To set the record straight, the open door policy on immigration ended in 1921 and these days the quotas limit the number of legal immigrants to less than one-third of one percent of the U.S. population annually. A trickle, not a flood. Criminals and potential welfare cases are weeded out. More than half of those who do qualify are spouses and sons and daughters of U.S. citizens and legal residents. Most of the others are either refugees or highly- qualified workers whose skills are sought by U.S. employers who go through a long and tedious process of proving to the Labor Department that they can not locate even a minimally qualified American to fill a particular job.
Immigration is what America is all about.
It s about family values and about the importance of drive and hard work. If Cassidy doubts this, let him come to California. A few years ago, due to the virtual loss of the aerospace industry, riots, earthquakes, fires and floods, many people were leaving our state. Now, our economy is rebounding thanks to impressive gains in such industries as international trade, computers, biotechnology and entertainment, all industries where immigrants are important contributors. And guess what, Mr. Cassidy, many of those expatriates who moved to other states are now back home in California.