Politics & Power Quote by Arnold Schwarzenegger

Schwarzenegger’s genius here is how he turns autobiography into a civic credential. He doesn’t argue about immigration as policy; he performs it as testimony. The repetition of “immigrant” lands like a drumbeat, insisting on identity before anyone else can weaponize it. Then he shifts from “I” to “Americans,” relocating the spotlight from his ambition to the country’s self-image: welcoming, expansive, confident enough to take in outsiders and still feel like itself.

The phrasing is deliberately unglamorous. “Open arms” is almost corny, and that’s the point: it’s a piece of American folk rhetoric, the kind you’d hear at a naturalization ceremony or a Fourth of July picnic. A movie star and former governor borrowing that language signals respect for everyday patriotism rather than elite moralizing. It’s also a strategic softener. By emphasizing gratitude (“I have been received”), he sidesteps the stereotype of immigrants as takers and frames immigration as a mutual act: the nation offers acceptance; the immigrant offers loyalty and contribution.

“Adopted by America” is the emotional linchpin. Adoption implies choice, care, and permanence, not a transactional arrangement. Subtextually, it answers nativist suspicion with a family metaphor: you don’t “send back” someone you’ve adopted. Coming from a globally recognized action hero with an unmistakable accent, the line doubles as a cultural argument: Americanness is not bloodline; it’s affiliation, and it can be earned, affirmed, and celebrated.