Inscribed on the statue of Liberty on the shore of New York Harbor, Lady Liberty has been and continues to be a symbol of hope to many across the globe.

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the Wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Lady Liberty was a gift from France to the United States. Designed by the French sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and it was built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was to symbolize the idea of American liberty.

American history is a history of immigration. Since the beginning there has always been waves of immigrants from Spanish, Dutch, French, English, Germans, Eastern Europeans, to Africans, Indians, Asians, and the list goes on and on.

The United States was and continues to be built on the backs of immigrants. From Transcontinental railroad that brought many Asians from China and Mexico to work the dangerous job of installing the first railroad in the United States — which allowed for western expansion — to the immigrants that grow and pick our foods in farms, providing us with affordable produce at the grocery store.

Immigrants continue to take the dangerous jobs just to feed their families, they continue to open small businesses, they continue to be our doctors, and they continue to work within the STEM fields.

Keeping American innovation strong and globally competitive. The influx of immigrants is part of being American, and it is what gives us our American standard of living.

It is immigration that makes America Great, and that continues to make America Great.

President Trump’s recent remarks, “why are we only bringing people from ‘shithole’ countries?” is not surprising given his record of retort towards minority communities in the United States.

However, these remarks help illuminate and support what many Americans have said about the President, that he holds old racist views about the world and minorities, whether they are American or not.

Also, his comments also reveal his lack of knowledge in American and world history.

But even with President Trump’s racist remarks, The Statue of Liberty will continue to evoke hope to many across the world.