I have always found it jarring to encounter people born and raised in, say, Switzerland, who are denied its citizenship and still considered Algerians or Turks.

Birthright citizenship in America is part of something larger: The American longing to sever from history, to be a place of new beginnings.

In Europe, more than in the United States, worldly people, faced with my Indian skin, reflexively laud my 'ancient,' 'beautiful' origins, which is heartier praise than Cleveland usually gets from Europeans.

Anand Giridharadas Quotes