One of the saddest ironies of President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign is that it aims to achieve its ends by severely restricting the very force that made America truly a great nation: immigration.

Immigrants have made immeasurable contributions to the United States in many fields, but one area in which they particularly excel is entrepreneurship.

Study after study after study has shown that new arrivals—despite disadvantages like a lack of capital and connections—are more likely to create successful businesses than natives. Immigrants and their children make up only 28% of the American population, but they have founded nearly 50% of the Fortune 500 companies.

But Trump and the MAGA movement are unwilling to let basic facts impede their “America First” agenda, which, against all the evidence, is premised on the notion that economic renewal comes from insularity.

Ironically, the president’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, authoritarian tendencies, and deportation programs are threatening to scare away the very people who could be responsible for the next Apple, WhatsApp, Chobani, Instagram, eBay, Moderna, Zoom, SpaceX, or even Trump Organization (all companies founded by immigrants or their children).

Statistics show that the last Trump administration’s policies decreased the flow of legal immigrants into the U.S. by 700,000. The numbers this time are likely to be much higher as a more extreme MAGA regime seeks to close pathways to immigration, and potential new Americans look to other countries where they will feel welcomed, safe, and free.

The Statue of Liberty, it appears, is dousing the flame that she once held to guide immigrants in through the “Golden Door” and raising her other hand to shoo them away.

And it’s not just in America where political changes are threatening to deter immigrants. Polls in France show that if a presidential election were held today, it would be won by the far-right, anti-immigrant National Rally. While I was writing this article, results from local elections across the UK show Reform UK, a party led by Trump ally Nigel Farage, claiming 30% of the vote.

So, what do countries that scare away immigrants risk losing? While researching my new book, Pioneers: 8 Principles of Business Longevity from Immigrant Entrepreneurs, I identified both the tangible and intangible costs of excluding the next generation of business leaders.

Let’s start with the tangible. Remember those Fortune 500 companies founded by immigrants? In 2023, they generated $8.6 trillion for the U.S. economy, a figure that exceeds the GDP of every other country except China.

That immigrant influence is not just felt at the pinnacle of the economy. At the next level down, 80% of unicorns (start-ups with billion-dollar valuations) have a first or second-generation immigrant as a founder or senior leader.

And beneath the billion-dollar superstars, immigrant-founded firms at all levels generally generate more money and last longer than native-created companies. Immigrants also have an 80% higher rate of founding firms, making them job creators, not job takers.

But immigrant entrepreneurs bring much more than just cash and career opportunities. They also generate many other intangible but crucial benefits. They build creative bridges between cultures that enrich America, and their unique perspectives inspire innovation.

So, what can countries do to continue attracting potential immigrant entrepreneurs? I believe there are two strands: an immediate policy response and a long-term conversation aimed at undermining the deeper forces driving anti-immigrant sentiment.

On the policy level, governments need to commit to maintaining or expanding visa programs that are accessible to entrepreneurs. Even Trump-enabler Elon Musk, or if you prefer ‘First Lady Elonia,’ recognizes that, writing on X, “If you force the world’s best talent to play for the other side, America will LOSE. End of story.”

But Musk’s influence appears to be waning, and many enterprising countries are already taking action to attract high-potential immigrants who might feel suddenly dissuaded from following the well-worn routes to the United States or Western Europe. I’m thinking here of examples like Estonia’s e-residency program, which has turned it into “Europe’s largest unicorn factory.”

However, it’s also important to remember that lots of the most successful immigrant entrepreneurs did not arrive as recipients of special visas for already successful or clearly high-potential people. Many of them arrived via regular, more modest immigration pathways but went on to forge routes to billion-dollar success, people like Hamdi Ulukaya (Chobani) and Saeju Jeong (Noom) who came to the U.S. as students or Tope Awotona (Calendly) and Sergey Brin (Google) who arrived as children.

Being open to the sort of immigration that permits a sufficiently wide pool of people to enter the country requires a hard but open debate grounded in facts. We must recognize that populist politicians are successful partially because they tap into real fears. In that context, it’s entirely inadequate to crudely label everyone who wants more restrictions on immigration as racist, and it’s crucial to engage such people in conversations that listen to their concerns.

One way to steer a national conversation about immigration is to share the stories of immigrant entrepreneurs. Celebrations of immigrants’ success must not just be focused on the opportunities immigration gave them as individuals but rather on what they, collectively, have given back to their adopted homelands in terms of economic growth and diversification.

Immigration is the force that will shape the future of the world. The countries that learn how to encourage its flow and harness its power are the ones that will make, and keep, themselves great.