David Minge: “I think each wave of immigration has brought with it a certain resentment on the part of the folks who are already there…”

“I think each wave of immigration has brought with it a certain resentment on the part of the folks who are already there against the newcomers. I think even Scandinavians, unfortunately, face some of that. But I look back in reading Minnesota history with some interest to learn that ballot instructions in my State were once printed in nine languages, including three Scandinavian languages, as well as Spanish. This was at the turn of the century, about 100 years ago. So I think when we did have these large waves of immigration from Europe, we tried to somehow fit our voting and our citizenship process to be as inclusive as possible. I think here we see sometimes what borders on xenophobia, and it is very unfortunate. Certainly none of us want to encourage illegal immigration, but I think folks who are in our country, who are legal residents of our country, they have gone through the steps of naturalization and become citizens, they are valued members of our community. We ought to treat them with respect and we ought to welcome them into the political process and make sure they are full participants, because we need, as all of us know, as broad a participation as possible in the political process.”