In a moment of historic labor shortages and economic uncertainty, the U.S. should embrace every source of human potential. Instead, some of the country’s most powerful voices are pushing policies that attempt to grow the population by pressuring Americans to have more children, even as they actively work to lower our nation’s immigrant population.

Recent proposals include a so-called “baby bonus” payment to encourage conception. But this isn’t about birth rates — it’s about whose births are being encouraged, and whose futures are being ignored.

At first glance, proposals to support families may seem well-intentioned. But little is done to materially support families once children arrive. There’s no universal childcare or paid parental leave. There are no meaningful investments in affordable housing or job quality.

At the same time, access to abortion and contraception is being rolled back in a sweeping move to limit women’s options and control reproductive outcomes. The message is unmistakable: Have more babies, but don’t expect help.

This isn’t a policy approach to support families. It is an ideological project, rooted in fears that white Americans are being demographically replaced by immigrants and people of color. 

According to the 2020 Census, non-Hispanic whites accounted for 57.8 percent of the U.S. population, down from 63.7 percent in 2010. Projections suggest that by 2045, non-Hispanic whites will comprise less than half of the total population.

In this context, promoting birth over immigration isn’t just an economic choice — it is a cultural defense strategy.

Without immigration, the U.S. labor force would already be shrinking, threatening everything from economic stability to the sustainability of Social Security and Medicare. According to Census data, 83 percent of current growth in the working-age population comes from immigrants and the children of immigrants. Immigrants are not a stopgap — they are the backbone of our future.

And yet, rather than embrace this reality, birth-rate policies double down on a fantasy that the nation can secure its future by growing a narrowly defined population from within, while shutting out those who don’t fit a preferred cultural mold. 

Immigrants are not a threat but a national asset. Nearly 50 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children, including such American icons as Google, Tesla, and Pfizer.

Immigrants also drive innovation — 36 percent of all U.S. patents filed between 1990 and 2016 have been credited to foreign-born inventors. Immigrants fill essential roles in agriculture, construction, healthcare and education, often in communities where native-born workers are in short supply. And they contribute hundreds of billions in taxes, helping sustain Medicare and Social Security for everyone.

To ignore these contributions is to deny reality. We are a country that has always been shaped by those who chose to come here to work, to build, to dream. The diversity of people who call America home has always been its greatest strength, not its weakness.

Instead of treating childbirth as a cultural weapon, we should build a country where all families, regardless of race, religion or origin, are supported with the tools they need to thrive. To build a future that reflects the best of what America can be, we must stop trying to preserve a mythic past and start investing in the diverse, dynamic reality of the present.

Jina Krause-Vilmar is the author of a forthcoming book on immigration and women’s economic inclusion