156 Legal Immigration Quotes

Following is our list of legal immigration quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about immigration law.

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Famous Legal Immigration Quotes

Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery. — Jack Paar

As Congress continues to debate ways to address illegal immigration, we must remember the many hard-working legal immigrants that contribute so much to our nation's economy and culture. — Bob Filner

America should be a haven of freedom and prosperity, open to law-abiding migrants who will contribute to our society. However, immigration must proceed in an orderly, lawful manner. — Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

For our immigration policy to make sense, it is necessary to make distinctions between those who obey the law, and those who violate it. — Barbara Jordan

Our immigration system is a broken system that needs to be fixed. We need reform that provides hardworking people of good character with a real path towards citizenship. — Joe Baca

Conservatives aren't anti-immigrant - conservatives are pro-legal immigration. — Marco Rubio

I support concrete and progressive immigration reform based on three primary criteria: family reunification, economic contributions, and humanitarian concerns. — Jeff Bingaman

Few people are as well-situated to speak about the laudable benefits of a humane immigration policy than me. — Gad Saad

Immigration is not just compatible with but is a necessary component of economic growth. — Dave Reichert

In fact, allowing immigrants to have licenses actually improves homeland security by allowing our government to track who is in our borders. — Joe Baca

It is both a right and a responsibility of a democratic society to manage immigration so that it serves the national interest. — Barbara Jordan

I think when you think about immigration, what we need to do is realize that that human capital, if put in a place to succeed, will literally sacrifice everything. — Chamath Palihapitiya

If the U.S. government is serious about fighting irregular migration, it should support and encourage legal migration. — Nayib Bukele

I think that people should come to Australia through the front door, not through the back door. If people want a migration outcome, they should go through the migration channels. — Tony Abbott

Mr. Speaker, our Nation depends on immigrants' labor, and I hope we can create an immigration system as dependable as they are. — Luis Gutierrez

A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation. — Ronald Reagan

The Republican Party looks at massive immigration, legal and illegal, as a source of cheap labor, satisfying a very important constituency. — Tom Tancredo

Opening our borders to a flood of illegal immigrants is deliberate ... It's time to impeach; and on behalf of American workers and legal immigrants of all backgrounds, we should vehemently oppose any politician on the left or right who would hesitate in voting for articles of impeachment. — Sarah

Legal immigration quote Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

On immigration policy, I believe we ought to call an immediate halt, stop illegal immigration and reduce legal immigration back to about 250,000 to 300,000, to more easily assimilate the Americans who've come here in the last 30 years. — Pat Buchanan

We ought to increase legal immigration for our country's advantage. The high-tech world we are now dominating is dependent on educated folks, but we're short...of workers. It is to our nation's advantage to encourage high-powered, smart people to come into our country. — George H. W. Bush

Ronald Reagan basically legalized every illegal immigrant in this country. I just like to bring this up because every week I like to make Republican heads explode about how they love Ronald Reagan, but would despise everything he did. — Bill Maher

Legal immigration quote Advertising is legalized lying.
Advertising is legalized lying.

Therefore, if we are a Nation of laws and a Nation of immigrants, immigration should occur within a legal framework, not through the machinations of illegal schemes and scams that threaten our national security. — J. D. Hayworth

[Illegal immigration] costs the taxpayers of the United States a lot of money. And it's unfair to Americans who are working every day to pay their own bills. It's also unfair to a lot of people who have waited in line for years and years in other countries to be legal immigrants. — William J. Clinton

Merely presenting a driver's license or other document based on a birth certificate is not enough for an accurate verification. Biometric verification of identity must be made and then a data base of those persons who have legal status must be checked. — Bob Dole

The difference between past and present immigration experience is the existence of a defiant anti-assimilationist lobby that encourages legal and illegal aliens to resist adapting to the American way of life. — Michelle Malkin

Immigration Law Quotes

A Europe that is so proud of its values and so proud of its rule of law has to be able to come up with an answer that is both humane and effective. — Ursula von der Leyen

And after Brexit, we will be free to determine our economic future, with control over our money, laws and borders. — Liz Truss

The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit the immigration of a servile class to compete with American labor, with no intention of acquiring citizenship, and bringing with them and retaining habits and customs repugnant to our civilization. — Grover Cleveland

More and more Americans are asking about the price that we have to pay when Wal-Mart comes into a community, treats workers poorly, violates immigration laws and squashes small businesses. — Anthony Weiner

