WEBVTT

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Americans have a very complex
relationship with immigration.

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Most every American recognizes

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that the United States is a country
that was built by immigrants,

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and immigrants are often upheld

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as one of the foundations
that make this the unique nation

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that it is today.

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But some would argue
that America is not just a unique nation;

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America is the greatest
nation in the world.

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Those same immigrants whose stories
people have romanticized

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for the last 150 years or so,
are often also vilified.

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It's not uncommon for us to hear
that immigrants are lazy,

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they're dangerous,

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they're coming to this country
to steal jobs from hard-working Americans

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while dragging down the economy
and bringing diseases with them.

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But such a negative assessment
is nothing new,

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because these are
virtually the same things

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that some Americans have been saying
about immigrants and immigration

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for the last 130 years.

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When people are speaking about immigration
in such a negative and hostile way,

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there is usually some type of fear
that is connected to that hatred.

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In regards to immigration, I believe
that that fear stems from this belief

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that if too many immigrants
come to this country,

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Americans are going
to lose their way of life.

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And that's perfectly understandable.

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It's one of the motives
or one of the things

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that drives this "English-only" mentality

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and the many references to this being
a Christian culture, a Christian nation.

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But English is the de-facto language here,
and Christianity is the dominant religion,

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and that's not going to change
at any point in the near future, if ever.

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So why the extreme fear?

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I believe the fear is directly
connected to people's belief

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that this is the greatest
country in the world.

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Think about it.

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How often have you heard

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that this is the greatest country
in the world from somebody

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that doesn't even own a passport,
and has never visited another country?

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Not even Canada.

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Yet, the sense remains
that everybody around the world

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wants to come to the greatest country
and live here permanently.

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Last year, I stumbled across some polls
from Gallup that caught my attention,

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and to be honest with you,
they kind of shocked me.

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It seems that Gallup likes
to ask people, on a yearly basis,

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in 150 different countries,

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if they would relocate permanently

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from their current country
of residence to move elsewhere.

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I can imagine that it's very difficult

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to ascertain exactly
how many people in war-torn areas

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want to leave those places,

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but Gallup is a company that employs
a lot of brilliant individuals,

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so I'm going to assume
their conclusions are fairly accurate.

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And here's what Gallup found.

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As recently as three years ago,

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13% of the world's
7.3 billion residents said

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that they would make the decision

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to permanently relocate
and live elsewhere.

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The thing that shocked me

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was that out of the 650
or so million individuals

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that would relocate permanently,

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only about a quarter of them
actually listed the United States

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as their desired destination.

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I know what you're thinking;
140 million people is a lot of people,

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and you're absolutely right.

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But that's not the whole world,
as many Americans like to think.

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Also, it doesn't necessarily mean
that all 140 million people

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would have the means
to come to this country.

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I understand there's lot of limitations
with these numbers and the conclusions,

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but for me, they point
towards something more significant,

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and they lead me to ask
two questions for myself.

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The first question is:

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what would it mean for us,
as a country, to live with this idea?

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How would our way of thinking and talking
about immigration change or differ

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if we didn't live under the idea

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the whole world is clamoring to come
and live in the United States?

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The second question is:

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how would our politicians
and our lawmakers talk differently

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about immigrants and immigration,

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especially during a political year
- we have an election coming up -

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if we didn't have this mentality

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that is based on fear
and a lack of education?

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As it was already stated,
this is an issue that is personal to me.

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At the age of six, I crossed
the border illegally with my family,

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and I lived in this country illegally
until I was 14 years old.

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Imagine being that young
and going to school every single day;

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and every single day,
no matter what you do,

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and no matter how hard you try
to focus on your classes,

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you have this little thought
in the back of your mind,

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and that thought is,

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"Is my mother going to be home
when I get off the bus this afternoon?

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Because your mother is working illegally

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in one of the many mushroom plants
in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania,

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where they have immigration
raids on a regular basis,

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and people get deported
directly from their jobs.

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Also imagine being that young,
going to school,

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and learning in American history
about all the amazing things

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that immigrants have brought
to this country

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and all the waves of immigration,

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that they have welcomed
and the Statue of Liberty,

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and the land of the free,
and this and that.

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But you leave school,
and you're constantly being reminded

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that you're not welcome here;

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that you need to go back to your country,

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and that even when you learn the language

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you're still not going to be
fully accepted as an American.

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As you can imagine,

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that's quite a confusing place
to be in when you're that young.

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My whole life, I grew up
listening to people

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make disparaging
comments about immigrants.

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And often times,

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the nastiness of those comments
were directed towards my people; Mexicans.

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Recently, presidential
candidate, Donald Trump

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called us all rapists, thieves,
and drug smugglers.

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And he was cheered
by all of his followers.

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Donald Trump was again, speaking
about Mexican immigrants like myself,

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but the thing that was most
concerning for me

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is that he was talking
about people like my parents,

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who are two of the most
hard-working individuals I know,

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and they are two of the most honest people

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that I've ever had the privilege
of interacting with in my life.

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I can't help but wonder

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would Donald Trump supporters
continue to cheer him on

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if they didn't believe that this was
the greatest country in the world?

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Would Donald Trump continue
to make those comments

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if people were more
educated about immigration?

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If as Americans, we get this confounding
idea out of our heads

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that this is the greatest
country in the world,

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and that everybody wants
to come and live here permanently,

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might we be able to change the way

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that we think and talk about
immigrants moving forward?

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I want to leave you
with one final thought today.

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Just like Americans love their country,

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so to do other citizens in other countries
around the world; including Mexico.

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I know that may surprise some of you,
but we do love our country.

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Mexico is an amazingly beautiful place,
with incredible people living there.

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We have traditions that date
back to the pre-Hispanic era,

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but you never hear about
that in this country.

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You hear about the drug cartels,

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you hear about all the murders
that are happening,

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and you hear that Mexico is not safe.

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But do you know what they hear
in Mexico about the United States?

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In Mexico, they hear
about all the mass shootings

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that are happening in this country;

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in movie theaters, schools,
and even in churches.

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Gallup has another poll that they do,

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and this poll measures the happiness
in many countries around the world.

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As recently as 2014,
they polled 143 countries,

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and they assigned each country
a Positive Experience Index score.

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What this score measures
is how often people smile,

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laugh, learn, or do something interesting
that brings joy to their life.

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The highest score
any country received was an 89.

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and the lowest score
any country received was a 47.

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Mexico's score came in at a 76,
and the United States came in at a 79,

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just three points higher than Mexico.

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Perhaps if the Positive Experience
Index score of the United States

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was significantly higher,

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then we would see this massive wave
of Mexican immigrants

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rushing to come to the United States
and set up permanently.

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But as it is, not that many do.

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And relatively speaking
to the rest of the world,

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neither do that many other
immigrants around the world.

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I like to imagine what kind
of world we could create

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if we kept all of this information
in the back of our minds moving forward.

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I will say this -- Mr.Trump is
absolutely right about one thing:

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it is time to make America great.

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But the only way we're going
to accomplish that

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is if we change up the lens
that we are viewing immigration through,

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and if we start to embrace the immigrants
that are already in this country,

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and the immigrants that will continue
to come to this country;

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and embrace all the diversity
and all the different cultures

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that they bring with them.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)