As the Trump administration doubles down on sweeping, highly exclusionary immigration bans, it risks repeating the least enlightened chapters of U.S. history without learning an important lesson. There have been times when immigration policy was used not just to keep people out, but also to strengthen America’s security, moral standing and global influence.

Today’s blanket bans, pitched as a simple fix for complex border challenges, lack the nuance and strategic foresight that once made immigration an integral part of U.S. foreign policy. They shut the door indiscriminately — on the persecuted, the skilled and the allies we may need tomorrow — while failing to address the root causes of migration or harness its potential benefits.

A century ago, restrictive immigration quotas favored Northern and Western Europeans and excluded millions of Jews, Catholics, Asians and other groups deemed undesirable. Although the rhetoric has shifted, the reflex of slamming the door shut whenever fear rises remains stubbornly familiar.

Yet after World War II, America chose a different path — one worth revisiting now.

As Communism tightened its grip across Eastern Europe, the U.S. responded not only with military alliances and containment but by welcoming political exiles as strategic partners in a global ideological struggle. These immigrants became part of a larger U.S. effort to challenge totalitarian regimes through information campaigns, civic organization and cultural preservation.

Thousands........

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