Immigration and Compassion

                                       

The caravan of refugees and asylum seekers slowly winding its way through Mexico toward the United States has brought the immigration question to the forefront in the weeks preceding today’s mid-term elections. President Trump has seized upon the issue in his numerous campaign rallies and not only highlighted the need to keep borders secure, but also, has sent troops to the border to assist immigration officials.

On their part, Democrats have been adopting the position of their left-wing Progressive elements to oppose the President’s “nativist”, anti-immigration position. They are calling for “open” borders, unrestricted immigration, and the abolition of the Immigration Control Agency (ICE).  Democrats claim that they are the party of compassion, while their opponents, motivated as they are by racism and white supremacy, are totally lacking in compassion. 

Frankly, I fail to see compassion in those who exhort and encourage poor people from Central America to embark on a dangerous 1000-mile journey with their children in tow. It is dangerous enough for Mexicans to walk through their own country. I also suspect that these immigrants are being encouraged for motives that have little to do with their welfare. Consider how many Democrat candidates and their supporters in the media have been using the immigrants as a weapon in the campaigns. 

It is true that the President has used the immigrant issue to rally his supporters but I believe that when he asked the people in the caravans to turn around and go home, he was actually showing more compassion than his critics. Just today an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal described the crowding and confusion even at legal entry sites, as well as the diseases picked up by immigrants on the journey.

Actually, I think the President could have gone even further. He could have offered to fly immigrants and their families directly into the USA. All they would need is a sponsor who would agree to care for them and provide for their basic needs for a period of years. I would like to suggest that compassionate liberals, especially the very well-to-do ones living in wealthy blue states, take it upon themselves to adopt or take in families of immigrants. 

I am sure that compassionate liberals would jump at the opportunity to take care of the needy. People like Oprah Winfrey could certainly take in one than one family. Wealthy politicians like Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, and Connecticut millionaire politicians like Richard Blumenthal and Rosa DeLauro would also jump at the opportunity. They could even send the immigrant children to the private schools their own children attended. 

The President could even offer to fly the immigrants to sanctuary cities like San Francisco, New York, and New Haven in Connecticut. It would be less expensive than sending troops to the border, and take some of the pressure off the border states. There are certainly enough compassionate people in these ultra blue cities to take in, and care for caravans of immigrants. In New Haven, for example, the Yale Law school students who were able to take time off to travel to Washington to protest against the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh would certainly be willing to help.

I’m making the above suggestion with tongue in cheek but the more I think about it, the more I believe such a plan has roots in American history. When my grandparents came to the USA more than 100 years ago, the doors were open to immigrants, but there were some restrictions. Those with diseases were sent back at the expense of the shipping company that transported them over.

More importantly, on arrival, someone had to meet them and be willing to provide them with room and board as well as a job. Usually, it would be family members but sometimes potential employers had to provide jobs and housing for the immigrants.  It was not the role of government. There were problems, of course, but history shows that this private, voluntary system was a huge success.

Even before during the colonial period the system of indentured servitude worked very well in bringing needed immigrants into the country and assimilating them. Immigrants would sign an agreement or indenture whereby they would work for someone for seven years. In effect, they were servants whose basic needs would be supplied by their employer. They were not slaves since they were free to move on after the indenture period was over.

There is no doubt in my mind that we need immigrants today. Even with all the legal and illegal immigrants that have entered over the past few decades, we still have virtually full employment. There are many jobs that Americans can’t or won’t take. Just the other day, the man who repaired the chimney on my house was from Honduras. His employer is the grandson of an Italian immigrant who came to the USA about the same time as my grandparents. 

America is one of the few countries in the world that has an immigration problem. Most other countries have an emigration problem since their people are so willing to leave. If we work together, I believe that we could solve the problem but I don’t think it does any good to claim that those who disagree with your solution are lacking in compassion.

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Immigrant Labor 2016

     

Three Mexicans painted the exterior of our house last week. A friend who had recently employed them, recommended them highly. We called the owner and he promptly came by and we accepted his quote without quibbling. He and his crew arrived on the day appointed and got right down to work. I never saw such hard working men. The owner has been working in this country for eighteen years and his girlfriend cleans houses.

That same week I had two doctor appointments. The first was with my glaucoma surgeon, an immigrant from Russia, who saved my vision almost ten years ago with surgeries to lower the pressure on my optic nerves. He is one of the leading glaucoma specialists in the country. He is a relatively young doctor who left Russia many years ago to get away from bureaucracy and red tape. Now, he complains that the USA is becoming like the old Soviet Union.

The next day I saw a plastic surgeon who had just repaired my drooping eyelids, a procedure necessary to avoid future eye infections. This doctor is an immigrant to this country from Spain. He runs a very successful practice in a nearby town and employs three or four assistants.

