In America we have been teaching xenophobia for a long time, and we have yet to unlearn it. Standing tall on Ellis Island, the words of the statue of liberty read, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free". And though we have called ourselves a nation of immigrants, our history tells a different story.
Since America's founding over 200 years ago, 80 million immigrants have come to the U.S. Since 1882, however, 57 million of them have been deported. Immigrants who are poor or from countries or races thought to be inferior, were seen as dangerous invaders. They were used as scapegoats for social and economic problems. In this way, xenophobia and racism worked together to create labels and persecute all kinds of people as others who supposedly did not belong.