but also as an economic engine.”
“It employs other immigrants, stimulates local commerce by sourcing ingredients from Indiana suppliers and even contributes to the Venezuelan economy by importing small quantities of traditional products,” BORGEN Magazine continued. “‘We wanted Venezuelans to have a space that feels like home,’ Deli says, ‘but we also wanted to prove that small immigrant businesses can strengthen the local economy.’”
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But the truth is that immigrant entrepreneurs like Avila Urdaneta, Rojas, and Fernández are critical to the entire nation’s economic sustainability. Not only has the research shown that immigrants outpace U.S.-born Americans when it comes to opening a business, our economic growth as a nation is simply not possible without them, as recent findings from the nonpartisan thinktank Economic Policy Institute have made clear. And those tired claims that immigrants are job-stealers? “The findings suggest that immigrants act more as ‘job creators’ than ‘job takers’ and that non-U.S. born founders play outsized roles in U.S. high-growth entrepreneurship,” said one 2022 study authored by top economists.
In fact, the New American Economy’s 2019 study found that immigrant-led businesses “employed almost eight million American workers and generated $1.3 trillion in total sales,” cementing this demographic as an economic powerhouse. The Bipartisan Policy Center noted in 2022 that “the United States’ economic success story would not exist without immigrant entrepreneurs with a range of backgrounds and skill levels who were willing to launch their business ideas here.”
And when immigrants succeed, America succeeds. This past summer, SFGovTV and San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development highlighted the story of Derrick Li, who was a graphic designer by training in his home country of China but struggled to find work in this field after arriving in the United States, the San Francisco Examiner reported in June. “A friend helped him find classes at the Charity Culture Services Center where he learned how to bartend which led him to a successful career as a bartender and owner of Blind Pig Speakeasy Lounge,” said SFGovTV and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development.
In addition to now helping boost the city’s local economy, Li came in second in the 2024 edition of World Class, “otherwise known as the Super Bowl of competitive bartending,” the San Francisco Examiner noted. It’s a remarkable story considering that Li had never even tasted a cocktail in his life.
The simple fact is that immigration overall is not only good for our country, it’s necessary to our economic growth and vital to essential industries, such as agriculture, construction, hospitality, and much more. But without the skills and spirit of immigrant workers and entrepreneurs – the end result of restrictionist government policies that will strip these industries of their lifeforce – our nation will be poorer in more ways than just money.