Colin Powell on Immigration Reform

Posted by: Myo
Source: Lawprofessors.typepad.com

Earlier this year Colin Powell gave a speech on immigrants and immigration reform at an event sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation. Here is an excerpt:

Some also argue that immigrants are a security threat. They assume that foreigners coming to America must remain foreign to America. That is not our history. Debate so often focuses on efforts to stem the flow of immigrants into our country or to establish conditions that immigrants must meet to become Americans that we may forget the powerful good we can do through our integration policies. An immigrant living in America can be isolated and mistreated, can live in fear of police raids and deportation. Isn’t it better to bring them out so they can openly navigate the path to becoming Americans and fulfill the expectations that brought them here in the first place? In an immigrant’s first embrace of this country, we often see ardent demonstrations of loyalty and patriotism—but only if we return that embrace. I have seen it thousands of times in my military career: the young men and women who come to this country as immigrants and volunteer to serve in our Armed Forces, the children of immigrants who volunteer to serve in our Armed Forces. You will find no better or more loyal soldiers than these young men and women who may already be citizens or who hope to do their service to become citizens.

Immigrants eventually become part of our social and economic fabric. But the policies with which we greet them are, in important ways, self-fulfilling. If we reach out, if we help, they will respond in kind. We can each embrace each other or we can embitter and disappoint immigrants by treating them as a security threat or as just a servant class. Or, we can truly provide for their integration in our society. We can consider their aspirations. Immigrants come to America because they expect life here to be more fulfilling, and our country has been strong in direct proportion to how we meet those expectations. And we must let immigrants know that we have expectations for them. They are expected to work hard, to learn the language, to learn our rules, to fit into our society, and as the generations that have come before them, become caring, considerate and law-abiding American citizens.

Click here for the entire speech.