Gates, Buffett: Immigrants add ‘to the greatness of the country’

Philanthropists Bill Gates and Warren Buffett touted the value immigrants bring to America in a joint interview in The Atlantic.

“The quality of immigrants, the motivation of immigrants, this is what has contributed to the greatness of the country,” Buffett said.

When asked if he’s “a big wall guy,” during talk about immigration, Buffett said, “No! Just the opposite.”

{mosads}“We may be sitting here because two Jewish immigrants signed a letter to Roosevelt after fleeing Europe and coming to the United States. Einstein and Leo Szilard wrote the president and warned him that Nazi Germany was developing nuclear weapons. What immigrants have done for this country!”

The Trump administration is ramping up immigration control efforts with Department of Homeland Security guidelines that vastly increase the number of immigrants who are considered priorities for deportation.

The administration’s executive order halting refugee resettlement and immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries is on hold, but the administration plans to release a new version as soon as this week.

When asked about danger of the Trump administration providing “alternative” facts, Bill Gates insisted the truth would make a comeback.

“I predict a comeback for the truth,” the billionaire philanthropist told

“To the degree that certain solutions are created not based on facts, I believe these won’t be as successful as those that are based on facts. Democracy is a self-correcting thing,” Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and one of the world’s wealthiest men, said.

His comments come as President Donald Trump repeatedly bashes the media, calling certain outlets “fake news” and labeling the press an “enemy of the American people.”

But both Gates and Buffett expressed hope when asked whether President Trump could do some good.

“Any president comes in, there are all kinds of possibilities,” Buffett said. “We’ve been operating this way for a long time, and you’ve seen all kinds of zigs and zags, but we move forward.”

“The truth is, we’ve got something that works, and the fact is it works and has kept working. It took us 150 years to get the 19th Amendment, but things gets better. We’re an aspirational country in a sense, and this country has a mechanism that allows aspirations to work their way into society, with a lot of fits and starts,” he said.

“We’re not trying to say that there isn’t some uncertainty. It’s early enough to say that everything is open for discussion,” Gates added