Houston has a long history of welcoming immigrants. A full quarter of our population is foreign born, hailing from over 100 different countries. They come here, in part, because we’ve made diversity and integration a priority. Over the last decade, our language access program, iSpeak Houston, has connected city employees to translation services. It’s been so successful that other cities like Anchorage, Alaska, and Richmond, Va. have replicated it.

We’ve also reinvented the way we communicate with our immigrant residents. Last year, we realized our foreign-born residents were highly engaged on WhatsApp. So we partnered with two immigrant advocacy nonprofits, the Alliance and Boat People SOS, to disseminate video messages on the platform. We also began hosting regular Univision town halls to answer questions about COVID-19. And during the November election, residents had access to a virtual translator at the polls. This new initiative in Harris County provided assistance in 34 languages such as Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese.

Much of this work is focused on communication, because that’s a vital step toward inclusivity. And inclusivity creates opportunity for everyone. Major local businesses like Merek, a large drywall company, support immigrant-friendly policies — because they know how vital this population is to the workforce. Houston’s immigrants hold $41 billion in spending power and contribute $14.6 billion in taxes, but their impact on our society is beyond measure. Through the pandemic, thousands have risked their lives as doctors, nurses, restaurant workers, and farmers. In fact, nearly half of all employed immigrants nationwide are essential workers.

We’ll need them as we continue to battle this pandemic and look to the future. For instance, immigrants were vital to helping us bounce back from the Great Recession. In 2011, they were more than twice as likely to launch a new business than native-born citizens, at a rate of 550 new businesses in the U.S. per month. Our innovative immigrant population coupled with our city’s pro-business climate achieved something similar here; by 2013, Houston was not only the first major city in the country to regain all the jobs lost in the downturn, but we added more than two jobs for each job lost.

We need welcoming, inclusive policies for all these reasons, both here in Texas and nationally. Policies like the public charge rule, which penalized immigrants who use government services like Medicaid, bans on high-skilled workers, and limiting rights for Dreamers have held our economy back at a moment when we desperately need to move forward. President Biden has signaled his desire to do so. Now Congress must cooperate. Here in Houston, we remember where we were a decade ago and how we persevered. It required the grit of every Houstonian, no matter where we were born.