Immigration Quotes
So much of immigration takes place on paper: forms, petitions, certificates, and correspondence. In countries where immigration is prevalent, there are heated discussions for and against immigration. So, I think a change of pace is in order. I invite you to read the quotes below and reflect on their significance.
“If only the right person would have to leave, everyone else would be able to stay in the country.”
Herta Müller, The Land of Green Plums
“Everyone knows the ship could sink, unable to hold the piles of bodies that keep crawling on like raging ants from a disrupted nest. But no one is heartless enough to say stop because what if they had been stopped before their turn?”
Thanhha Lai, Inside Out & Back Again
“They were both lost in cities that would not pause even to shrug”
Monica Ali, Brick Lane
“Illegal immigrants are to immigration what shoplifters are to shopping.”
Jerry Agar
“People who are driven by their values will overcome hurdles, difficulties, and obstacles in ways that people driven only by profit will never be able to”
Simon S. Tam
“When John Quincy Adams in the Netherlands was placed with elementary students and belittled because he did not speak Dutch, either the author or John Adams accuses school authorities of "littleness of soul".”
Paul C. Nagel, John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life
“Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.”
Ronald Reagan
“People are talking about immigration, emigration and the rest of the fucking thing. It's all fucking crap. We're all human beings, we're all mammals, we're all rocks, plants, rivers. Fucking borders are just such a pain in the fucking arse.”
Shane MacGowan
“The truth is, immigrants tend to be more American than people born here.”
Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
“Recognize yourself in he and she who are not like you and me.”
Carlos Fuentes
“Yo no soy mexicano. Yo no soy gringo. Yo no soy chicano. No soy gringo en USA y mexicano en Mexico. Soy chicano en todas partes. No tengo que asimilarme a nada. Tengo mi propia historia.”
Carlos Fuentes
“AMNESTY, n. The state's magnanimity to those offenders whom it would be too expensive to punish.”
Ambrose Bierce, The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary
“No fiction, no myths, no lies, no tangled webs - this is how Irie imagined her homeland. Because homeland is one of the magical fantasy words like unicorn and soul and infinity that have now passed into language.”
Zadie Smith, White Teeth
“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
