Immigrants Quotations

You know, when President Reagan, who was one of my idols, granted amnesty to about three million illegal immigrants it was based on the fact that the borders would be secured. That didn't happen. It didn't happen during the Bush administration.

Nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants currently live within our borders. That's 11 million people living in the shadows whom we know next to nothing about.

I come from a family of working people. My parents were Guatemalan immigrants who spent most of their lives in the service industry.

That is a reward that humbles me: the fact that immigrants coming to America, much like I did, can come into a Forever 21 and know that all of this was started by a simple Korean immigrant with a dream.

Obama wants to raise the issue of immigration reform so that he can demonize Republicans as anti-Hispanic. That's why Obama ignores the broad support for an immigration plan that would provide border security once and for all and then deal with the illegal immigrants who live here.

I'm half-Armenian. Even though my grandparents did not discuss the genocide, and my father - like many sons and daughters of immigrants - wanted to be as 'American' as possible, I was always aware of it. How could I not be?

Before the Great Chicago Fire, no one took notice of Patrick and Catherine O'Leary, two Irish immigrants who lived with their five children on the city's West Side.

Conservatives aren't anti-immigrant - conservatives are pro-legal immigration.

We cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally. And in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined.

I understood from a very young age that school was important and that my parents were making great sacrifices for me. Every morning I saw my father get up and go to a job that he didn't really like. They came to France for the same reasons all immigrants move to another country - so their kids could have a better way of life.

Of course, everyone in the New World is an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants, and immigrants have built America and continue to do so. Legal or illegal, they are almost universally good people who work to better their lot and that of their children.

It was this society and culture that among other things - including economic opportunities here and repression in Europe - attracted subsequent generations of immigrants to this country.

Because women have been marginalised, they're more likely to behave like immigrants and continue to push themselves forward in order to avoid falling through the cracks, but I don't think a happy ending comes from matriarchy.

Rooted in the word 'history' is 'story.' And America's story is exceptional. It's amazing. Younger students should learn that we have always been and continue to be a land of immigrants - a land committed to bold new ideas.

We need to decouple the movement for comprehensive immigration reform and justice for immigrants from the legislative process and from the Democratic Party process. They are too linked.

I hope I'll have the opportunity to debate how we reform and update our immigration system. I will relate my own story and that of the countless immigrants whose American Dream stories have helped build our country into the greatest nation in the world.

So, where are the robots? We've been told for 40 years already that they're coming soon. Very soon they'll be doing everything for us. They'll be cooking, cleaning, buying things, shopping, building. But they aren't here. Meanwhile, we have illegal immigrants doing all the work, but we don't have any robots.

We need to remain a nation that doesn't just welcome but that celebrates legal immigrants who come here seeking to pursue the American Dream.

I don't know the right number of immigrants to let in.

To be the child of immigrants from Eastern Europe is in itself a special kind of experience; and an important one to an author. He has heard two languages through childhood, the one spoken with ease at home, and the other spoken with ease in the streets and at school, but spoken poorly at home.

Women are the majority of immigrants yet the minority of immigrant employment visas; immigrant and native born women who work in the service arena - such as domestic workers - are not valued for their work, making pennies on the dollar compared to male counterparts; and, women are disproportionately affected by family reunification policies.

The wise decision by President Obama to grant some undocumented immigrants the right to remain in the United States for two years without the threat of deportation is already benefitting the country.

The popular story is that America was built by immigrants and that, therefore, everything about immigration is good and leads to a more successful society. This narrative is so devoid of historical context that it should embarrass anyone beyond a second-grade education.

I don't think immigrants are that threatening to society at all. They're just happy they've survived some war somewhere.

Our young immigrants have a lot to offer. They are motivated and hard-working, and in many cases have already contributed significantly to our society - by excelling in school, by volunteering in their communities, or by serving in the military.

Beginning with a trip out to Ellis Island, I saw for myself where thousands of European immigrants took their first steps onto American soil, bringing with them nothing but their ambition: people such as Erich von Stroheim and Adolph Zukor.

Considering our history, I can think of nothing more American than an immigrant.

I'm an immigrant myself. It was a tough road to come to America and work.

In various fields, such as science, technology, sports, business and the arts, immigrants enrich our culture every single day.

People who say that there's a vote within the Republican Party that moves against immigrants is just factually not accurate.

The right wing is appealing to a shrinking, shrinking demographic of angry white people who blame their predicament in life on the fact that there are immigrants coming into the country; it's pretty ludicrous.

All of us take offense to anyone who reaps the rewards of living in America without taking on the responsibilities of living in America. And undocumented immigrants who desperately want to embrace those responsibilities see little option but to remain in the shadows, or risk their families being torn apart.

The United States is historically a nation of immigrants.

When you get into the third or fourth generation of Latino immigrants to the United States, you see the kids speaking more English than Spanish, and it's important that we don't lose our identity, our language.

Immigrants aren't the reason wages haven't gone up enough; those decisions are made in the boardrooms that too often put quarterly earnings over long-term returns.

