Immigration quotes
532 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside immigration — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"Illegal immigration presents a huge problem. That is why I decided to spend a week along the southern border to see firsthand how bad the problem is and, more importantly, what Congress can do to fix it."
"What they are doing is disarming in the battle to stop illegal drugs and illegal aliens."
"I can't come up with any good reason why they [the INS] would unilaterally disarm."
"Immigration is by far the most controversial yet least understood issue in America. Frankly, given the way we're talking about immigration, given the emphasis, the overemphasis on border security, I would argue that we're not on the same page when we debate this issue. We're doing far too much debating and not enough conversing."
"When I had to fill in my immigration papers, I gave my age as 19, and my profession as genius; I added that I had nothing to declare except my talent."
"Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody."
"There is, of course, a legitimate argument for some limitation upon immigration. We no longer need settlers for virgin lands, and our economy is expanding more slowly than in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."
"If I could, I'd go city by city, county by county, town by town, and talk to people to explain to them what immigration is really about - that this is not about me, this is not about us, this is not about us taking something from you. This is not about us being a threat to you. This is not about Democrat or Republican, and this is not really about border security. But in some ways our politics, and in many ways our politicians, have gotten in the way."
"The limitless jet-lag purgatory of Immigration and Baggage at Heathrow."
"In November [2016], Americans are gonna have to make a decision about what we care about and who we are. We get these spasms of politics around immigration and fearmongering and then our traditions and our history and our better impulses kick in. That's how we all ended up here. 'Cause I guarantee you at some point every one of us has somebody in our background who people didn't want coming here. And yet here we are."
"America is a nation of immigrants. And so the question is, how do we make legal immigration faster, less bureaucratic, cut the red tape?"
"...for the system to be credible, people actually have to be deported at the end of the process."
"One wonders, in fact, why marriage is a legal issue at all - apart from its relevance to immigration and property laws. Why would something so integral to human nature require such vigilant legal protection?"
"As I've said previously as home secretary, dealing with immigration isn't just a single issue and a single measure and a single step that you take. You've got to keep working at that over time."
"The ongoing migration of persons to the United States in violation of our laws is a serious national problem detrimental to the interests of the United States."
"My opinion with respect to immigration is, that except of useful mechanics and some particular description of men and professions, there is no use of encouragement."
"If those who wrote and ratified the 14th Amendment had imagined laws restricting immigration - and had anticipated huge waves of illegal immigration - is it reasonable to presume they would have wanted to provide the reward of citizenship to the children of the violators of those laws? Surely not."
"I think comprehensive immigration reform while securing your border and dealing rationale with 11 million is the only way we're going to solve this problem."
"These guidelines contemplate a policy that will grant special benefits to illegal immigrants based on their unlawful presence in the country."
"If it is orderly and lawful, immigration is good for our economy."
