Political Quotes

“Madam President, let me say a word very quickly about the President's speech today in El Paso. I have said on the Senate floor many times, because it is a source of pride to me, I am a first generation American. One hundred years ago, my mother was brought to this country as an infant, 2 years of age. My grandmother brought her over from Lithuania, and they landed in Baltimore in 1911--100 years ago. How they made it--the four of them, at that point: my aunt, uncle, grandmother, and mother--how they made it from Baltimore to East St. Louis, IL, I do not have a clue because I am sure they did not speak but a handful of words in English. They made it like other immigrants made it: because they were determined to come to this country. They were prepared to leave everything behind in their lives--their homes, their churches, their relatives, their friends, their languages, their cultures--and come to this great Nation and take the risk, the risk of opportunity. Think about that story and multiply it millions of times, and that is the story of America. The people who hate immigration are turning their back on the heart and essence of this great Nation. We are an immigrant nation of people of extraordinary courage who picked up and moved and said: We are going to try our best in a new place with a new language.…”