President Bush said that if illegal immigrants want citizenship, they'd have to do three things: pay taxes, hold meaningful jobs, and learn English. Bush doesn't meet those qualifications.

Until President Bush tells us he is willing to do everything possible to stop illegal immigrants from crossing our borders -- including the commitment of military assets to the task,

With the mayor, people recognize that illegal immigrants are so ubiquitous in our society that it could happen to anybody. You hire a lawn crew, someone to come in and redo your basement, who knows what you'll get.

Throughout Philippine history, it's the immigrants who built fortunes and, in the process, helped build Philippine economy.

With this complex issue, the devil is truly in the details. Too much of the debate has not been focused on provisions that would bar the courthouse door for many immigrants who deserve their day in court and would require that everyone in the United States who wants to work must apply for 'permission to work' from the government. Congress should not pass a bill until these misdirected provisions are addressed.

What the president is doing is flooding the job market with illegal immigrants that he is giving temporary work permits to. Not fair.

We want people to hold hands and create a bridge of support for the basic human rights, dignity and equal respect of immigrants in this country.

I don't know what it's like in the U.S. but immigrants in the U.K. do the jobs the citizens won't do.

What we're doing is protecting elderly disabled immigrants in nursing homes, ... They're not part of the welfare reform debate. The welfare reform debate is about moving people from welfare to work.

What we're dealing with are the children of immigrants who drive a lot of these costs. Most of the children of immigrants are U.S. citizens. They are us.

The reality is our demographic trends are demanding a certain type of worker. Immigrants are younger and less educated. They are what we are not.

We set out to defend the proper rights of immigrants everywhere and we definitely achieved that. We will continue to fight for the cause to show the significance that this bill has on the people.

We've seen a fairly steady growth in the number of undocumented immigrants living here, and this data shows very sizable numbers coming in. We're clearly not stopping them at the border.

Immigrants provide skills that we simply cannot afford to do without. They have contributed hugely to Britain's success.

Let's not forget who these immigrants are. They work hard, they pay taxes, and many have U.S. born children. It gives them the peace of mind that they can continue to work legally.

Many of the undocumented immigrants from the Caribbean islands have been living, working and making vital contributions to our country for many years.

Many of them find work. Some of them develop little shops and companies on their own. Eventually they get together and expand from the family network of immigrants and work together to build viable businesses.

Many immigrants are doing the work the French don?t want, ... They are more likely to take on short-term contracts.

Many people just think of illegal immigrants as workers, people who don't earn a high-school degree or people who are ignorant. But there are many students like me who want to be able to go to college and work.

Many said that what was going on was terrible, and that immigrants participating should go back to Mexico.

Since emigration to Mexico was illegal and carried out without government permission, the immigrants initially had no passports. A competent foreign office, moreover, would never have allowed its people to go to a place like the Yucatan where labor conditions were terrible.

Mr. Schwarzenegger should be ashamed of himself, ... He supported 187, and he has said that one of his first acts as governor, which he will not get a chance to do, would be to repeal the legislation I just signed granting drivers licenses to hard-working immigrants that pay taxes in our society. So that is not the way to recognize the contribution immigrants are making to our society.

My dad came from Cuba when he was a teenager not speaking English. And I grew up here speaking Spanglish. That's the world in which I grew up, and that's a world in which a lot of second generation immigrants find themselves.

More Americans seem generally lazy while many undocumented immigrants work harder for less pay because they want a better life and know what's at stake in getting that life.

Near the turn of the century, the destitute of Europe sprang on the city with tenacious claws and an honest and solid dream. The city devoured them. They swelled its belly until it burst into a thousand furnaces and sewing machines, a thousand butcher shops and bakers' ovens, a thousand churches and hospitals and funeral parlors and money lenders. The city grew. It nourished itself and offered each man a partnership limited only by his talent, his guile and his willingness and capacity for hard work. For the immigrants of Europe, a dream dared and won true.

New Mexico should be considered the most immigrant friendly state. I have led the way on dealing with immigrants in New Mexico in a realistic way,

People with the most exposure to immigrants have fewer problems with them as a group.

Nobody in the community trusts them anyway. Mexican immigrants would be very wary of anything officials said.

If we have children that are illegal immigrants that have been through middle school and high school, played by the rules and made good grades, they should be able to pay in-state tuition. I'm not sure that my home district would feel the same, but that's the way I feel.

If they want to have their wall, fine. What we want is to make sure that we let immigrants in legally.

I don't know what it's like in the U.S. but immigrants in the U.K. do the jobs the citizens won't do.

I am undoubtedly one of the more, if not the most, privileged undocumented immigrants in America. And for us at Define American, which is this culture campaign group that I founded with some friends, culture trumps politics.

Certainly, it (New Orleans) will be more of a Hispanic city than before. The real issue is how well immigrants will be integrated into the community.

