What all of you, especially those opposed to immigration reform have failed to note is that our immigration laws are based on racial and religious prejudice.
The first immigration laws passed in the late 19th Century were against Chinese and Japanese immigration - to protect America from the “Yellow Peril”. Then, the Congress and Senate panicked in the early part of the 20th Century by the massive immigration from Eastern Europe and Italy…The US was endangered from the huge numbers of Catholics from Italy and Poland and horror of horrors- Jews from Eastern Europe. It got to the point that by 1930, it was almost impossible for any European or Asian - with the possible exception of the English or Germans- to immigrate into the US. These laws were part of the reason the Holocaust was as successful as it was. We refused to let several shiploads of refugees enter the US because they were Jews…and our State Department prevented Cuba from allowing them to enter. These ships went back to Europe, where all of their passengers were sent to the camps…and there were no survivors.
Havana, Cuba ended up with the second largest Chinese population in North America because Chinese would knowing they couldn’t enter the US, thought that if they became Cuban Citizens, they could then enter the US. They were wrong! Congress passed laws forbidding Cubans of Asian extraction to enter the US.
Even today, the main reason for the Western States, in particular California, Nevada and Arizona are opposed to Latinos is that the Mexicans are not only ethnically Indians, but they are Catholics. And, they cite South Florida as a bad example due to the huge Latino population South of Fort Lauderdale!
If any of you could sit in the waiting room of the Immigration Service Offices in Manhattan, New York City for a half an hour, you would come away ashamed to be an American, just because of the way the petty bureaucrats treat the foreigners! The only people they are decent to are those they know to be attorneys or native born American Citizens.
And, in my opinion, the arguments you all posted are the same I have heard for over 50 years. You all are buying into the same arguments that keep our co-religionists out of the country.
Until you have driven across the USA or crossed it in a Bus, you have no idea as to how large this country is, and how empty much of it is. There is plenty of room for new immigrants, no matter where they come from! A good recent example was the large number of Viet Namese that came to this country at the end of the war. The doom Sayers said there wasn’t enough room for them…well, they have blended in and have rejuvenated the fishing industry along the Gulf Coast.
I thought the post was very well-written and very informative. And I thank George for that, and I’m sorry he has to deal with your pettiness.
(living in Michigan, I knew quite a few Canadians who were in the country illegally)
I don’t. Life is not fair and the acts of God may not seem fair but we as individuals are called to treat each other fairly and to ensure that our elected officials do the same.