In a speech during a ceremony at the National Archives Museum, where 31 individuals from 25 nations were sworn in as US citizens, Obama recalled that eight of the under signers of the Declaration of Independence were foreigners that decided to settle in the nation.
"Immigrants are the teachers who inspire our children and they're the doctors who keep us healthy," Obama said, adding that many also serve in the military, "often risking their lives for an America that isn't even their own yet."
He acknowledged that in treating these persons that come from abroad, the United States not always behaved at the height of its values, particularly during the time of slavery and the abuses against people coming from Europe and Asia.
Last month, 25 Republican governors announced they would block the entry to Syrian refugees in their respective states, which was rejected immediately by Obama, who said this is against the real US values.
One of the most controversial remarks on this regard was made by Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, who demanded a total ban on Muslims to enter the United States as a way to prevent the arrival of potential terrorists.
Trump's position was decried by broad sectors of the US society, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, also Republican Paul Ryan.
Some presidential advisors met Monday night with at least a dozen US Muslims and discussed this hostile campaign from several Republican presidential hopefuls to the elections of 2016.
In this regard, the presidential spokesman said this offensive, hateful, divisive rhetoric is harmful and dangerous to the country's national security interests.
The White House also has plans to meet this week with religious leaders to discuss the ways in which the Administration must work to face the acts of discrimination, harassment and violent incidents that have proliferated countrywide in the past few months.
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