But they do have the power to enforce federal criminal laws. So if you make unlawful presence a crime, they'll be able to enforce civil immigration law. They could charge immigrants or just transfer them to DHS, who could deport them.

But even if we win today, it's only one step. Immigrants pay a lot in taxes and don't get a lot back.

I can think of hundreds of immigrants who have ended up in deportation hearings because of people like this.

Given that English as a second language classes are pretty hard to come by unless you've got money, it's sort of inevitable that children of recent immigrants who don't speak English are a huge fount of information about American culture.

French people should be prioritised; clandestine immigrants get 100 per cent refund on healthcare while two-thirds of French people can't afford medical help. Charity begins at home.

From 1882 until the 1950s, a whole series of legislation excluded immigrants from Asia from coming to our society.

If an immigrant comes here, and they're willing to create jobs, and they're willing to contribute to our economy, we have to make it easier for the kinds of immigrants we want, because that is the past of America; that's our greatness, and that will continue to be our greatness in the future.

If a substantial percentage of the immigrants took the day away from work, that would have a noticeable impact on construction.

If someone is willing to work and they're not negatively impacting the economy, I think they should be allowed to stay. I'm sure there are several undocumented immigrants playing a critical role in rebuilding the Gulf Coast.

There is a strong push among immigrants to purchase homes. About a decade ago, this country had a surge in immigrants who have only recently begun the home buying process.

There is a huge ethnic market. The increase in the ethnic market for goats has been due to the increase of immigrants coming from places where goat meat was the primary meat staple. The other primary meat staple from most of these areas was sheep. So the ethnic demand has increased there, too. There's more growth (in sheep) because the sheep industry started out smaller (than goats) so it's been a more rapid growth, a kind of a catch up situation." ()

We can change the minds of people in Washington and convince them that immigrants have an important role in America.

What we want to achieve is to send a very strong message to the Senate, to the Congress in general and this administration that immigrants are fed up, that we are tired, that we work very hard.

He's a true immigrant leader. He's been there for immigrants who feel they have nowhere to turn and no one to appeal to.

Hispanics are said to be keeping themselves apart, avoiding the use of English, and declining to absorb on the spot the 'core' Protestant and individualist values that underpin the American way of life ... but precedent suggests that young Hispanics will eventually merge their identity in the larger American one, just as previous streams of immigrants have done.

Italy is facing the problem of immigration, with immigrants coming from Africa and other places. We have to teach Italians not to be afraid of another color of skin, that we can live together.

It always trips me out that America, the most powerful and magnificent nation in the history of the world, whose might was built by immigrants from all over the world, only speaks one language.

It could be 50, it could be 300. The only reason we are thinking there may be less is that, illegal immigrants are afraid because there have been rumors of immigration officials being in the area.

I think we've learned that the S.B.A. plays a critical role in providing access and opportunity when the market is not providing that access. We help banks get that money out into the hands of important and viable businesses, particularly those owned by minorities, women, immigrants and veterans.

I think a lot of immigrants chose the right path. They went to work.

People are eager to express their values as immigrants and also to show their indignation.

Our immigration system is outdated, inadequate and ineffective -- but H.R. 4437 is not the answer. We need sweeping reform to ensure that immigration is safe, legal, orderly and fair to workers and employers throughout the United States. As a union of immigrant workers, we call on our elected officials to adopt comprehensive reform that respects our tradition as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.

Over the past decade we've seen the biggest influx of immigrants in our nation's history and at the same time a decline in resources for wage and hour enforcement at the state and federal level. These centers have become a safety net that's tried to enforce the laws.

Our country stands at a critical point in its history. Our heritage as a nation of immigrants is at stake.

Our unions do a large amount of organizing in parts of the economy that historically and recently are places where people of color and immigrant workers have found jobs. Some of them are entry-level jobs. Throughout history immigrants have found work as janitors, and our unions have helped them raise families, send their kids to college, and that's been the American dream.

Our work shows that cities with more diversity -- more immigrants -- in the work force exhibit higher productivity for the American-born employees.

Our border patrol and immigration agents are doing a fine job, but we still have a problem, ... Too many illegal immigrants are coming in, and we're capturing many more non-Mexican illegal immigrants than we can send home.

Our position on that is that these are people who are demanding rights that they don't have any right to demand. We have immigrants here illegally, who are demanding that they be given rights that U.S. citizens have, when their first act in coming into this country was to break the law by coming in illegally. So, that's something that most Americans are angry about.

Our position has been that employment of immigrants is a federal issue, and it deserves a federal response. But if the federal government doesn't act, you're going to see the states try to fill the void.

Paths to legalization for those who are here and for those who remain here makes sense. Legalizing these immigrants will reduce some of the competition they provide to native born workers.

My parents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe; my father came to South Africa from Lithuania in 1910, my mother, from Latvia, in 1922.

My parents were born and brought up in New York City. My father was trained as an electrical engineer, and my mother was an elementary school teacher. They were the children of Jewish immigrants who had come to the United States from England and Lithuania in the late 1800s.