georgeob1 wrote:The truth is the United States has benefitted greatly from the waves of immigrants who began coming here in the early 19th century -- in approximate order of the successive waves, they were Scotch-Irish, German, Chinese, Scandinavian, Czech, Hungarian, Irish, Japanese, Polish, Ashkenazi Jews (mostly from Imperial Russia), Italians, Arab and Syrian immigrants (after the fall of the Ottoman Empire), and more recently Puerto Ricans, (though as U.S. citizens they are not political immigrants), Cubans, Mexicans and Central Americans from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala -- and others I have failed to note. Nearly all of them were labelled by contemporary "natives" as ignorant, often criminal and representative of alien cultures. Many suffered severe discrimination for a generation or so, but all assimilated, adding new elements to the cosmopolitan culture, and energy and competition to our collective economic and social lives.
It is more than merely interesting that the offspring of the Jewish and Oriental immigrants who were once decried as hopelessly ignorant peasants crowded into hopeless urban slums filled with crime and violence, now dominate the competitive entrance classes to our best universities. Often unnoticed behind all the (counterproductive in my view) affirmative action programs for black Americans, is the rapidly growing and advancing Black middle class, which is rapidly filling the professions and business leadership ranks of the country. After generations of institutional racism which held them back, they too are following the familiar path.
The scare rhetoric offered today with respect to new immigrants is merely the tired old stuff offered many times before -- and always proven wrong.
Immigrants are largely the self-selected salt of the earth. They have provided immense benefit to this country. They keep us young, competitive and creative. We need all we can get.
To George, one of my favorite, most respected, and appreciated members on A2K, please note!!!!!
Nobody here, and I think I can speak quite competently for all the pro-border-control, anti-illegal group here, NOBODY is against immigration or immigrants. All of us want to improve the system to make it easier for people to immigrate. There isn't a single one of us who gives a flying fig what race, ethnic group, nationality etc. etc. etc. immigrants are. Trying to couch this in a racist format is to simply change the subject.
There are people coming in that should not be here. These are the criminals, the sociopathic, the terrorists, those who want to overythrow America, those who want to diminish America, those who want to make America into something very different from what it is. We want immigration policies that will help us better identify and weed these people out while allowing in law abiding temporary workers and/or good people who will become good American citizens.
It is not about race, ethnicity, or nationality, and
there is nothing anti immigrant about wanting to control
our borders and who will be allowed to be in our
country legally.
There are good people who have been waiting for years to enter the country legally. Some of these should have been here years ago and they would have blessed us all far sooner than has been the case. Some of these are in Mexico even. We want improved policies to expedite the process of immigration for people like this, and we object to anybody who has chosen to hurry up the process by not entering the country illegally to have any advantage on admission and/or a path to citizenship ahead of those who are doing it legally.
It is not about race, ethnicity, or nationality, and
there is nothing anti immigrant about wanting to
control our borders and who will be allowed to be
in our country legally.
To allow those who are already here illegally to stay is to encourage more illegality. Twice before we have offered amnesty to those who come out of the shadows and have allowed them to stay while promising better border enforcement. Both times the illegals have surged into the country in hugely larger numbers.
To think doing it again will somehow not have the same effect is simply insane. It's like putting a huge neon flashing sign over America. Come on in, and if you can avoid detection for just a little while, the Americans will let you stay forever. Far better to have a sensible re-entry program in place--a re-entry program that would include all those who have been on the waiting list for years. Give the illegals a 30-day grace period to go home and then apply for re-entry. Such re-entry would require each family to have a job waiting for them here, etc. etc., but there would be no other roadblocks for those who could pass a reasonable background check. Anybody unwilling to agree to that process would still be subject to deportation and, if caught, would never be eligible for either temporary work permit or a path to citizenship.
It is not about race, nationality, or ethnicity and
there is nothing anti immigrant in wanting to
control our borders and who will be allowed to
be here legally.
The alternative is to effectively open our borders and let anybody who wants to come on in, no questions asked, and make of this country whatever they wish to make of it. The pro-border control, pro-immigration control group thinks we should know who is here and why they are here, and we think immigration policies should be improved, streamlined, and enforced in a way that good people can come at a pace in which they can be assimilated seamlessly into the American culture and thereby bless us all.
It is not about race, nationality, or ethnicity and
there is nothing anti immigrant in wanting to
control our borders and who will be allowed to
be in this country legally.