Finally, I went to my local barbershop for my monthly haircut. The owner has been cutting my hair for almost 50 years. He came to this country from Italy with his family when he was only 14 years old. It took him six years to become a citizen after which he joined the Naval Reserves and then did two years of active duty in the Pacific during the Vietnam war. Within a couple of years after his return, he opened his own shop and now provides work for four other barbers, two of whom are his own children.

Some, like the editors of the Wall St. Journal, take a middle ground on immigration and argue that our doors should be open, but only to highly skilled workers like physicists and engineers. They believe that others are undesirable.

But who is undesirable? All of the immigrants that I met in the past week are, despite differing educational backgrounds, and occupations, exactly the kind of people that we should want in this country.

I am a descendant of Italians who migrated to America over 100 years ago. Most of the immigrants who came in that great wave were poor and uneducated. Most of the Italian immigrants came from the south of Italy, the poorest and most backward region of that new country. Few had even a grade school education.

Although lacking in formal education they were intelligent and hard working. Significantly, most had a strong family and religious background that provided them with a sense of community in their new country. It’s true that the good, the bad, and the ugly can be found in any group of immigrants.  Like immigrants before and after Italians had their share of gangsters and criminals whose activities tainted the great majority who were hard working and law abiding.

Nevertheless, the great majority prospered and their children quickly became assimilated, and became policemen, firemen, and teachers. Their grandchildren became today’s physicists, engineers, and tech experts. The descendants of the original immigrants now play an integral role in the affairs of this country. Two descendants of illiterate Italian immigrants have sat on our Supreme Court. Many others can be found in other high offices both public and private.

It is true that they were legal immigrants. They had to make their way through Ellis Island just like the Irish, the Germans, the Jews, the Poles, the Slovaks, and all the others who came through the so-called “Golden Door.” However, if these legal immigrants had come to this country after 1920 the great majority of them would have been illegal. What happened? Why did a country that had always kept its doors open to immigrants suddenly impose quotas?

After the First World War a wave of prejudice and bigotry swept over this country that led politicians to severely restrict the flow of immigration. In addition to their poverty and lack of learning, most of the Italian immigrants were Catholic, and they were regarded as ignorant and superstitious. They were called wops and guineas and their crowded streets were believed to be breeding grounds of crime and depravity.

In the 1920’s racists and advocates of ethnic purity decided to stem the flow of immigration into this country. They wanted no more undesirables, especially if they practiced alien religions like Catholicism and Judaism. New immigration laws made during the 1920s made a mockery of the Statue of Liberty and the famous poem written by Emma Lazarus.

  "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,  The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
 I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Why do commentators believe that the Mexicans, who have crossed the borders of our country in order to find a better life for themselves and their families, will be different from their own ancestors? If the law had been different all of these immigrants could have entered the country peacefully without danger to life and limb and without employing criminals to guide them.

Nevertheless, I can understand the vehemence of Donald Trump and others against illegal immigration. His opponent seems to be oblivious to the criminal element among the illegal immigrants or those who overstay their visas. Certainly, he seems more willing to identify and deal with the threat of Moslem terrorists among the refugees seeking asylum in this country. His ideological test may not work but at least he seems to recognize the threat.

He is also right to insist that citizenship should still mean something in America. There should be real benefits attached to citizenship. Immigrants should have to apply for citizenship and meet certain criteria. They should not immediately enjoy all the benefits of citizenship, for citizenship in this country should still be regarded as a great privilege.

In the long run opening up our doors to immigrants will provide great benefits. It is not just a question of who will cut our lawns, remove our garbage, or paint our homes, but how will we compete with China’s huge population with only 300 million people? Who will buy up our unused housing if our population continues to decline? Don’t immigrants now rent American apartments, drive American cars, and buy American products in American stores?

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No Trump on Immigration

     

Recently I had a conversation with a friend who has a long acquaintance with Latin America, especially Mexico. Years ago, he did post graduate work in Mexico where he met his future wife. Eventually, he went into the commercial insurance business and spent most of his career in Latin America.

He retired a couple of years ago and told me that he would never go back to Mexico despite his love for the country and its people. Even though his wife still has family near Mexico City, they are afraid to return because it has become too dangerous.

He described a country terrorized by drug gangs in the same way that ISIS is terrorizing the people of Iraq and Syria. Unless you join the drug gangs or cooperate with them, you and your family will be brutally persecuted. He believes that the people who we call illegal immigrants should actually be considered refugees fleeing to America for their lives.

From his perspective when people like Donald Trump rail against illegal immigrants, and talk about deporting 11000000 people back to Mexico, they are really telling these people to go to hell.

