Political Quotes

“Mr. President, when Alfredo Castaneda crossed the border from Mexico into the United States two decades ago, he didn't climb over a fence. He didn't swim across a river. He didn't fly over the border. He didn't walk through the desert. When Alfredo Castaneda crossed the border, he was a 2-year-old little boy perched on his father's shoulders. The choice to leave Mexico wasn't an easy one for Alfredo's father, but the rumble of hunger in his belly and in his son's belly convinced Alfredo's dad to leave behind the world he knew for a hopefully better life in America. He wrote me a letter; it is addressed to me. Here is what he said: I lived in a shack with one wall of my house leaning on my neighbor's; the other three were made of sticks and mud bricks. I wanted to give my family a better life, and so I hear the U.S. is a land of opportunity. All I want is to have a sliver of that opportunity for my family. So with his wife by his side and his son on his shoulders, Alfredo's father came to America illegally. Alfredo was a 2-year-old boy, as I mentioned, at the time. Today he is a 23-year-old man who appreciates the privileges that come with life in America, but he is also conscious of the opportunities available only to U.S. citizens--opportunities that aren't available to him because of his immigration status. When his friends applied for part-time jobs in high school, Alfredo knew he could never work legally.…”