I believe Western culture - rule of law, universal suffrage, etc. - is preferable to Arab culture: that's why there are millions of Muslims in Scandinavia, and four Scandinavians in Syria. Follow the traffic. I support immigration, but with assimilation. — Mark Steyn

If you don't control the borders, it doesn't matter what immigration laws you have. — Thomas Sowell

According to Democrats it's racist, jingoistic and xenophobic to support enforcing America's immigration laws. What's next for Democrats, labeling heterosexual sex as homophobic? — Ted Nugent

By finally enforcing our immigration laws, we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions and billions of dollars, and make our communities safer for everyone. — Donald Trump

When a law enforcement officer apprehends an illegal immigrant, it makes no sense to simply release that individual who has been breaking our laws with no threat of sanction or penalty. — Bobby Jindal

Our laws were not designed to accommodate three or four thousand refugees coming here per day. Our laws were designed for people to be screened in a foreign country, carefully catalogued, and brought here a few at a time. This just didn't happen. — Jimmy Carter

Immigration Lawyer Quotes

My dad was an immigrant kid and a Democrat and a Jew, and we didn't know any Republicans in our group. So I grew up Democratic. My dad was a labor lawyer - a very hardworking guy, a one-horse labor lawyer - and then I went to hippie college and lived in the bubble. — David Mamet

When I started Cove, I spoke to three immigration lawyers who gave me a long checklist of things to do before my company could hire immigrants. — Ruchi Sanghvi

Not everything that is legal is reputable. — William F. Buckley, Jr.

When your parents are Middle Eastern immigrants, you have three choices. You can become a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer. — Michael Mina

My father was an immigrant from Austria and he became a lawyer and became a judge and I think he was a good judge. — Mickey Kaus

I came from a traditional immigrant family where education meant there were only a few valid paths: doctor or lawyer - and I didnt want to be either one. — Suheir Hammad

Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry. — Unknown Author

Are hackers a threat? The degree of threat presented by any conduct, whether legal or illegal, depends on the actions and intent of the individual and the harm they cause. — Kevin Mitnick

As long as the government can arbitrarily decide which substances are legal and which are illegal, then those who remain behind bars for illegal substances are political prisoners — Paul Krassner

Prostitution is criminal, and bad things happen because it's run illegally by dirt-bags who are criminals. If it's legal, then the girls could have health checks, unions, benefits, anything any other worker gets, and it would be far better. — Jesse Ventura

Hitler never abandoned the cloak of legality; he recognized the enormous psychological value of having the law on his side. Instead, he turned the law inside out and made illegality legal. — Robert Byrd

Annual drug deaths: tobacco: 395,000, alcohol: 125,000, 'legal' drugs: 38,000, illegal drug overdoses: 5,200, marijuana: 0. Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war? — Ralph Nader

I don't understand why prostitution is illegal, Selling is legal, f***ing is legal. So why isn't it legal to sell f***ing? Why should it be illegal to sell something that's legal to give away? — George Carlin

Making a million legally has always been difficult. Making a million illegally has always been a little easier. Keeping a million when you have made it is perhaps the most difficult of all. — Jeffrey Archer

Who most benefits from keeping marijuana illegal? The greatest beneficiaries are the major criminal organizations in Mexico and elsewhere that earn billions of dollars annually from this illicit trade - and who would rapidly lose their competitive advantage if marijuana were a legal commodity. — George Soros

Wokeness basically wants to make comedy illegal, which is not cool. — Elon Musk

Immigration Quotes

Now, some of the most dangerous places for women to be in the world are modern, Western, rich European countries. Why? One reason. Islamic immigration - it's got to stop. — Milo Yiannopoulos

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Hillary Clinton has shown no indication whatsoever of stemming the tide of Islamic immigration, or stopping our mollycoddling, and pandering to Islam. These things are direct threats. Not just to culture, but to the lives of gay people in America. — Milo Yiannopoulos

Western culture is what is at risk from immigration from the Middle East. - Milo Yiannopoulos

Western culture is what is at risk from immigration from the Middle East. — Milo Yiannopoulos

When I ran I was a first candidate to talk about how immigration was going be so damaging to the American people. When I first ran I talked about affirmative-action. — David Duke

We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre. — Enoch Powell

The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations And Religions; whom we shall wellcome to a participation of all our rights and previleges... — George Washington

There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities. — Theodore Roosevelt

I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong. — George Washington

Those who are most sensitive about "politically incorrect" terminology are not the average black ghetto-dweller, Asian immigrant, abused woman or disabled person, but a minority of activists, many of whom do not even belong to any "oppressed" group but come from privileged strata of society. — Theodore Kaczynski

