Joaquin Castro: “50 years ago, even 100 years ago, if you asked somebody who was living in Asia or Latin America or Europe where on Earth…”

“50 years ago, even 100 years ago, if you asked somebody who was living in Asia or Latin America or Europe where on Earth they would want to go if they were going to leave their home country, the answer was very clearly the United States of America. We proudly say, as Americans, that we are a Nation of immigrants, yet throughout the generations, immigrants from different corners of the world have encountered resentment and scapegoating here in our land. Today we celebrate St. Patrick's Day for the Irish. When the Irish came in the 1800s, they were greeted by signs that said ``No Irish need apply'' in cities like New York and Boston. The Chinese, for many decades, were excluded from admission into the United States. The Japanese and Germans were interned through World War II. There was an operation called ``Operation Wetback'' in the Eisenhower administration that rounded up and deported thousands, if not over a million, Mexicans and Mexican Americans back to Mexico. The latest iteration of those politics, the latest attempt to relive our worst mistakes started when a man--who may become President--called Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers. There are times in our Nation's history when our politics become a race to the bottom, and it takes people of good faith, of different political stripes and beliefs, to stand up and put the brakes on it. Sometimes we have, and sometimes we have fail to do that.…”