I just finished reading this editorial by Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch's wife.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/louise-gorsuch-american-citizenI was unaware till now she was a former British citizen who came to the U.S. after marrying Gorsuch, and became naturalized in 2002.
Like Melania Trump, she is an immigrant, who came to this country and now is married to one of the most powerful men in America.
It occurs to me that many immigrants are among the most enthusiastic about our nation's ideals and what it has to offer. The newest converts are among its most heartfelt advocates.
Dinesh D'Souza is another example. Any of his books attest to his advocacy for the U.S. as arguably the greatest nation in history, and vital to inspiring and spreading the same ideals and freedoms to the rest of the world.
Stuart Varney of Fox Business News is another British national who immigrated to the United States. On many occasions he has said: "I'm a refugee from European socialism."
I've dated many immigrant girls, from Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, the Phillipines, India, Iran, Morocco, Cuba, and other places.
The girl I dated from Poland in 1992 previously lived in Germany, France and Switzerland before she came to the United States. Despite that she was as blonde and blue-eyes as the people of any of those nations, she said that the U.S. was the first country she lived in where she felt people welcomed her and didn't treat her like a foreigner.
My most recent girlfriend from Brazil said that she was ready to leave Brazil and wanted to come to the U.S. for many years before she finally did in 2001. I met her in 2006, and even in those early years, she said she no longer feels like a Brazilian, she sees herself as an American.
A friend of mine named Fernando, who I met when he had a comics and toy store, and later was a promoter of Star trek conventions, told me in 2001 that he was a 10 year old kid who came reluctantly in 1980 with his parents to the U.S., and for many years saw himself as a Cuban national living in the U.S.
After 9-11-2001, he expressed rage "that someone would do this to my country." And in that mindset without even knowing it, that this was now his country, not Cuba, and without even realizing it had ceased to be Cuban and had become an American.
Reading Mrs. Gorsuch's account of her experience reminded me of so many similar accounts I've listened to from immigrant friends and girlfriends over the last 30 years. I live in a part of the country that is very international, so I meet people here from virtually everywhere in the world, from Europe to Russia to China to Iraq to Eritrea to Bangladesh. I think it takes incredible courage to leave your country and language and culture, to immigrate and take up permanent residence in another culture. I can't help admiring those who are willing to leave what they know behind, to immigrate here, and become one of us.
