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Update: President Obama’s FULL Address To The Nation on Immigration (11-20-14) (youtube.com)

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President Kennedy: Immigrants are good for the American Dream.

“This was the secret of America: a nation of people with the fresh memory of old traditions who dared to explore new frontiers, people eager to build lives for themselves in a spacious society that did not restrict their freedom of choice and action.”

“Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible. With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience.”

“Every ethnic minority, in seeking in its own freedom, helped strengthen the fabric of liberty in American life. Similarly, every aspect of the American economy has profited from the contributions of immigrants.”

“The contribution of immigrants can be seen in every aspect of our national life. We see it in religion, in politics, in business, in the arts, in education, even in athletics and in entertainment. There is no part of our nation that has not been touched by our immigrant background.”

From John F. Kennedy’s 1958 book A Nation of Immigrants.

(…with thanks to American Apparel’s Legalize LA campaign for the tip)