A Welcoming Country

Local WBAP radio talk personality and Dallas Morning News columnist Mark Davis describes his thoughts after recently speaking at a naturalization ceremony at which over 700 immigrants became United States citizens:

With hardly a dry eye in the house, we all filed into the parking lot. I met fellow Texans who had come to support friends and co-workers born in Korea, Lithuania, India and elsewhere. Native Mexicans definitely were the largest contingent, but more than half of the new citizens were from elsewhere.

To see them, to meet many of them, to help welcome them into their new lives, was a soul-lifting tonic in these times when it seems the only immigrants we hear about are those who do not respect our laws, embrace our culture or even speak our language.

Those of us who spend a lot of time taking a hard line on immigration laws have a responsibility to be particularly gracious in welcoming those who come to America the right way.

When I first heard Mr. Davis' radio program after moving to Dallas earlier this year, I realized I was listening to a familiar voice. He hosted a talk show in Memphis when I lived there in the 1980's.