Political Quotes

“America has a rich history of immigration. We are a nation of immigrants. There is hardly a person in America today who doesn't have an immigrant parent, grandparent, or at least someone in their lineage who came to this country from another place. I have told this story many times on the floor: My mother was an immigrant. She was brought to America at the age of 2 from Lithuania. Her son now stands in the Senate. That is my story, that is my family's story, but it is America's story. It can be repeated over and over and over again. We think about the Statue of Liberty and how it thrills so many people to see it for the first time and then to understand the message of the Statue of Liberty: To ``lift my lamp beside that golden door'' so that people are welcomed to this country. We knew it from the beginning: It was the key to our future. So many times this issue of immigration is overlooked. It is such a critical part of who we are in America. Think back in your own family history--one generation, two or three generations--to a person in a foreign land who said one day, ``We are going to America,'' who undoubtedly was questioned about that decision: You are going to a place you have never been, to a place where they don't speak our language, to a place where they eat different kinds of food? That will be quite a challenge. Well, it was. Millions of people made that trip and came to this country facing that challenge, and they made us who we are today.…”