America is a great nation because of immigration.

We are a nation of immigrants, and we owe everything to the land that accepted us into its enveloping vastness.

Many immigrants fled to America to escape religious persecution, poverty, famine, war, and antisemitism. Others were forced here against their will, bound in chains.

Immigrants have been arriving on America’s shores for four hundred years. On Thanksgiving Day, we pause to reflect on our status as a nation of immigrants.

The tradition of Thanksgiving in America has a long and complicated history that both predates and incorporates the well-known story of the “Puritan Pilgrims” in Plymouth Colony. Spanish Catholic and French Huguenot settlers in North America celebrated Thanksgiving “feast days” a half-century before the English Puritans.

Regardless of historical pedigree, every iteration of the Thanksgiving story in America includes immigrants ‘giving thanks’ for having arrived safely at their new home.1

That is why the horrific shooting of two National Guard troops on Thanksgiving eve is particularly tragic. The shooter was an immigrant from Afghanistan who had worked with US forces during the war. He appears to have acted alone and (according to some reports) was afflicted with mental illness after supporting a CIA-backed unit during the Afghan war. He arrived in the US in 2021 (when Biden was president) and was granted asylum in April 2025 (when Trump was president).

The national identity of the shooter has ignited a paroxysm of anti-immigrant hate led by Trump, JD Vance, Fox News, and right-wing social media.

Late on Thanksgiving Day, Trump announced that he would “permanently pause” all immigration into the US from “Third World Countries” and would “terminate” the status of those “illegally admitted” by President Biden who are “non-compatible with Western Civilization.” The Guardian, Trump says he will ‘permanently pause’ migration from ‘third world countries’ after national guard shooting.

Trump ended his hate-filled, racist, xenophobic post by wishing everyone a “HAPPY THANKSGIVING.”

The shootings are tragic on every level. A 20-year-old National Guard member, Sarah Beckstrom, died one day after volunteering to serve on Thanksgiving Day in DC so that others could return home for the holiday. See The Guardian, National guard member Sarah Beckstrom has died after shooting in Washington DC, Trump announces.

National Guard member Andrew Wolfe is in critical condition. Andrew Wolfe ID’d as one of two National Guard members shot in DC.

Both Beckstrom and Wolfe volunteered to defend our nation and deserve nothing but respect, admiration, honor, and sympathy for their service and sacrifice.

They did not volunteer to advance the hateful narrative of a president who seeks to divide our nation by pitting the descendants of immigrants against current immigrants.

“Pausing immigration permanently” is like telling America to “pause breathing permanently.” We are a great nation because of immigration. If we seek to maintain our global leadership in science, technology, medicine, the arts, and more, we must continue to open our doors to future generations of immigrants—dreamers, strivers, refugees, and displaced persons alike.

The greatness of America is not measured by the scientific, technical, and artistic achievements of its immigrants. Greatness is measured by our willingness to welcome immigrants into the still-enveloping vastness of a nation whose best days lie in the future.

The tragedy in D.C. reminds us that we must hold one another closer and “deal more kindly with one another.” The greatest tragedy of the shooting is that many are using the attack to set a nation of immigrants against immigrants. We must resist that impulse with all our might.

America is a great nation because of immigration. If we hope to sustain that greatness, we must continue to welcome immigrants onto America’s shores.

Pro-democracy protest photo.

Chattanooga Bridge Brigade:

Daily Dose of Perspective

Western Veil Nebula, located 2,400 light-years from Earth, is a remnant of. supernova explosion 5,000 years ago.

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Before European settlers arrived in America, native peoples held fall festivals to celebrate the harvest. A historian explains how the Pilgrims took over Thanksgiving – and who has been erased | PBS News.

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