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Heritage Foundation
Morning Bell: Why My
Family Came to America
Jessica Zuckerman
April 26, 2013
More than any other nation in history, the United States has made
itself a new home for immigrants in search of a better life. It
embraces those who come to this country honestly—often with nothing
more than their work ethic—in search of the promises and opportunities
of the American Dream.
As a second-generation American, I think of this promise often. Each
and every day, when I see my grandfather’s Ellis Island records hanging
on my wall, I remember what he went through to come to this country. I
remember how he left behind all he had ever known in Hungary to escape
discrimination and the destruction left in the wake of World War I; how
he gave up everything so that he could offer his children and
grandchildren the promise of freedom and opportunity in a new land.
His story is not unique. Since our nation’s founding, millions of
immigrants have come to our shores with a similar dream, each bringing
with them new experiences and pieces of their cultures that together
form part of what makes this nation great.
Over the past several decades, however, immigration policy has become
confused, unfocused, and dysfunctional. America lacks a simple system
to attract the qualified immigrants who can help our economy and
contribute to our nation. Millions of unlawfully present immigrants are
undermining America’s core principle of the rule of law, while the
legal naturalization process isn’t working as well as it should.
Large-scale immigration without effective assimilation threatens social
cohesion, along with America’s civic culture and common identity. This
is particularly true when immigrants are assimilated into the welfare
state rather than into a society of opportunity…
Read the rest of the article at the Heritage Foundation
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