Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

“Keep the Door Open - Safely” “…Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door…” This is an excerpt from the inscription on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. It stands for America’s pledge to ensure any man or woman who faces the prospect of ethnic cleansing, religious oppression, torture, and even death have a safe place to go. Because this country was founded in large part by those who fled various kinds of political and religious persecution, it has become America’s historical responsibility to serve as an advocate of liberty, freedom and human rights. Most immigrants who left their homelands endured difficult journeys in coming to America. Symbols such as the Statue of Liberty offered strength and hope to start a new home in this foreign land. America has always embraced immigrants. In fact, the United States is a nation founded on immigrants. But long before immigrants, the United States was a home to Native Americans. Therefore, with the exception of those citizens considered true Native Americans, all our ancestors were once immigra