Put aside for a moment the impractically of searching out and rounding up 11 Million people (where did Trump get that number?) and then shipping them back to Mexico, just consider how contrary this is to all that America used to stand for.

Most of us are descendants of immigrants who for one reason or another fled their homeland to find peace and opportunity for their families in America. Most of our forebears would have been illegal if the unjust immigration laws of the 1920s, which were the product of KKK like bigotry and prejudice, had been in existence when they came.

In the 1920’s racists and advocates of ethnic purity decided to stem the flow of immigration into this country. They wanted no more undesirables, especially if they practiced alien religions like Catholicism and Judaism. New immigration laws made during the 1920s made a mockery of the Statue of Liberty and the famous poem written by Emma Lazarus.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she 
With silent lips.

 "Give me your tired, your poor,

 Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

 The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
 I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Why does Donald Trump advocate such a cruel and inhumane policy? Why do he and others insist on enforcing laws that were the product of racism and religious bigotry?

If the law was different all of these immigrants could have entered the country peacefully without danger to life and limb and without employing criminals to guide them. I’m not saying we should be stupid or impractical. They should have to apply for citizenship and meet certain criteria. They should not immediately enjoy all the benefits of citizenship, for citizenship in this country should still be regarded as a great privilege.

Finally, opening up our doors again will provide great benefits. It is not just a question of who will cut our lawns, remove our garbage, or paint our homes, but how will we compete with China’s huge population with only 300 million people? Who will buy up our unused housing if our population continues to decline? Don’t immigrants now rent American apartments, drive American cars, and buy American products in American stores?

Finally, the pressure on those states that now bear the brunt of illegal immigration will be alleviated. The millions of dollars now spent on controlling the Mexican border can be allocated to other purposes.

For many reasons we need these immigrants. We need them more than we need Donald Trump. ###

Immigration Reform and the Golden Door

     

The recent bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon is bound to inflame the immigration debate that has been going on in the country for years and that might be coming to a head as a compromise bill works its way through Congress. Opponents of immigration will see the bombing as another argument for limiting immigration, but even supporters of immigration will join in attempts to keep out undesirables.

The Wall St. Journal, for example, never tires of saying that we should open our doors but only to highly skilled workers, like physicists and engineers. Just recently Marco Rubio, a popular Florida senator who is himself the son of immigrants from Cuba, penned an op-ed in the Journal outlining the features of the proposed legislation. Among other things he stressed that the legislation was designed to encourage highly skilled immigrants to come to America.   Despite his own humble origins, Senator Rubio also wants to keep out the poor and uneducated.

But who is undesireable? I am a descendant of Italians who migrated to America over 100 years ago. Most of the immigrants who came in that great wave were poor and uneducated. Most of the Italian immigrants came from the south of Italy, the poorest and most backward region of that new country. Few had even a grade school education.

Although lacking in formal education they were intelligent and hard working. Significantly, most had a strong family and religious background that provided them with a sense of community in their new country. It’s true that the good, the bad, and the ugly can be found in any group of immigrants.  Like immigrants before and after Italians had their share of gangsters and criminals whose activities tainted the great majority who were hard working and law abiding.

For example, the activities of Italian anarchists or terrorists were well known at the time of the Great Migration. In the last decade of the nineteenth century Italian anarchists were responsible for the murders of the President of France, the Prime Minister of Spain, the Empress of Austria, and even King Umberto of Italy.

Nevertheless, the great majority prospered and their children quickly became assimilated. Today, their descendants play an integral role in the affairs of this country. Two descendants of these illiterate Italian immigrants now sit on our Supreme Court. Many others can be found in other high offices both public and private.

It is true that they were legal immigrants. They had to make their way through Ellis Island just like the Irish, the Germans, the Jews, the Poles, the Slovaks, and all the others who came through the so-called “Golden Door.” However, if these legal immigrants had come to this country after 1920 the great majority of them would have been illegal. What happened? Why did a country that had always kept its doors open to immigrants suddenly close them?

After the First World War a wave of prejudice and bigotry swept over this country that led politicians to severely restrict the flow of immigration. In addition to their poverty and lack of learning, most of the Italian immigrants were Catholic, and they were regarded as ignorant and superstitious. They were called wops and guineas and their crowded streets were believed to be breeding grounds of crime and depravity.

In the 1920’s racists and advocates of ethnic purity decided to stem the flow of immigration into this country. They wanted no more undesirables, especially if they practiced alien religions like Catholicism and Judaism. New immigration laws made during the 1920s made a mockery of the Statue of Liberty and the famous poem written by Emma Lazarus.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she 
With silent lips.  "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,  The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
 I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Why do commentators believe that the Mexicans who have crossed the borders of our country in order to find a better life for themselves and their families, will be different from their own ancestors? 

