GOP presidential candidate Bobby Jindal said Sunday that immigrants who do not adopt American values represent an “invasion.”
“Immigration without integration is not immigration; it’s invasion,” the Louisiana governor said on ABC’s “This Week,” as he stressed the need for immigrants to learn English and fully integrate into American society.
Mr. Jindal, the son of Indian immigrants to the U.S., made the remarks when asked by show host Martha Raddatz for his reaction to tough stances against illegal immigration taken by GOP front-runner Donald Trump and other Republican candidates.
“Look, as a child of immigrants, my parents have never taken this country for granted. Every single day they are grateful to live in the greatest country in the history of the world. And I think this election is largely about the idea — the idea of America is slipping away in front of us,” Mr. Jindal said.
“When it comes to immigration policy, what I’ve experienced and seen is that a smart immigration policy makes our country stronger; a dumb one makes us weaker. We’ve got a dumb one today,” he said. “Yes, we need to secure our border. Stop talking about it. I think we need to insist that folks who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up our sleeves and get to work,”
Pressed on what he meant by “adopt our values,” Mr. Jindal warned that the U.S. must avoid what has happened in some European countries.
“You’ve got second-, third-generation immigrants that don’t consider themselves part of those [European] societies, those cultures. We in our country shouldn’t be giving freedoms to people who want to undermine the freedom for other people,” he said. “I think we need to move away from hyphenated Americans. We’re not African-Americans or Asian- Americans, Indian-Americans, rich or poor Americans: we’re all Americans.”
“And the reason this is so important: immigration without integration is not immigration; it’s invasion. My parents are proud of their Indian heritage, but they came here to be Americans and they love this country. They wanted to raise their children as Americans,” he said.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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