Immigrants and Emigrants

America is a land of immigrants or something, right? Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Mitt Romney, we know, cares not for your poor. Along with most of the rest of his party he also shows little concern for the tired or the huddled masses. In fact, Romney and Republicans don't care for immigrants much at all. Somehow they've forgotten that even they and their ilk - members of the stodgy white man's club - still owe their American heritage to immigrants.

Romney and the Republican attitude towards immigrants is morally callous and economically harmful, a lethal combination that is indicative of far too many Republican policy ideas nowadays.

To see just how far backwards Romney and the Republicans have stepped, consider the following quotes:

"It does not appear that there can be urgent or sufficient reasons, racial or social, for departing from the old tolerant and generous practice of free entry and asylum, to which this country has so long adhered and from which it has so often greatly gained."

-Winston Churchill, 1904

"Illegal immigration has got to end and any form of citizenship amnesty is troublesome"

-Mitt Romney, 2007

One would think that over the course of the last century, we would have developed slightly more progressive views. Oops.

But it isn't just the moral disregard that Republicans hold for immigrants that is troubling. Their position on immigration, as well as the stagnant and suffocating political atmosphere in America, has led many of our brightest immigrants to become emigrants. A country built by immigrants is now watching as the tide shifts, and many of the people who were once attracted to our country are now looking for greener pastures.

There are many reasons for this, but it is an ominous sign for a country whose immigration policy is currently shaped by the buffoonery of Arizona. America needs immigration reform. We need to continue attracting the world's talent, and giving those people reason to stay here. We need to provide paths to residency and citizenship, and we need to make it clear that others are welcome here.

It's funny that the Statue of Liberty is a beacon for immigrants. It's not set in America's heartland, rather it overlooks Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty is a stark reminder that American values don't just apply to America and Americans. They are universal, and we should offer the same freedoms that we hold dear to those who seek them, just as they were offered to generations of people - now Americans - who have been arriving on our shores for centuries. The tired, the poor, and the huddled masses come here to shed those labels. Those who would have America close its doors to immigrants were once among them.

People from all over the world want to come here. They yearn for freedom and opportunity, and we should give it to them and allow everyone to benefit as we have for generations. If not, we'll be the nation experiencing the brain drain, and we will watch as talented Americans of foreign descent leave our country for better opportunities.