Immigration Laws Quotes

We have never had the will to enforce the immigration laws. What you see is what you'll continue to get. — Charlie Munger

Ours is an open and accepting society, and has historically provided an avenue for lawful immigration to all those willing to accept the responsibilities of citizenship. — Spencer Bachus

Melania Trump posted on Twitter -I have at all times been in full compliance with the immigration laws of this country. It's the same message she told MSNBC in February [2016]. — Melania Trump

Our Nation's immigration laws are disrespected both by those who cross our borders illegally and by the businesses that hire those illegal immigrants. — Steve Israel

The U.S. immigration laws are bad - really, really bad. I'd say treatment of immigrants is one of the greatest injustices done in our government's name. — Bill Gates

If our language and culture are not passed on to immigrants, where will they learn to value integrity in government and the rule of law? — Paul Craig Roberts

On the one hand we publicly pronounce the equality of all peoples; on the other hand, in our immigration laws, we embrace in practice these very theories we abhor and verbally condemn. — Emanuel Celler

This administration is deliberately breaking the law by aiding and abetting illegal immigration at an unprecedented scale! — Elon Musk

We want to shut down the day laborer site. This day laborer site undermines and violates federal immigration law, and it can't go forward. — Tom Fitton

If our government has a policy, any political subdivision, that limits or restricts the enforcement of our immigration laws, we will sue them! And that suit will be $5,000 a day every day until that policy is changed! This law will be enforced. — Russell Pearce

Illegal Immigrants Quotes

We all know the stories about the Human Rights Act... about the illegal immigrant who cannot be deported because, and I am not making this up, he had a pet cat. — Theresa May

According to the California Hospital Association, health care for illegal aliens is costing state taxpayers well over $1 billion a year. Eighty-four hospitals across California have already been forced to close because of unpaid bills by illegal aliens. — Ann Coulter

As the American public continues to focus more intensely on illegal immigration and securing the nation's borders, the number of members of the House Immigration Reform Caucus continues to grow. — Virgil Goode

It is not 'dehumanizing' to call someone an illegal immigrant if he/she resides in the host country illegally. — Gad Saad

One of the critical issues that we have to confront is illegal immigration, because this is a multi-headed Hydra that affects our economy, our health care, our health care, our education systems, our national security, and also our local criminality. — Allen West

They say there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in this country. But if you ask a Native American, that number is more like 300 million. — David Letterman

One thing is very clear: Illegal immigrants are not entitled to benefits. - Barbara Jordan

One thing is very clear: Illegal immigrants are not entitled to benefits. — Barbara Jordan

In a groundbreaking move, the Associated Press, the largest news-gathering organization in the World, will no longer use the term 'illegal immigrant'. They will now use the phrase 'undocumented democrat'. — Jay Leno

We will hear more details on [Donald] Trump`s plans on addressing illegal immigration in the speech tonight, including what Trump plans to do about those 11 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S. — Kellyanne Conway

This problem with illegal immigration is nothing new. In fact, the Indians had a special name for it. They called it "white people." — Jay Leno

Immigration Policy Quotes

Credibility in immigration policy can be summed up in one sentence: Those who should get in, get in; those who should be kept out, are kept out; and those who should not be here will be required to leave. — Barbara Jordan

All the problems we face in the United States today can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indian. — Pat Paulsen

What we see today is an American economy that has boomed because of policies and developments of the 1950s and '60s: the interstate-highway system, massive funding for science and technology, a public-education system that was the envy of the world and generous immigration policies. — Fareed Zakaria

On Immigration policy and reform [Republicans] are on the wrong side of the track. ... They would have you believe that if they get into office, they are going to make sure that they are going to get rid of everyone in our society who was not born in America. — Maxine Waters

You can’t have a democracy when people don’t learn to put themselves in the shoes of another person, who can’t think what their policies mean for others. — Martha C. Nussbaum

At the basis of a country's immigration policy is the recognition that a country has the right to pursue its interests first, and whenever it wishes to be altruistic and humane, this is instantiated without ever risking the danger of its citizens and/or its cultural values. — Gad Saad

I try to use my influence and empower my community to always question the status quo – whether it relates to broader policy issues or YouTube gossip. — Ryan Higa

I don't see how the party that says it's the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century. — Newt Gingrich

We see unreasoning fear driving a certain amount of public policy, perhaps more in Europe than in the U.S. — Martha C. Nussbaum

Bush equals Clinton equals Bush equals Obama equals Clinton. It's the same policies...immigration policies that may turn us into Europe, where hordes of Islamic madmen are raping, killing, pillaging, defecating in public fountains, harassing private citizens, elderly people - that's what's coming. — Roger Stone

