To All,
This is going to be a bit longwinded and probably a bit rambling. I will try to clean it up before posting but it is late and I want to add some opinions to this issue.
The first thing I think would be good is a little history that we should all keep in mind. In the past, normally, if you could get here you could get in! Remember Ellis Island? Here was the formula:
#1) Get on the boat;
#2) Ride the boat;
#3) Arrive at Ellis Island;
#4) Do not have any obvious contagious disease;
#5) Do not be a really nasty criminal;
#6) You are in!
I want to emphasize that w/ those two (2) limits 98% of immigrants were allowed entry into the USA. No classes, no language requirements. You are here, you are in!
Chinese were treated differently and limited in numbers, but that was because they were "taking white folks work."
Every major wave of immigrants have been subjected to prophecies of destruction of America! Each prediction has failed to come to pass. There were towns in the midwest where the official business language was German! With each wave of immigrants the first generation normally has had a hard time learning english and by the third generation all they speak is english.
There may be some folks I work w/ that are here illegally, I don't honestly know. All are women, kind, and decent. I believe that the vast majority if immigrants, legal and illegal, are decent folks who are not malicious, have no wish to harm anyone and are simply looking to make a better life for themselves and their families. They may want to live here or not, but most are not out to intentionally harm anyone else.
Our current immigration laws seem to be unjust due to the inefficiency of our government bureaucracy. Say a family of four (4) wants to move to the United States and be legal. Mom, Dad, and a 12 year old son and 14 year old daughter. If it takes four (4) years for us to make them legal all of a sudden the daughter cannot move here because she is an adult and must start the process all over again.
I have heard of some people waiting over TEN YEARS to become citizens! Now, we may haggle over the time, but should it REALLY take 10 years for a decent person to become legal? Especially considering that most of our ancestors who immigrated here had to wait a few hours or days AT THE MOST before entering America - AND getting citizenship w/ that to boot!
I am by no means suggesting that things are the same today as they were 100 years ago, but I'd say the United States turned out damn well with all the foreigners that "overhwhelmed" us not so long ago.
One of the ladies I work w/ doesn't speak much english, but the other day she handed me a business card. Her face was beaming and she was so full of pride that she had these to hand you. Through her kids translating she explained that she has started her own business of being a seamstress, so any sewing I need she was available. This one person has, on her own in a country where she is still struggling with the local language (but working on it) has gone from unemployed to entrepreneur. Who knows what will happen with this business? Statistically, she will fail in the first five (5) years like any other business venture. But considering the hurdles she is still trying. If by some longshot she succeeds she will grow and create jobs. I will wait and see.
By the way, besides Ellis Island that was not the only way in. For those south of the border if you were able to walk across and set up shop, you were in.
The largest problem I think we have w/ illegal immigration today is not the legal/illegal side but rather our own countries welfare state system. When immigrants arrived 100 years ago it was somewhat like portrayed in the movies:
#1) ride the boat;
#2) Ellis Island;
#3) Ferry to New York City;
#4) Find job or STARVE!
There is harm caused by illegal immigration today, but it is not malicious or even intended. It is caused by the system our elected, mostly old white men have built over the last 50 years. Through medicaid and almost countless other programs designed to help the poor harm is done to the whole economy of the United States. This harm is caused by people who have never, ever paid into the system taking money out of the system. Can we truly blame the immigrant for this damage or would we be better served to look in the mirror and rid ourselves of these programs that are inefficient at best and wasteful beyond measure at the worst?
I think part of the problem we have is that it is very easy to fall into the "us v/s them" mentality. It is a lot easier to find a scapegoat for our problems than it is to deal w/ the big issues we face. By constantly raging at "them" we don't have to make the really hard decisions about changing our own system, and by that I mean returning to a mindset of:
#1) Charity by churches and NGO's, NOT the Government;
#2) Electing candidates who truly want fiscal responsibility, not the candidate who is simply going to do the least damage;
#3) Realizing that these "new folks" are only doing things that our grandpappy or greatgrandpappy did as well (statistically speaking).
#4) Looking upon the exposure to another culture here as an opportunity to learn and NOT an affront to "my way."
I think that we also fail to understand that most of our forefathers and mothers who arrived here for the first time endured the same disdain as the newcomers today. Irish, Italian, Polish, Russian Jew, German, Greek, etc etc.
I don't want to downplay the fact that with all of these did come criminals and folks of unsavory character. But we have survived them and learned how to deal with them. We also know that the bad guys are an extremely small minority of the overall numbers of people who come to the United States.
Finally, I want to say that I am against illegal immigration but I don't get as fired up about it as I used to. I try to keep it in the context that ALL immigration has positives and negatives with it. Immigrants give us a new breath of fresh ideas, and with that comes a cultural clash from which we can get friction burns or learn something new. The nice thing is we get to decide how we react.
I wish we would simplify immigration rules to the good old days.
We are normally proud of the statue upon whose great shoulders this poem was written. I am still proud of what it stands for.
