US President Barack Obama on Tuesday described immigration as the oldest US tradition and part of what makes the country exceptional, as he sought to draw a contrast with those who want to seal the borders against people seeking to escape hardships and persecution.
“We can never say it often or loudly enough: Immigrants and refugees revitalize and renew America,” Obama said.
Obama is this week seeking to reassure the public about his strategy for stopping the Islamic State group while also emphasizing that the US is a welcoming nation that promotes religious tolerance.
Obama implicitly drew a contrast with US Republican presidential candidate hopeful Donald Trump, who has campaigned on a plan to wall off the Mexican border and recently called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US. Some US congressional members have voiced concerns that allowing more Syrian refugees into the country could make it more susceptible to a terrorist attack.
Obama spoke at the National Archives Museum, where immigrants from Iraq, Ethiopia, Uganda and 22 other nations were sworn in as US citizens. He said the nation’s first immigrants were pilgrims and that eight signatories of the Declaration of Independence were immigrants.
Obama described various ways that immigrants and refugees contribute to the fabric of the US, saying they are more likely to create jobs by starting their own businesses. He said many Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants or the children of immigrants.
“Immigrants are the teachers who inspire our children and they’re the doctors who keep us healthy,’” Obama said, adding that many serve in the military, “often risking their lives for an America that isn’t even their own yet.”
Obama also said that the US has often not lived up to its values as a welcoming nation. He recited the history of slavery and treatment of immigrants from Ireland, China and elsewhere as examples.
“We betrayed not only our fellow Americans, but our deepest values. We betrayed these values. It’s happened before,” Obama said.
“And the biggest irony of course was that those who betrayed these values were themselves the children of immigrants. How quickly we forget,” he said.
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