For decades, this journey — based on the idea of what it meant to become an American — was both concrete (such as the pursuit of citizenship) and abstract. For example, the desire to “become American” was rooted in more than a passport or an identification card, but in an immeasurable sense of pride that came with living in America as an American.

In recent years, this abstract sense of belonging has been widely diluted. On the Right, it has been questioned in the form of a debate over whether America is a nation based on creed or culture, in which ancestry and ideology are somehow mutually exclusive. On the Left, it has been undermined through the disregard of ancestry and ideology, in favor of presence alone. For the Left, all you have to do to be American is to be on the right side of the border at any given time. At least, until we get rid of borders, which are racist anyway….

However, speaking as an immigrant to the U.S. as a refugee of the Islamo-socialist dystopia of the United Kingdom, I have to say that both of these arguments are patently ridiculous.

First, America is not a nation based on creed or culture, but creed and culture. It is simultaneously true that (1) Americans whose ancestors built this country should be unbelievably proud of their family roots, and (2) recent citizens who embrace the ideas behind this great nation are just as “American” as their fellow citizens whose ancestors arrived hundreds of years ago (or, in the case of Native Americans, long before that).

Is an immigrant who loves America somehow less American than someone whose ancestors arrived on the Mayflower and yet hopes to make the country more like Cuba or China or Uganda?

Second, America is far more than a simple collection of borders, and we are under no obligation to embrace activist immigrants whose sole purpose in life is to squeeze what they can from our country while changing it to mirror the same countries they supposedly fled.

We shouldn’t respond to political debates with “go back where they came from.” There is something uniquely distasteful about an immigrant to a country they also despise.

For some recent immigrants, the U.S. represents entitlement and reward. But for most patriotic immigrants, we are reminded of moments from throughout American history that emphasize the central American concept of responsibility and opportunity.

“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country,” President John F. Kennedy famously declared during his inaugural address in 1961. “The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight,” said certified-bad*** President Theodore Roosevelt, adding that citizens should “not be a mere passenger.” “Patriotism is easy to understand in America,” explained President Calvin Coolidge. “It means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.”

Not one mention of what the country owes you, but what you should want to give your country in return for what it has given you.

On the subject of immigration and creed and culture, however, we should also look to the words of another famous American patriot, another fellow immigrant, and former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

During an appearance on The View in 2025, Schwarzenegger caused panic among the panelists as he not only dared to support legal immigration, but stated what should be obvious but has been widely forgotten: that “when you come to America, you’re a guest, and you have to behave like a guest.”

This simple yet profound statement exemplifies the problem with the modern attitude toward immigration. For those who are not born in America — including yours truly — it is a privilege to be able to live here. It is not my country of birth, nor the country of my ancestors’ birth. I didn’t build the country, I didn’t fight for the country, and I didn’t contribute toward its founding. I was merely one of millions of other immigrants who arrived on the shores of the greatest country in the history of mankind in pursuit of opportunity, all while knowing that I was a guest.

A guest in a country that embraced me, like it had so many others before and after me, not because it was an obligation, but because I worked every moment given to me to earn it.

MEANWHILE, MEXICO: TENSIONS STILL SIMMER SOUTH OF THE BORDER

If you’re fortunate enough to be invited to a friend’s dinner party, you don’t complain about the food, block their toilet, and steal their jewelry. No, because you are a guest in their home.

As immigrants, we are guests in this country. It’s time to act like it.

Ian Haworth is a syndicated columnist. You can find his work on Substack and follow him on X (@ighaworth).