Ilan Stavans Quotes

Every single immigrant is part of a larger history that needs to be communicated in all its ambivalences and complexities.

America is made up of people who came from someplace else. Even the Native Americans came over the Bering strait... America is what it is because people came from someplace else.

The other aspect of American identity worth focusing on is the concept of America as a nation of immigrants. That certainly is a partial truth. But it is often assumed to be the total truth.

Too many people are willing to turn their backs on our immigrant past.

Our country is a country where immigration is history and it is a country where immigration is destiny.

In our community here in Boston, we have had a tremendous influx of Russian Jews and Haitians. We call these people immigrants. But they come for the same reasons that William Bradford and William Brewster and John Carver came.

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.

All Americans are either immigrants or descendants of ancestors who came from somewhere else, including Native Americans. We should all respect and admire immigrants.

We are a nation of immigrants - all of us.

I can understand the value of the immigrant experience and that we have become the nation that we are because people like my grandmother were able to make a life in this country.

America was founded on immigrants. The immigrant experience is common to all of us.

Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration, be it of Irish Catholics across the constituency or of Muslims from Gujarat in India or from Pakistan, principally from Kashmir.

We say this is a land of immigrants, and we forget that this was a land that belonged to people. And those of us who are new immigrants and those of us who come from generations of immigrants have to realize we are not that much different from one another.

A lot of people forget that Americans are immigrants. People are forgetting that, to where people have this attitude, 'We're Americans, go back to your country. Go back. This is a free country.' I always heard that growing up. I always heard that.

America is a country of immigrants. It's what makes America unique.

Britain's an island; it's always had a constant ebb and flow of immigration - it makes it a better place.

We are indeed a nation of immigrants. People who choose to come to America have always been one of our greatest sources of national vitality. They keep our economy strong and our communities dynamic. They are some of our greatest patriots.

People tend to forget that in our country, we'd pretty much all be immigrants, except for the Native Americans.

No American should be forced to choose between their spouse and their country.

Our nation is built upon a history of immigration, dating back to our first pioneers, the Pilgrims. For more than three centuries, we have welcomed generations of immigrants to our melting pot of hyphenated America: British-Americans; Italian-Americans; Irish-Americans; Jewish-Americans; Mexican-Americans; Chinese-Americans; Indian-Americans.

At the beginning of the 60's our country called the foreign workers to come to Germany and now they live in our country. We kidded ourselves a while, we said: 'They won't stay, sometime they will be gone.' But this isn't reality.

I love the new legal immigrants; they want their kids to be safe just like I do.

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

Both my parents were immigrants, as were many of their friends, the parents of the children with whom I grew up. Of course I respect and admire immigrants and their undeniable contributions to America, as we all should.

As the 109th Congress continues to debate legislation that will affect the lives of immigrants, it is important for us to remember that we are a nation of immigrants.