Regards,
Doug
This is going to be a bit longwinded and probably a bit rambling. I will try to clean it up before posting but it is late and I want to add some opinions to this issue.
The first thing I think would be good is a little history that we should all keep in mind. In the past, normally, if you could get here you could get in! Remember Ellis Island? Here was the formula:
#1) Get on the boat;
#2) Ride the boat;
#3) Arrive at Ellis Island;
#4) Do not have any obvious contagious disease;
#5) Do not be a really nasty criminal;
#6) You are in!
I want to emphasize that w/ those two (2) limits 98% of immigrants were allowed entry into the USA. No classes, no language requirements. You are here, you are in!
Chinese were treated differently and limited in numbers, but that was because they were "taking white folks work."
Every major wave of immigrants have been subjected to prophecies of destruction of America! Each prediction has failed to come to pass. There were towns in the midwest where the official business language was German! With each wave of immigrants the first generation normally has had a hard time learning english and by the third generation all they speak is english.
There may be some folks I work w/ that are here illegally, I don't honestly know. All are women, kind, and decent. I believe that the vast majority if immigrants, legal and illegal, are decent folks who are not malicious, have no wish to harm anyone and are simply looking to make a better life for themselves and their families. They may want to live here or not, but most are not out to intentionally harm anyone else.
Our current immigration laws seem to be unjust due to the inefficiency of our government bureaucracy. Say a family of four (4) wants to move to the United States and be legal. Mom, Dad, and a 12 year old son and 14 year old daughter. If it takes four (4) years for us to make them legal all of a sudden the daughter cannot move here because she is an adult and must start the process all over again.
I have heard of some people waiting over TEN YEARS to become citizens! Now, we may haggle over the time, but should it REALLY take 10 years for a decent person to become legal? Especially considering that most of our ancestors who immigrated here had to wait a few hours or days AT THE MOST before entering America - AND getting citizenship w/ that to boot!
I am by no means suggesting that things are the same today as they were 100 years ago, but I'd say the United States turned out damn well with all the foreigners that "overhwhelmed" us not so long ago.
One of the ladies I work w/ doesn't speak much english, but the other day she handed me a business card. Her face was beaming and she was so full of pride that she had these to hand you. Through her kids translating she explained that she has started her own business of being a seamstress, so any sewing I need she was available. This one person has, on her own in a country where she is still struggling with the local language (but working on it) has gone from unemployed to entrepreneur. Who knows what will happen with this business? Statistically, she will fail in the first five (5) years like any other business venture. But considering the hurdles she is still trying. If by some longshot she succeeds she will grow and create jobs. I will wait and see.
By the way, besides Ellis Island that was not the only way in. For those south of the border if you were able to walk across and set up shop, you were in.
The largest problem I think we have w/ illegal immigration today is not the legal/illegal side but rather our own countries welfare state system. When immigrants arrived 100 years ago it was somewhat like portrayed in the movies:
#1) ride the boat;
#2) Ellis Island;
#3) Ferry to New York City;
#4) Find job or STARVE!
There is harm caused by illegal immigration today, but it is not malicious or even intended. It is caused by the system our elected, mostly old white men have built over the last 50 years. Through medicaid and almost countless other programs designed to help the poor harm is done to the whole economy of the United States. This harm is caused by people who have never, ever paid into the system taking money out of the system. Can we truly blame the immigrant for this damage or would we be better served to look in the mirror and rid ourselves of these programs that are inefficient at best and wasteful beyond measure at the worst?
I think part of the problem we have is that it is very easy to fall into the "us v/s them" mentality. It is a lot easier to find a scapegoat for our problems than it is to deal w/ the big issues we face. By constantly raging at "them" we don't have to make the really hard decisions about changing our own system, and by that I mean returning to a mindset of:
#1) Charity by churches and NGO's, NOT the Government;
#2) Electing candidates who truly want fiscal responsibility, not the candidate who is simply going to do the least damage;
#3) Realizing that these "new folks" are only doing things that our grandpappy or greatgrandpappy did as well (statistically speaking).
#4) Looking upon the exposure to another culture here as an opportunity to learn and NOT an affront to "my way."
I think that we also fail to understand that most of our forefathers and mothers who arrived here for the first time endured the same disdain as the newcomers today. Irish, Italian, Polish, Russian Jew, German, Greek, etc etc.
I don't want to downplay the fact that with all of these did come criminals and folks of unsavory character. But we have survived them and learned how to deal with them. We also know that the bad guys are an extremely small minority of the overall numbers of people who come to the United States.
Finally, I want to say that I am against illegal immigration but I don't get as fired up about it as I used to. I try to keep it in the context that ALL immigration has positives and negatives with it. Immigrants give us a new breath of fresh ideas, and with that comes a cultural clash from which we can get friction burns or learn something new. The nice thing is we get to decide how we react.
I wish we would simplify immigration rules to the good old days.
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
We are normally proud of the statue upon whose great shoulders this poem was written. I am still proud of what it stands for.
Regards,
Doug