Immigration Reform Quotes

As prime minister, I will pursue three early priorities. Firstly, I will get Britain working again. I have a bold plan to grow the economy through tax cuts and reform. — Liz Truss

I started getting more and more active around immigration reform because this was such a waste of lives, such a waste of potential, such a waste for our country not to have the human capital that we developed - geared toward improving our entire society. — Laurene Powell Jobs

Let’s cut the top rates of stamp duty to enable more movement to take place and also looking at the broader tax reform, simplifying our tax system. — Liz Truss

I will drive reform in my mission to get the United Kingdom working, building and growing. — Liz Truss

I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. — Marco Rubio

Insurance, pension reforms are going to be extremely important for the stock market because the kind of money we’ll get from that is unbelievable. — Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

Going forward, as we work to strengthen our border in the interests of homeland security, we must also recognize the economic importance of immigration reform. — Dave Reichert

I don't think it was progressive to vote to give gun makers and sellers immunity. I don't think it was progressive to vote against Ted Kennedy's immigration reform. — Hillary Clinton

Together, undocumented people like me and our relatives, friends and allies wait for broader immigration reform, not just for Dreamers but also for undocumented workers of all ages and backgrounds who contribute to our economic security and prosperity. — Jose Antonio Vargas

We know that a ready amnesty tends to be an invitation to more illegal entries. — Jeff Sessions

Immigrant Quotes

Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country. — Theodore Roosevelt

I think those who say that you can't tango if you are not Argentine are mistaken. Tango was an immigrant music... so it does not have a nationality. It's only passport is feeling. — Carlos Gavito

Our attitude towards immigration reflects our faith in the American ideal. We have always believed it possible for men and women who start at the bottom to rise as far as the talent and energy allow. Neither race nor place of birth should affect their chances. — Robert Kennedy

We should embrace our immigrant roots and recognize that newcomers to our land are not part of the problem, they are part of the solution. — Roger Mahony

It is not new or unusual for the real Americans, meaning those immigrants who came to America a little bit longer ago, to fear the outsiders, the pretenders, the newcomers. — Luis Gutierrez

It is important that those that do come to settle in the U.K. gain a sense of British identity and share British values. We have always attracted the best and brightest. — Rishi Sunak

And you have to remember that I came to America as an immigrant. You know, on a ship, through the Statue of Liberty. And I saw that skyline, not just as a representation of steel and concrete and glass, but as really the substance of the American Dream. — Daniel Libeskind

I was born in Montreal in 1939, the second son of poor immigrants. - Sidney Altman

I was born in Montreal in 1939, the second son of poor immigrants. — Sidney Altman

I'm a living testament to the value of immigration. I escaped a civil war, and I came to Canada as a refugee, and they gave my family protection. I did my best to pay that country back, and I think I did that. — Chamath Palihapitiya

On promoting green transition — Xi Jinping

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Read quotes by Jack Paar

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Read quotes by Bob Filner

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Read quotes by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

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Read quotes by Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio

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More Legal Immigration Quotes

A good place to start is with the kids ... One of the great founding principles of our country was that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents. It is time to provide an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home. — Eric Cantor

Illegal immigrants in considerable numbers have become productive members of our society and are a basic part of our work force. Those who have established equities in the United States should be recognized and accorded legal status. At the same time, in so doing, we must not encourage illegal immigration. — Ronald Reagan

The fact of the matter is that, for years, the restaurant and service industry has been, to a great extent, built on the backs of often underpaid immigrants of often dubious legal status. — Anthony Bourdain

Legal immigrants play by the rules and come in under the law. They work, raise their families, pay taxes, and serve in the Armed Forces. ... Legal immigrants do not seek to cross the border, or overstay their visas. They come here the right way. ... And, by and large, they are here as the result of reunifying families. — Edward Kennedy

It would be great for everyone to grow up like I grew up, where everyone had a job. It would be nice for everybody. I'm the son of a "legal" immigrant. I think it would be nice for everyone to get back to work. Get rid of homelessness. People could work. I think if people give Donald Trump a chance, he'll do great. — Frank Stallone

I think we need a real plan, which is why I have offered a much more specific approach to securing the border, fixing the legal immigration system and addressing illegal immigration. — Carly Fiorina

We should not blur the lines between legal and illegal immigrants. Millions of people around the world have gone through the process to come here legally and they followed the rules that required them to pay a fee, learn English, and learn about American history and government. — Ken Calvert

