Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal has delivered a strong public criticism of Donald Trump, using the achievements of newly announced Nobel Prize-winning immigrants to highlight what it called the dangers of his anti-immigration stance.
In a sharply worded editorial, the Journal accused Trump of pushing policies that threaten the United States’ long-term innovation and global competitiveness. The paper’s editorial board argued that the former president’s crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration ignores how deeply America’s success depends on attracting international talent.
“Welcoming immigrants to the U.S. is out of fashion on the political right these days, even for those who enter the U.S. legally,” the board wrote. “That’s short-sighted for America’s future prosperity, as this week’s Nobel Prize winners in the sciences show again.”
Six U.S. residents were among this year’s nine Nobel Prize winners in the sciences, and notably, half of them were immigrants. Among the honorees were French-born Michel Devoret and British-born John Clarke, who shared the physics prize with American John Martinis for their pioneering work on quantum mechanical tunneling. The chemistry prize went to Jordanian-born Omar Yaghi, a former refugee who once studied English at a New York community college, for his groundbreaking development of “metal-organic frameworks.”
The Journal praised Yaghi’s inspiring journey as a symbol of America’s immigrant promise. “You never know who or how the poorest refugee or migrant might blossom into a world-class scientist or entrepreneur,” the editorial noted. “This is talent the U.S. needs, and immigration is a force multiplier for American innovation.”
Citing data from the National Foundation for American Policy, the Journal revealed that immigrants have made up nearly 40% of all U.S.-based Nobel winners in the sciences since 2000 — including 45% in physics, 43% in chemistry, and 32% in medicine.
The paper also criticized Trump’s moves to make H-1B visas more expensive for small businesses and to limit foreign student enrollment. According to the editorial, these efforts could drive future Nobel-caliber talent to study and work in other countries.
“One inevitable price of Trump’s campaigns against immigration and the U.S. academic community is that many potential future prize winners may choose to study elsewhere,” the Journal warned.
The timing of the editorial was particularly awkward for Trump, who has been lobbying for a Nobel Peace Prize recognition of his foreign policy efforts. The Journal concluded its piece with a stinging line: “The U.S. will get fewer [Nobel Prizes] in the future if the Trump administration won’t welcome legal immigrants and refugees.”
In response, a White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, defended Trump’s immigration policies, saying his administration’s focus was on deporting “dangerous criminal illegal aliens” to make American communities safer.