Partnership for a New American Economy

By Sherri Welch
July 19, 2011

One of the keys to Michigan's future may be to look to its past, when the state was welcoming to immigrants, Gov. Rick Snyder says.

"What do immigrants bring in addition to cultural diversity? Make no mistake — they bring jobs, and we should be embracing that," he said.

Snyder was one of several speakers today at "Immigration and Michigan's Economic Future," a conference organized by New Michigan Media and Global Detroit and hosted byWayne State University.

The governor pointed to a couple of household names — Meijer and Dow — and a prominent local company, Masco Corp.

"All were created by immigrants," Snyder said. "We overlook that quite often because we think those are our companies. What fabulous success stories they were and are today."

Snyder has long believed that immigrants can bring economic impact to Michigan.

A few years back, he helped create Ann Arbor Spark's cultural ambassador program to ask ethnic representatives how the region could be more welcoming to them and how it could help them to become more involved.

Snyder said he would like to see the program go statewide.

The best marketing the state could do to welcome immigrants isn't trade missions — it's actually having the people from those countries who are in the community say how great it is here, Snyder said.

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