According to Penny Pritzker, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, President Obama’s executive actions on immigration reform is a part of her family’s history and not just a humanitarian or a political issue. She said that her great grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Russia with nothing.
She made her comments after the President signed his executive order on immigration reform protecting millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. The President announced his executive actions on immigration reform after waiting for a long time for the House Republicans to act on the issue. Nevertheless, many Republicans are against the President’s move and many U.S. states have filed law suits against Obama’s actions.
Pritzker’s family is one of the wealthiest families in America and the family’s wealth rose when Nicholas Pritzker (Penny Pritzker’s great grandfather), a Jewish immigrant from Kiev founded the Pritzker & Pritzker law firm in the U.S. after immigrating to the country with nothing.
Penny Pritzker’s great grandmother founded the Nickel Society with an aim of helping Jewish immigrants who immigrated to the U.S. leaving behind their home countries. Pritzker said that her great grandparents focused on helping out the other immigrants, though they had very little. Pritzker’s husband Bryan Traubert, a Chicago ophthalmologist is also a from a family of immigrants. His family immigrated to the U.S. from Central Europe.
Pritzker was a successful businesswoman before she was appointed as the Commerce Secretary. She is the founder of the investment firm PSP Capital and Vi and Parking Spot. Her father Don Pritzker who died in 1972, is the founder of the Hyatt Hotels Chain.
Now there are more than 11 million immigrants living here without proper immigration papers. Most of them came here to lead a better life and give their children a better opportunity. These are the same reasons why people immigrated to the U.S. in the past.
Welcoming immigrants from across the globe is an American value that must be protected. Pritzker whose family is driven by its immigrant history says that all of us are immigrants and the country’s values must be recognized and protected.