Nick Freitas: America Was Built By Settlers Not Migrants!

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]To be an American is not how many generations have been here, but it is our commitment to the idea that was set out in the Constitution and in the Declaration, you know, that all men are created equal.

[00:00:10]And I think a lot of Trump's policies, a lot of the Trump administration's policies are antithetical to this kind of to the idea of an American and that to be successful, to be as successful as America has in less than 200 years, we have to accept the immigrant. And you know, we can continue that conversation into immigration policy. I think um a lot of the time when you talk about illegal immigration, that's a vast simplification of the current process and that a lot of the current policies are deeply unserious. Um we can talk about that a little bit. I'm just interested first in your what your opinion is on what makes an American.

[00:00:44]Like would you consider me an American even though I'm not even though I did not was not born here. I don't I don't think you have to be born here to be an American. But I I do think that I first of all, I think we need to be honest about what immigration policy was in the United States. Uh first of all, this country was originally established primarily by English settlers. When you actually look at the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the signers of the Constitution, you're getting overwhelming representation from the British Isles and from Protestantism and from a classical liberal tradition which included Locke, Montesquieu, and and elements of the Scottish common sense element of the Enlightenment and things like that. And so it's important to understand that those things were integral into what we established as a country.

[00:01:23]Now, obviously, America has actually had a really good track record of being able to integrate immigrants into the country and to be able to have this kind of unique American identity. And I think there's a lot of truth in this idea that it's it's commitments to the Declaration of Independence, to the Constitution, and to the philosophies which actually informed those documents. So I believe that someone can can be an American or have that kind of American spirit uh that doesn't necessarily have to have been born here. I also think that there is something to be said for people that have had generations of people growing up in the in in the United States over um Um, know, over decades or or even centuries. I I think that can also contribute to someone feeling a sense of this is their home and this is their country. I I think if you would look at how people would define themselves in other countries around the world, they would probably have some sort of, you know, similar connection to the past.

[00:02:10]Um, that that's usually something that informs a culture.

[00:02:13]Um, but I don't The thing I get uncomfortable with is this idea that we just describe America as Well, America was just built by immigrants, because that suggests that there's nothing unique or special about America. It's just a bunch of people had to come over here and build everything. And I don't think that's an accurate representation of what happened. I also think we need to understand that um, immigration usually works best if you if you if you intend to keep kind of like a coherent cultural identity, which means similar commitments or similar experiences around social, economic, political, theological traditions.

[00:02:46]It makes more sense for people to immigrate from countries which have shared traditions. If you immigrate from countries with no shared traditions, that can still be successful, but it's it's not as guaranteed the same level of success. And then if you then if you have people come over with diametrically opposed views and diametrically traditions, that's probably more of an invitation for less social cohesion. And and this is seen now as being xenophobic or evil or wrong, and I don't think it's any of that. I think it's just common sense. If someone has a variety of social, political, economic, and religious traditions that are vastly different from the place that they're immigrating to, there's probably going to be there's probably going to be some conflict associated with that. Now, the the the way >> project, though? The The The American project that Why did the original English immigrants come to this country? Because they were being prosecuted by the English. And to to what you were saying earlier was >> Well, well, wait a second. Some were and some weren't. Jamestown wasn't that. The The The Puritans in New England were, but Jamestown wasn't that. But we can't define all of immigration to the colonies as that one story. And that's what I'm saying. You but you I'm I'm saying that because you use the example you're saying we're kind of following this tradition that was established by the English settlers. And you also said, you know, that doesn't make America unique. I think that is what makes America unique. That's what makes us so strong.

[00:04:03]>> wait, when did I say it didn't make America unique?

[00:04:05]>> You said that it doesn't make America's not unique in the sense through its immigration because your What you said was bunch of people came here and or sorry, to rephrase, you said that America was not built by immigrants, so that phrasing is wrong because that would imply that all you need to create America is to have a bunch of immigrants come here and build it. What I'm saying is that is precisely what makes America unique. There are almost I don't I can't think of any other country, you know, as a European, the cultural differences back in Europe are so different in the sense that here to back to the point of what is to be an American, that is uh uh it's not dependent on like your ethnicity in the sense like in Germany for example, um there is a very, very, very big difference between an Eastern European, um a Pole, uh a Russian, a Ukrainian, right? In America, that distinction doesn't really exist.

[00:04:57]>> No, no, let let me let me clarify something. What what I'm saying is to say that America is just a nation of immigrants is to detract distract from the fact that there are other things that are uniquely American. And and again, when you look at the the philosophy and the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence, when you look at the system of government that we established, and and you draw it back to its lineage, it draws back largely to Europe. Um so, what I'm saying is is that it's it's not that I'm denying the critical role that immigrants have played in the construction of the building of America. But I don't think we can just you know, say that little line and be like, "Oh, see, this is what makes it unique." Because if that was true, well, then great. You could just take a bunch of people and throw them in any place overnight and now you're just like America. No, you're not. There has to be There has to be certain philosophical principles which actually inform your culture.

[00:05:45]>> Exactly, that's exactly correct. But the thing is is the Trump administration entirely disagrees with this. The Trump administration and you also disagree with this entirely. You're saying not only do they have to have an idea not only do they have to agree with the American project, they also have to have a a culture culturally European or similar to the traditional American roots. They have to have a you want you want Europeans and you want people who No, no, no, okay.

[00:06:10]So, what I said was again you're going to have to you have to fairly analyze what I say. I think that was fair and then you can rephrase.

[00:06:18]>> don't cuz I think you're predisposed to believe to to know what I believe without actually listening to what I believe. What I said was when you're talking about immigration from one place to another place.

[00:06:28]When you have similar social, political, economic, theological traditions, it is easier to immigrate and assimilate within the culture you are now adopting.

[00:06:38]If you take someone from places with diametrically opposed cultural traditions, it is more difficult. It's not impossible. In fact, you can get some of your most loyal Americans coming from places that are very, very different from your own.

[00:06:50]What becomes more difficult is when you do mass immigration from a place with cultural traditions very, very different from your own.

[00:06:55]>> Like what? Like for for the modern example, like what country? Like right now Any country in the Middle East. Okay. So, so I I guess I'm a little bit confused as to how this would I I guess this interesting thing we can talk about is right now the Trump administration is completely against virtually all immigration.

[00:07:17]They wanted to start getting rid of H-1B, they wanted to start getting rid of rid of O-1.

[00:07:21]I know people you know, it's they're trying to make it harder and harder. And so if you're saying, you know, I'm okay with immigration maybe you didn't say this, but I thought you implied it, that you're okay with immigration from people or from places that have similar theological, historical backgrounds from us.

[00:07:37]>> you are I think you are more likely to have effective assimilation. Generally speaking Yeah, but I'm asking are okay with Like, are you in favor of immigration from places with I'm not talking about illegal immigration. I'm just talking about immigration.

[00:07:50]>> Only at a speed where proper assimilation can be achieved.