Political Quotes

“I rise today on the Senate floor to address an issue that is really fundamental to who we are as Americans. It is the issue of immigration. We just celebrated, this past week, a day dedicated to Christopher Columbus, who, supposedly, discovered America. Of course, we know better. Native Americans were here and discovered it before him, but he was the first European to discover America and really triggered an immigration to this part of the world that has really changed America and the world forever. This immigration from all over the world has created one of the most diverse nations on Earth. I am a beneficiary of that immigration. My mother was an immigrant to America in 1911, coming here from Lithuania to East St. Louis, IL, where she was raised and where I had the chance to grow up, as well. Today, her son--this immigrant mother's son--has been serving as a U.S. Senator from Illinois with humility and pride. It is an indication of our family's story, but it is also America's story--how immigrants came from far and wide to America and made lives and great futures and built families that continue to serve this Nation to this day. You would think, since immigration is such a central part of who we are as Americans, that there would be a general consensus about the issue, but it turns out to be one of the most hotly contested and debated issues almost since the arrival of the Mayflower. How many people should be allowed to come to this country?…”