President Donald Trump’s threats and actions against immigrants seeking a better life here is not only a betrayal of the very nature, history and promise of the United States, but it also contributes, along with tariffs and assaults on health care and human services, to the weakening of our country. It also promises serious negative consequences for Pittsburgh.
You don’t have to spend much time in Pittsburgh to become aware of the key role of its immigrants. The industries we are known for and the cultural institutions that are still active (libraries, concert halls, foundations) came from a long list of prominent immigrants and their progeny. Andrew Carnegie immigrated from Scotland. The Mellon family were Ulster Scots, and Art Rooney’s parents and grandparents journeyed from Ireland to Wales and Canada before coming here.
Our culture and lives have been enriched by immigration. Andy Warhol was the son of Ruthenian immigrants; Sophie Masloff, Pittsburgh’ mayor from 1988-94, the daughter of Romanian Jews. Jonas Salk’s mother was born in Minsk. Mario Lemieux, who saved not only the Penguins but cancer patients’ lives through his foundation, came to us from Montreal. H. J. Heinz revolutionized food production and of him Andrew Smith said, “Children of immigrant families can make a big difference in the way we eat.”
Of course the labor force that built our industries and our city in the last century was filled with immigrants, among them Slovaks, Hungarians, Jews and Poles who joined the Italians, Irish and Germans who were already here. At the same time, after World War I the great migration of Black people fleeing the Jim Crow South doubled the city’s population. Among them was Robert Lee Vann, the founder of The Pittsburgh Courier, one of the most prominent Black newspapers in the United States, and Josh Gibson, one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
And now? While the foreign-born population of our suburban region is low compared to others nationally, more than 9% of the city of Pittsburgh’s population is foreign-born. Their contribution to the city’s economy is outsized — some $3.5 billion — more than 11% of the city’s gross domestic product (GDP). Between 2019 and 2023 the flow of immigrants to both the region and the city grew by more 25%
Why does this matter? According to an analysis by the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR), international immigration more than offset the region’s natural population loss and domestic exodus. In other words, without immigration, we would not have grown at all. The decades-long decline of Pittsburgh’s population is being reversed by immigration. Moreover, as the city’s economic profile switches from mills and mines to meds and eds, immigrants make their presence felt. According to Chris Briem of UCSUR, nearly 60% of Pittsburgh’s foreign-born population have bachelor’s or higher degrees — a higher share than in any other major metropolitan area.
As with manufacturing in the last century, immigrants are a key part of the city’s participation in today’s high-tech and information economy. Pittsburgh’s contemporary “Andrew Carnegie” is Luis von Ahn, a Guatemalan-born software engineer and entrepreneur who created, among other companies, the language learning powerhouse Duolingo, currently valued at more than $17 billion.
People like von Ahn originally came to Pittsburgh as students. Thousands of them have come feeling — until recently —welcome and valuing the freedom and independence of American universities. Many come from repressive states like China and Russia because here they have been free to pursue their ideas without suspicion and fear mongering. We — our country and our region — are the beneficiaries.
Currently just between Pitt, CMU and Duquesne, there are nearly 9,000 foreign students here, most of whom pay full tuition. They rent apartments, buy food, eat at restaurants and create jobs. The National Association of International Educators puts the contribution to our economy of just this group at $545 million. At last count Asia is the source of 50% of all foreign students in Pittsburgh, with China as one major launch point. Expansive economic growth in China over the last 30 years has created a middle class larger than the entire population of the United States. Eager for the best education for their youth and with substantial disposable income, they have sent more than 270,000 of their children to the US.
We see the impact in Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods. Take a walk down the main streets of Squirrel Hill and count the number of Asian restaurants — there are more than three dozen — plus other enterprises serving the large number of Asian students who are here. Often when Chinese students come, family members come too and they buy homes for themselves and their students.
What will happen, we might ask, if Trump’s erratic policies and rogue ICE squads produce a sharp drop in the flow of foreign students? Pausing or reversing the cancellation of more than 1,200 students visas does not mitigate the fear of foreign students. Chinese students in particular are vulnerable because of the president’s signaling out of their home country and application of unilateral measures like tariffs. A new Cold War with China will certainly reduce the number of Chinese students coming here.
Economic impact aside, the history of Pittsburgh is testimony to the vibrancy, variety and richness of experience that foreigners and immigrants bring to our city. What is the likelihood that a young person in Western Pennsylvania will go to Asia? Probably low. But as a Pitt student they will encounter a kaleidoscope of people from all over the world. They — and we — learn about their languages, cultures, food and their differing perspectives, as they learn about ours. When this happens all of us become better equipped to succeed in a world more tightly wrapped than ever.
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Railing about foreigners “ripping us off,” blocking foreign products and making foreign visitors and students fearful of arbitrary detention and deportation will not change that world. It will only make us less able to understand and flourish in it and in the bargain betray Pittsburgh’s proud history.
Ronald H. Linden is a retired professor from the University of Pittsburgh, where he directed Pitt’s Center for European Studies and for Russian & East European Studies.