Speech #1010171246

President. in his State of the Union Address back in January. President Bush stated. Our Nation is the enduring dream of every immigrant who ever set foot on these shoresand the millions still struggling to be free. This Nationthis idea called Americawas and always will bea new world. Our new world. Millions throughout the world still envision the United States as the land of opportunity. as I do. I was only 5 years old when my family and I set foot in the United States. fleeing Nazi Germany. I have a deep concern for the plight of refugees and immigrants. During my time in the Senate. I have worked hard to give others the same chance I hadto find refuge and opportunity within the United States. I am firmly convinced that our countrys heritage has been enriched by the flow of immigrants into our Nation. If there is one thing that distinguishes us from other countries. it is that virtually all of us are immigrantssons and daughters of immigrants. grandsons and granddaughters of immigrants. immigrants who help energize the United States culturally and intellectually and help fuel the economy. Recently. several experts have been outspoken in calling for an increase in the flow of immigrants into our country. For instance. Ben Wattenberg and Karl Zinsmeister. of the American Enterprise Institute. call for increasing the number of immigrants flowing into our Nation. They emphasize the education. skills and in some cases. investment capability. of immigrants which help enrich our country. Not so long ago. Mr. President. there was a twopage spread in the USA Today about young people as they were leaving high school and going into college. It pictured them and gave their names in the event they were not pictured. A disproportionate number of those names indicated that there was a recent immigrant connection or that they themselves were immigrants. It is not unlike Boston in this past year. Of its 17 high schools. 13 of the valedictorians were immigrants. So for that and many other reasons. I support the idea of increased immigration into this country in order to continue to enrich and strengthen it. Wattenberg and Zinsmeister were quoted in a Washington Post column by William Raspberry: The simplest question to ask when considering what kind of immigration policy this country needs is this: Is America donea finished productor is it a constantly improving. searching. expanding enterprise? We would argue the latter. I would argue the latter as well. When immigrants arrive in the United States. they often have nothing but ambition. That is why our economy expanded fastest when immigration was highest. Immigrants spur growth through their commitment to work and their driving desire to gain a better life for themselves and their families. They show us again and again what promise and opportunity is available to all Americansif we are just willing to work at it. I see it happening with new immigrants. Go to the schools of areas where many immigrants have resettledfor example. St. Paul and Minneapolis. in my home State of Minnesotaand ask their teachers and principals. Look at the faces of the valedictorians. the scientists. and the entrepreneurs. Will some of our new immigrants take menial jobs. or even go on welfare? Surebut others will win Nobel prizes. or start new businesses. or move into professions that are in short supply. Today perhaps 700.000 immigrants and refugees come to our country annually. Thats onethird of 1 percentor lessof our Nations population. Yet in the years when the Scandinavians.