Immigration always has been ___ 1___ in the United States. More than two centuries ago, Benjamin Franklin worried that too many German immigrants would swamp America’s ___2____ British culture. In the mid-1800s, Irish immigrants were scorned as lazy drunks, ___3.___ Roman Catholics. At the turn of the century a wave of “new immigrants” — Poles, Italians, Russian Jews — were believed to be too different ever to ___4____ American life. Today the same fears are raised about immigrants from Latin America and Asia, but ___5__ critics of immigration are as wrong as their counterparts were in previous eras. Immigration gives the United States an economic __6.__ in the world economy. Immigrants bring ____7.____ and entrepreneurial spirit to the U.S. economy. They provide business contacts to other markets, ___8.___ America’s ability to trade and invest profitably in the global economy. They keep our economy ___9.___, allowing U.S. producers to keep prices down and to __10.___ changing consumer demands. • Obviously, ___11__ Sept. 11, the U.S. government should “control its borders” to keep out anyone who intends to __12__ terrorist acts. But border security and immigration are two separate matters. Immigrants are only a small __13___ of the total number of foreigners who enter the United States every year.