Common Sense Immigration

My thoughts on immigration. My grandparents came here legally about 110 years ago and I have the Ellis island certificates to prove it. They came her with hopes and dreams like everyone else, but also with a great respect for American values. They very much wanted the American dream. As I have said many times before, we need to look to history for many answers for modern problems. As a logical engineer, I always ask myself and others, “Why not do what has worked in the past? If it worked then, it will probably work now.”

In order to be admitted to the USA, they had to do three things. 1. Pass a health check – if you were sick, you were sent back. No one was allowed to be a burden on the taxpayers, 2. Have a USA sponsor who was financially responsible for you. Again, not a burden on the taxpayers, 3. Sign a form stating you would not take any welfare. Yet again, not a burden on the taxpayers. After that you were free to go, best of luck to you.

Of course, it went without saying – if you committed a crime you were gone. I cannot believe that if either side of my family, Italian or Irish, had a relative who was a criminal that they would tolerate that behavior. It was hard enough as it was – anyone who did that would tarnish the family name and make it harder for the rest of the Irish or Italian community to get ahead. As newly arrived immigrants, there was much struggle to gain a foothold and achieve legitimacy. No one wanted a bad apple to ruin it for the rest of them.

My Italian grandfather apparently had offers to go to work for a certain group of people in New York, you know who they are, and he said no to that offer. It was time to abandon the old ways. He did not want to associate with any criminals, it was more important to assimilate legally and prosper. They told me there were signs on building that said, “Irish need not apply.” And also signs that read, “Italians need not apply.” Our family had to look out for each other and help each other whenever possible. I could go on and tell you how poor they were and what we had to do to survive, but there were so many others in the same circumstance.

My father told me that when my Uncle Pete came over he had a “letter of introduction” to others in the community vouching for his character from a well-off businessman. Some members of my family had to go back and forth a few times before they could establish themselves. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? If they got a job, they paid taxes like everyone else, no big deal. They were glad to be here. If not, you went back, re-grouped, came back and tried again.

My Italian grandfather even forbid my grandmother from speaking Italian in the home. He said the children need to learn English and adapt to America as quickly as possible. That was how he hoped they would succeed. They all had to work under the existing system and learn to play by the rules to get ahead. There was no “accommodation” requested or expected. They all wanted to prove that they could succeed just like others before them and they wanted that pride of accomplishment. I could go on, but the parallel to today’s issues is exactly appropriate. We used to have an open system but ZERO welfare. Yes, it was hard but also efficient and it produced an incredible generation as a result.

Today’s immigration system is a mess because we combined too many conflicting values into one catch all system. We should separate immigration from welfare and also separate it from temporary worker systems. My only change or minimum addition to the older system would be to add a background check requirement for filtering out criminals and terrorists because of modern problems. I know for a fact that my grandparents would not want anyone in this country who was illegal or a criminal, no matter where they came from. That is what they were leaving behind in the old countries. The rule of law was sacred to them and part of the attraction of the American Dream.

It amazes me that even today we cannot have an intelligent conversation about immigration without euphemisms. Either you are legal or not. A young man I met last week commented that “We cannot have different classes of people!”. I replied , “Yes, there are different classes of people, and it is perfectly legal.” Criminals are a different class of people. They are further divided into groups based on offenses – misdemeanor and felony. Have you ever paid extra or been upgraded on an airline seat? What do they call that section?