No city on earth can match New York’s rich ethnic diversity; we’re truly the world’s second home. If you need proof of that, let me tell you about some things I did last week: I walked along Madison Avenue to commemorate Mexican Independence Day. I took a trip to Little Italy, where the San Gennaro festival was celebrated. On Saturday, I was the grand marshal of the Steuben Day Parade that honored our city’s long and rich German heritage. And last week, the Minister of Health for the Republic of Ireland paid a call at City Hall—a reminder of the centuries-old link between his nation and our city.

Wave after wave of immigrants have shaped New York, weaving themselves into the fabric of city life and writing their own American success stories by working hard and playing by the rules. Today, some 36% of New Yorkers are immigrants, and that percentage is growing. Their contributions make us stronger, and they always have been, and always will be, welcome here.

What’s good for New York’s immigrants is good for the entire city. And by the same token, when undocumented immigrants are so fearful of the authorities that they don’t bring their children in for vaccinations, or don’t report crimes to the police, that hurts us all. That’s why, last week, I signed Executive Order 41 establishing a “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy for all City agencies. It makes the immigration status of law-abiding New Yorkers who are seeking City services confidential. In fact, it’s the most comprehensive privacy policy for all law-abiding New Yorkers in the city’s history. It provides, for example, that City employees can’t disclose information about your income tax records, your sexual orientation, or if you’ve been the victim of domestic violence—whether you were born in the USA or half a world away. Under Executive Order 41, if you play by the rules; you’ll be protected; if you don’t, then you won’t. It’s fair and simple, and the City Council, immigration law experts and a broad range of immigrant community groups agree. In fact, they helped us write Executive Order 41.

I signed that Executive Order last Wednesday, September 17th—which appropriately enough, happened to be National Citizenship Day. On that same afternoon, it was my privilege to join scores of new citizens—immigrants from around the world—as they took the oath of citizenship at a ceremony at the Javits Convention Center. It reminded me of another ceremony, two weeks ago: the one at the World Trade Center site commemorating the second anniversary of 9/11. All morning long that day, children read the names of the nearly 2,800 people from 92 countries who perished in that terrible attack. There were Haitian kids reading Italian names…Russian kids reading Hispanic names…Japanese kids reading Greek names. It was a reminder of what New York is all about. Those kids—and our new citizens—are New York’s future. They’re what make us the greatest city in the world.