Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of the immigration reform bill that we are going to vote on soon. I want to bring a Minnesota perspective to this debate. I want to talk about how this bill will help Minnesota businesses and agriculture while also helping and protecting Minnesota workers. I also want to talk about how this bill will help Minnesota families and communities. Minnesota was admitted to the Union in 1858. For the first 30 years after Minnesota's founding, no fewer than one-third of Minnesotans were immigrants born abroad. Our State did not suffer from that--it thrived. Our fields were first tilled by Swedish immigrants. Their crops filled 2 million acres. Our iron mines in the north depended on Finnish labor. Norwegians were critical to our logging industry, while the Danes, who came to Minnesota after the Civil War, made our State a leader in dairy farming. Today, immigrants are about 7 percent of Minnesota's population. Most of them come from Asia, and Latin America, and Africa, rather than Europe. But the contributions of immigrants to Minnesota's economy and to our communities are no less important. I am going to vote for this bill because of what it will do for Minnesota's economy. This is clearest when it comes to Minnesota's agricultural industry, particularly our dairy farms. Minnesota is the Nation's sixth largest dairy producer. Five percent of our nation's cows are in our State.…”