Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps I'm too optimistic, but I think everything America needs to succeed and grow can be found right here in America. The problem is that it's sometimes cheaper to import foreign labor, or export domestic production.
Einstein, von Braun, Musk, Brin. Immigrants are more than cheap labor. edit just for a bit more diversity: Madeleine Albright, Schwarzenegger, Ang Lee, Tesla, Fermi, Audrey Hepburn, Sataya Nadella, Jerry Yang, Cary Grant... edit 2, correction: Ang Lee's Wikipedia page says he's a resident and not a US citizen. Another alien undercutting US labour like James Cameron and Ridley Scott.
Citing examples doesn't really convince anyone intellectually curious, determined or with momentum in the opposite idea. What you need to do to definitely drive the point is to compare "rock star per group". Then just compare the two values, and see which group has a higher "rock star" ratio, or whatever you want to call them. Pretty obvious, right?
Then you have go on and prove that for every one of those imported "rock stars", you wouldn't have gotten an equally great person from the local group. It's not immediately obvious that those things wouldn't have sprung up without that external "rock star" being brought in. We're often told that people aren't islands, so it may very well be that the local environment/culture is the one that helps create these "rock stars", and they just happen to be in the right place / right time.
I use "rock-star" because I have no idea what else to call them. Leaders, high-achievers, smart-people, role models?