The Story Behind the Statue of Liberty

Brut America

A Trump immigration official suggested that Lady Liberty didn't want tired, poor, huddled masses — just working class Europeans. This history of America's most iconic statue proves otherwise.

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00:00It's important that we establish that we are a country that has open arms and not closed borders for people.

00:07It's important because we let people know why America is what it is.

00:12It's about an ideal, and that ideal is freedom for everybody.

00:30This statue, given by France to the great American people,

00:46can be the statue of all those who, all over the world, prefer freedom to dictatorship.

01:00This statue, given by France to the great American people,

01:07can be the statue of all those who, all over the world, prefer freedom to dictatorship.

01:15This statue, given by France to the great American people,

01:23can be the statue of all those who, all over the world, prefer freedom to dictatorship.

01:39They came from famine in search of food.

01:43They came from poverty in search of opportunity.

01:48They were young, they were old, they were Jewish, they were Catholic, they were educated, they were not.

01:55But for all their differences, each one of them came seeking one thing.

02:04They were all in search of the dream, the American dream.

02:18Today, USCIS, the agency I head as part of the Department of Homeland Security,

02:46has issued a rule that encourages and ensures self-reliance and self-sufficiency

02:53for those seeking to come to or to stay in the United States.

03:07It stands, just look at it, that's what it stands for.

03:10We take everyone, we take our poor, we take the world.

03:13We don't, all of a sudden, change that just because of Donald Trump.

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