They Who Knock at Our Gates: A Complete Gospel of Immigration

Mary Antin arrived in America as a young Jewish girl from Russia, and she became one of the most eloquent voices of the immigrant experience in American letters. In this passionate treatise, she mounts a fierce argument against the rising nativism of her time, defending the fundamental right of immigrants to seek shelter in the land of liberty. Antin frames immigration not as a problem to be solved but as the very essence of American identity, the continuation of a national promise made in the Declaration of Independence. She tackles three core questions: Do Americans have the right to regulate who enters their shores? What is the nature of contemporary immigration? And is immigration ultimately good for the nation? Antin insists that to deny immigrants their rights is to undermine the very fabric of American democracy. Written with the fierce conviction of someone who lived the immigrant's journey, this work remains a document of enduring power for anyone who believes America's promise belongs to everyone who reaches for it.