I believe we must resolve the problem at our southern border with full regard to the problems and needs of Mexico. I have suggested legalizing the entry of Mexican labor into this country on much the same basis you proposed, although I have not put it into the sense of restoring the bracero program. — Ronald Reagan

In Psalm 72, Solomon prays for power and fame but he says the purpose of influence is to speak up for others and one is the immigrant. He doesn't delineate between legal and illegal. — Rick Warren

Special interests don't want border controls because uncontrolled immigration lowers wages, but the job of a president is to fight for higher pay for all Americans, including recent legal immigrants living here today. — Donald Trump

There should not be a question of legal or illegal immigration. People came and immigrated to this country from the time of the Indians. No ones illegal. They should just be able to come. — Linda Ronstadt

The truth is, immigrants tend to be more American than people born here. — Chuck Palahniuk

We should be the pro-legal immigration party. A party that has a positive platform and agenda on how we can create a legal immigration system that works for immigrants and works for America. — Marco Rubio

Moreover, from reforming the tax code to our immigration system, to commonsense legal reform, President Bush put America on notice that he will continue fighting to make the country, and the world, a better place for future generations. — Jim Sensenbrenner

Nearly every study shows that competition from cheap foreign labor undercuts the wages of American workers and legal immigrants. — Lamar S. Smith

Within just a few years immigration as a share of national population is set to break all historical records. The time has come for a new immigration commission to develop a new set of reforms to our legal immigration system in order to achieve the following goals. — Donald Trump

Lost in much of the national debate about immigration reform is how Democrats ultimately stand to gain electorally with any legislation or executive action that would put the newly legalized residents on a path to voting. — Aaron Klein

Illegal immigration continues to be a major problem in the United States. We have people waiting to come here legally. And we should not be rewarding people who have come here illegally. — John Barrasso

While I support immigration regulated through a legal framework, I do not support rewarding those who broke the law to get here. — Christopher Bond

Consular offices make no attempt to determine whether the person obtaining the card is legally in the United States. In fact, the only people who need these cards are illegal immigrants, criminals and terrorists. Consular cards also are easily forged. — Elton Gallegly

Instead, California is one of only 10 states that provides in-state college and university tuition to illegal immigrants. That's grossly unfair to a legal high school student who moves out of California for a year, then returns to attend college. — Elton Gallegly

We should be proud that so many want to come to America, that it is still seen as the land of opportunity. Let's make it a land of legal work, not black-market jobs. Let's make it a land of work, not welfare. Our land should be one of assimilation, not hiding in the shadows. — Rand Paul

Granting amnesty to people who broke the law penalizes the millions of people who are waiting to come to America legally. — Phil Gramm

As president, I will fight illegal immigration in order to preserve an appropriate level of legal immigration. At the same time, I believe our system of legal immigration needs to be re-examined. As part of this re-examination, I support a modest, temporary reduction in the annual rate of legal immigration. — Bob Dole

I support legal immigration. I don't support amnesty because it is not fair to people standing in line at consulates around the world. — Heather Wilson

The specific question was visa overstays.Current federal law requires a biometric exit-entry system when you come in on a visa. And the [Barack] Obama administration is just ignoring federal law. Forty percent of illegal immigration is not people who cross the borders illegally. It's people who come legally on a visa and never leave. — Ted Cruz

I'm a child of immigrants. That is the history of this country. Immigration is good and important for our country. Legal immigration needs to really be modernized. — John Barrasso

I support lowering the level of legal immigration by a moderate amount at this time. Legal immigration reform must be based upon principles that are pro-family, pro-work, and pro-naturalization, retaining opportunities for family reunification as the levels are lowered. We must not let this issue become divisive in this country. — William J. Clinton

For those here illegally today, who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only. To return home and apply for reentry like everybody else, under the rules of the new legal immigration system that I have outlined above. — Donald Trump

Legal immigration is a process. You learn everything about the people coming in. You find out how many of 'em are prone to vote Republican. You don't ask 'em this; you just learn. — Rush Limbaugh

The Democratic Party looks at massive immigration, legal and illegal, as a source of voters. — Tom Tancredo

They view massive immigration as a massive infusion of potential voters for the Democratic Party, and therefore will do nothing, absolutely nothing to stop that flow of legal or illegal entrance into the country. — Tom Tancredo

I'm for the DREAM Act. It makes so much sense. Following the implementation of the DREAM Act, we'll have a case study we can point to where we can say that we provided a path to citizenship or legal involvement in the community for these young immigrants, and the sky didn't fall. — Beto O'Rourke

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