Immigration in America's DNA: Obama

July 05, 2014 02:32

President Barack Obama today called America's legacy as a country of immigrants part of the nation's "DNA," as members of the military community were sworn in as citizens at the White House.

At a Fourth of July event marking the 238th anniversary of American independence, Obama praised the newly minted citizens -- some two dozen active duty military, their spouses, veterans, and reservists -- who "remind us that America is and always has been a nation of immigrants."

The president's remarks came with the country embroiled in a tense debate over how to stanch an influx of undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central America, among them thousands of minors, who have flooded across the border into the US in recent months.

"Throughout our history, immigrants have come to our shores in wave after wave, from every corner of the globe. Every one of us -- unless we're Native American -- has an ancestor who was born somewhere else," Obama said.

"That's what makes America special. That's what makes us strong. The basic idea of welcoming immigrants to our shores is central to our way of life, it is in our DNA," the president said.

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