Tell Congress to protect America’s immigrant scientists!

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was recently awarded to Japanese researcher Dr. Susumu Kitagawa, Australian researcher Dr. Richard Robson, and Palestinian-American researcher Dr. Omar Yaghi for their interrelated work on the development and synthesis of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a fascinating new material. Dr. Yaghi has also founded Atoco, a new U.S. startup working to commercialize MOFs.

MOFs are a class of complex molecules with porous structures, formed by metal ions (charged atoms) as “keystones,” linked by long chains of organic (carbon-based) atoms. This allows tens of thousands of different MOF structures to be developed that can be optimized for collecting and storing other materials within MOFs’ capacious pores.

The multitude of MOF applications currently being developed include unreal-sounding stuff like harvesting water from desert air, absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, mining critical minerals from wastewater, and removing toxic PFAS from water. This looks very much like the “next big thing” in materials science, with incredible new inventions ahead!

Immigrant geniuses have accounted for 36% of all U.S. Nobel science laureates ever, and 50% of the six U.S. Nobel science laureates in 2025. Dr. Yaghi, who was born to a refugee family in Jordan and supported himself during his chemistry studies by “bagging groceries and mopping floors,” is only one recent example from a long and noble tradition of immigrants to America becoming great scientists and making the nation stronger and more prosperous thanks to their innovation and entrepreneurship.

But that tradition, a bedrock condition of American leadership, is under attack like never before. The current White House is tearing down the National Science Foundation, trying to cut basic research funding across the board in the upcoming budget, and deporting scientists. They jailed Kseniia Satrova, a world-leading biomedical researcher actively working on cures for cancer, and revoked her research visa. They’ve imposed a “remittance tax” on immigrants sending money home to their families, and are sabotaging the H-1B skilled worker visa program that has powered America’s economy for decades. (The current CEOs of Google, Microsoft, Zoom, and IBM all came to America on H-1B visas).

Meanwhile, China just launched a new “K-visa” category to attract more high-skilled immigrants with scientific talent, and they’re actively recruiting America’s persecuted scientists. Nobel Prize-winning U.S. neuroscientist Ardem Patapoutian (another awesome immigrant!) recently told the New York Times that the Chinese government offered him “20 years of funding” at “any city, any university” after his federal NIH grant was illegally frozen by the White House. He declined, citing his love for America. Other scientists won’t decline China’s offers, especially if the alternative is U.S. immigration detention. Relatedly, the prestigious Nature Index reports that China is rapidly expanding its lead over the U.S. in world-leading scientific research.

China has approximately four times as many people as America, and they’re now leading the world in funding scientific research and development. If the U.S. wants to be even sort of competitive technologically, we need to be inviting really smart people from all around the world to come make their discoveries in America. Immigration is America’s edge. The current administration is tearing it apart, existentially weakening the country at the exact moment China is adopting the science and innovation-focused pro-immigration policies that drove American greatness in the 20th century.

Congress may think that the idiotic anti-immigrant frenzy now driving U.S. policy is too strong to resist. But it must be resisted, root and branch, on every marginal decision and on fundamental points of principle, by any and all means necessary. Senators and Representatives, you already know that this is madness. Act like it.

Tell Congress to protect America’s immigrant scientists!