Immigration Quotes

• Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Country, Patriotic, Years

  Theodore Roosevelt (1921). “Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star: War-time Editorials”

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• Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.

  John F. Kennedy

  Fabric, Migration, Migrants

  President John F. Kennedy (2016). “A Nation Of Immigrants”, p.11, Pickle Partners Publishing

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• Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Xenophobia, Patriotic, Usa

  Remarks before Daughters of the American Revolution Convention, Washington, D.C., 21 Apr. 1938. Often paraphrased as Roosevelt's addressing the DAR as "my fellow immigrants."

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• 

  I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.

  George Washington

  Land, America, Atheism

  George Washington, Stephen Lucas (1999). “The Quotable George Washington: The Wisdom of an American Patriot”, p.5, Rowman & Littlefield

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• The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations And Religions; whom we shall wellcome to a participation of all our rights and previleges...

  George Washington

  Rights, America, Privilege

  "The Writings of George Washington" edited by John C. Fitzpatrick, vol. 27, (p. 254), 1938.

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• We want people to come into our country, but they have to come into our country legally and properly vetted and in a manner that serves the national interest! We`ve been living under outdated immigration rules from decades ago.

  Donald Trump

  Country, People, Interest

  Source: www.msnbc.com

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• Immigration keeps this country young, it keeps it dynamic, we have entrepreneurs and strivers who come here and are willing to take risks, and that's part of the reason why America historically has been successful.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Successful, America

  Source: time.com

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• In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Men, Firsts, Facts

  Theodore Roosevelt (1954). “Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The days of Armageddon, 1900-1914”

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• I bring quadruple diversity to the Senate: I'm a woman; I'll be the first Asian woman ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate; I am an immigrant; I am a Buddhist. When I said this at one of my gatherings, they said, 'Yes, but are you gay?' and I said, 'Nobody's perfect.'

  Mazie Hirono

  Buddhist, Gay, Government

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• A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in.. And how many want out.

  Tony Blair

  Country, Simple, Looks

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• Unless the Stream of their Importation could be turned... they will soon so outnumber us, that all the advantages we have, will not in my Opinion be able to preserve our Language, and even our Government will become precarious.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Government, Able, Opinion

  Benjamin Franklin (1931). “Educational views of Benjamin Franklin”, AMS Press

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• America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.

  James Madison

  Art, Agriculture, America

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• The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources--because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples.

  Lyndon B. Johnson

  Land, Culture, Tradition

  Johnson, Lyndon B. (1967). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966”, p.1039, Best Books on

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• A nation, like a tree, does not thrive well till it is engraffed with a foreign stock.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Tree, Doe, Thrive

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1960). “The Journals”

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• Look, for example, at the obvious, immediate, practical example of illegal Mexican immigration. Now, that Mexican immigration, over the border, is a good thing. It's a good thing for the illegal immigrants. It's a good thing for the United States. It's a good thing for the citizens of the country. But, it's only good so long as its illegal....

  Milton Friedman

  Country, Long, Mexican

  "Illegal Immigration: A Feature, Not A Bug, Said Milton Friedman" by Brian Doherty, reason.com. May 11, 2011.

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• Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible. With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience.

  John F. Kennedy

  Past, Hands, World

  President John F. Kennedy (2016). “A Nation Of Immigrants”, p.104, Pickle Partners Publishing

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• The truth is, immigrants tend to be more American than people born here.

  Chuck Palahniuk

  People, Migrants, Truth Is

  Chuck Palahniuk (2001). “Choke: A Novel”, Anchor Books

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• I've always argued that this country has benefited immensely from the fact that we draw people from all over the world.

  Alan Greenspan

  Country, People, World

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• It says something about our country that people around the world are willing to leave their homes and leave their families and risk everything to come to America. Their talent and hard work and love of freedom have helped make America the leader of the world. And our generation will ensure that America remains a beacon of liberty and the most hope fill society this world has ever known.

  George W. Bush

  Country, Hard Work, Home

  George W. Bush's speech at a Naturalization Ceremony at the DAR Administration Building in Washington, D.C., georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. March 27, 2006.

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• Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery.

  Jack Paar

  Definitions, Flattery, Form

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• Nearly all Americans have ancestors who braved the oceans - liberty-loving risk takers in search of an ideal - the largest voluntary migrations in recorded history... Immigration is not just a link to America's past; it's also a bridge to America's future.

  George W. Bush

  Ocean, Past, Bridges

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• Immigrant families have integrated themselves into our communities, establishing deep roots. Whenever they have settled, they have made lasting contributions to the economic vitality and diversity of our communities and our nation. Our economy depends on these hard-working, taxpaying workers. They have assisted America in its economic boom.

  Edward Kennedy

  Hard Work, America, Roots

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• Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history.

  Oscar Handlin

  Writing, Discovery, Usa

  Oscar Handlin (2002). “The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations That Made the American People”, p.3, University of Pennsylvania Press

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• Our attitude towards immigration reflects our faith in the American ideal. We have always believed it possible for men and women who start at the bottom to rise as far as the talent and energy allow. Neither race nor place of birth should affect their chances.

  Robert Kennedy

  Attitude, Men, Race

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• Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

  Emma Lazarus

  Inspirational, Freedom, Tired

  "The New Colossus" l. 10 (1883).

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