If the law was different all of these immigrants could have entered the country peacefully without danger to life and limb and without employing criminals to guide them. I’m not saying we should be stupid or impractical. They should have to apply for citizenship and meet certain criteria. They should not immediately enjoy all the benefits of citizenship, for citizenship in this country should still be regarded as a great privilege.

Opening up our doors again will provide great benefits. It is not just a question of who will cut our lawns, remove our garbage, or paint our homes, but how will we compete with China’s huge population with only 300 million people? Who will buy up our unused housing if our population continues to decline? Don’t immigrants now rent American apartments, drive American cars, and buy American products in American stores?

Finally, the pressure on those states that now bear the brunt of illegal immigration will be alleviated. The millions of dollars now spent on controlling the Mexican border can be allocated to other purposes.

See the link to the video tof the trailer for the 2006 film, "The Golden Door" by Italian filmmaker Emanuele Crialese. It is a wonderful and moving depiction of the passage of one family from the Old World to the New.  Or, just click on the video below.

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Immigration Debate

     

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she 
With silent lips.

 "Give me your tired, your poor,

 Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

 The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
 I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I disagree with most of the pundits who have claimed that the Republicans have put up a mediocre group of candidates for this year’s Presidential race. I watched one of the debates in South Carolina and believe that the four remaining candidates showed remarkable poise and ability.

It is true that not every one seems “Presidential” but each represents an important position or positions that the GOP’s eventual candidate would be wise to somehow work into his own campaign. However, on the issue of immigration I believe that they were all wrong.

I’m not talking about the absurd idea of shipping millions of immigrants back to Mexico where they can wait in line to apply for citizenship. I’m more concerned with the position laid out by Rick Santorum and seemingly accepted by the others. Santorum himself is the son of an Italian immigrant. His father came to this country at the age of seven, and Santorum is proof of how well immigrants can prosper and thrive in this country.

However, for Santorum citizenship means respect for the laws of one’s country, and the first act of every illegal immigrant was to break the law. Neither he nor any of the others ever considered whether the law itself was just or unjust. Political philosophers tell us that not only should an unjust law not be obeyed, but also that it must be opposed.

Does Santorum or anyone else think the law that prohibited East Germans from going over the Berlin Wall and leaving their country was just? Does anyone believe that escapees should have been returned to East Germany because they had broken East German law? Of course not.

Like Santorum I am a descendant of Italians who migrated to America over 100 years ago. True, they were legal immigrants who had to make their way through Ellis Island just like the Irish, the Germans, the Jews, the Poles, the Slovaks, and all the others who came through the so-called “Golden Door.” However, if these legal immigrants had come to this country after 1920 the great majority of them would have been illegal. What happened? Why did a country that had always kept its doors open to immigrants suddenly close them?

After the First World War a wave of prejudice and bigotry swept over this country that led politicians to severely restrict the flow of immigration. Many of the immigrants like my Italian ancestors could hardly read and write even in their own language, and since they were Catholic they were regarded as ignorant and superstitious. They were called wops and guineas and their crowded streets were believed to be breeding grounds of crime and depravity.

In the 1920’s racists and advocates of ethnic purity decided to stem the flow of immigration into this country. They wanted no more undesirables, especially if they practiced alien religions like Catholicism and Judaism.

Why should anyone support a law made during the 1920s that made a mockery of the Statue of Liberty and the famous poem written by Emma Lazarus.

Why do commentators like Pat Buchanan believe that the Mexicans who have crossed the borders of our country in order to find a better life for themselves and their families, will be different from the earlier immigrants? Last year I attended an early morning Mass in Princeton, New Jersey on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The priest told us that earlier, at 4:00 a.m., 600 Latinos had packed the church for a prayer service on that great feast. Are these hard working people undesirables?

If the law was different all of these immigrants could have entered the country peacefully without danger to life and limb and without employing criminals to guide them. I’m not saying we should be stupid or impractical. They should have to apply for citizenship and meet certain criteria. They should not immediately enjoy all the benefits of citizenship, for citizenship in this country should still be regarded as a great privilege.

Finally, opening up our doors again will provide great benefits. It is not just a question of who will cut our lawns, remove our garbage, or paint our homes, but how will we compete with China’s huge population with only 300 million people? Who will buy up our unused housing if our population continues to decline? Don’t immigrants now rent American apartments, drive American cars, and buy American products in American stores?

Finally, the pressure on those states that now bear the brunt of illegal immigration will be alleviated. The millions of dollars now spent on controlling the Mexican border can be allocated to other purposes. ###