Mark Ruffalo: ‘We Are a Nation of Illegal Immigrants’

Actor Mark Ruffalo took to Instagram on Saturday declaring America a “nation of illegal immigrants” and insisted that the estimated millions of “DREAMer” illegals currently living here are “the fruit of America.”

“As things get ugly and rhetorical let’s not forget that we are a country of illegal immigrants. The only “real” Americans are the indigenous people of America,” the Avengers star wrote in a lengthy post.

“Our #Dreamers are the fruit of America. It seems to me to use their precious lives as a bargaining chip is the opposite of the American Dream. We are witnessing, the American Nightmare. The backwards America,” Ruffalo wrote in a post apparently prompted by Senate Democrats’ decision to vote against a bill that would fund the government late Friday night, which effectively caused a partial government shutdown.

President Donald Trump argued that the government shutdown was due to Democratic lawmakers prioritizing amnesty for illegal immigrants over funding the government.

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As things get ugly and rhetorical let’s not forget that we are a country of illegal immigrants. The only “real” Americans are the indigenous people of America. Their treaties are agreements with us that have allowed all of us to make a home here. The entire idea of America, and it’s saving grace, is it’s openness and promise of equality to all people, its inclusiveness, and the idea that all that are willing to join this great experiment, this beacon of democracy, would be welcome. That is the dream of America. Our #Dreamers are the fruit of America. It seems to me to use their precious lives as a bargaining chip is the opposite of the American Dream. We are witnessing, the American Nightmare. The backwards America. The glory of the US is our ability to enjoin so many cultures with so many talents and virtues and skills under a single flag. We aren’t the jewel of the world for nothing. We aren’t appealing to the world for nothing. When you think upon what makes America great today or at some time in the past you have to include our diversity. Because that is at our essence. It always was, no matter how you try and spin it. In that way alone are we different from any other country in the world, from our very inception, from the very DNA of our being. We were revolutionary in that concept, we were bold and open and courageous. It has worked out very well for us. We are not perfect, like anything we can always do better. Fearfulness is the equivalent of decay. It is regressive, it projects weakness, it impedes growth, it is closed minded, it is reactive, it is unsustainable. Try to remember, openness is at the heart of our national identity, it is the best of who we are and who we have been. It is our grace, it is what drives our growth, it reaches with imagination into the future and is the nature of the goodness in the universe. Stay open in these times, if you can, it pays off. It has for me.

A post shared by Mark Ruffalo (@markruffalo) on Jan 20, 2018 at 3:59am PST

“The glory of the US is our ability to enjoin so many cultures with so many talents and virtues and skills under a single flag. We aren’t the jewel of the world for nothing. We aren’t appealing to the world for nothing. When you think upon what makes America great today or at some time in the past you have include our diversity,” Ruffalo argued.

“Try to remember, openness is at the heart of our national identity, it is the best of who we are and who we have been. It is our grace, it is what drives our growth, it reaches with imagination into the future and is the nature of the goodness in the universe. Stay open in these times, if you can, it pays off. It has for me,” the actor concluded.

Last month, Ruffalo was among the many Hollywood stars who sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urging them to pass legal protection for DACA recipients.

“We respectfully urge you to listen to members of senior party leadership, who have insisted that there must be no final spending bill that does not ensure that the Dreamers have a secure future here in the United States,” reads the letter, signed by Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Jennifer Lawrence, and actors Don Cheadle, and Chris Evans.

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson