There's been so much in the news lately about the proposed immigration legislation being debated in Washington, especially a House bill approved in December that would have made it a felony both to be in the country illegally and even to provide charitable assistance to illegal immigrants. There's been a lot of talk about enforcing the laws we have and making sure the immigrants follow the rules we have in place, and it reminded me of a case in which our laws were successfully enforced and the system worked.
The case in point involved a large group of immigrants who were trying to get into this country despite the fact that most of them didn't speak English and they had no jobs or families waiting for them. Most of them had applied for visas to enter the country, but they chose not to wait before starting their journey to the United States.
After a protracted legal battle, however, the State Department told these immigrant wannabes that they had to "await their turns on the waiting list and then qualify for and obtain immigration visas before they may be admissible into the United States." They were sent back to their point of origin to await the legal process in order to become American citizens according to the rules.
So it was that after getting so close to their American goal that they could see the lights of Miami from the deck of the German transatlantic liner St. Louis, over nine hundred Jewish refugees from Germany and eastern Europe were returned to Europe in 1939 after attempting to enter the United States by way of Cuba after fleeing the Third Reich.
Despite appeals by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, President Roosevelt chose not to issue an executive order admitting the refugees, and the 1924 Immigration Act was enforced. The passengers eventually made their way to Belgium and were relocated to refugee centers in various European countries, many of which eventually fell under German occupation. A number of the passengers of the St. Louis were eventually granted their American visas; many of them had already disappeared into the camps by that time.
Look, I'm not telling you what to believe about the current immigration debate. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it myself, to be perfectly honest. And I'm not saying that the situations faced by European Jews in the 1930s is even remotely the same as that faced by Central American and Asian immigrants today. It's not the same at all, although extreme Third World poverty is certainly its own kind of tyranny.
My point is simply that if we approach this issue simply as one of law and protection of some perceived notion of American status quo, we ignore the human factor. We miss the whole reason that so many people risk so much to try to make a future in this country. In missing that, we miss what it really means to be an American. And unless we live on a reservation, our ancestors probably wouldn't be too thrilled with us for that.
To give a more personal face to the debate, I'd really recommend reading the book, "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario. It's partially the story of a woman who leaves her family behind to work illegally in the US in order to support her children. It's mostly the story of her young son, Enrique, who travels alone to try to join her.
ReplyDeleteOnce I read the incredible lengths people will go to in order to escape poverty, terrible living conditions, and a lack of opportunity, it was pretty hard not to think long and hard about immigration policies world-wide. Whether you're ultimately pro or con, I think it's good to read as much as possible, talk as much as possible and really try to see the big picture of immigration.
I am a Cuban man, I remembered my grandfather talking about how cuban president Federico Laredo Bru (from 1936-1940) granted visa for all the St. Louis passegers, however once they arrived in Havana Bay they sent them back to Germany.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal opinion, Cuba should open its door to the european jews since 1933, right after President Gerardo Machado was "terminated" in office, allowing thousands of jews inmigrans, a powerful "injection" of money and better educated working class, more efficient,skillful people, with better work discipline. We, cubans lost the chance of a life-time not allowing the jews to settle in our belove country. The cuba's economy boost of the 40's and 50's it could be a jump from a Third WOrld to a develop country. What do you think?
My blog is wise. It KNOWS...
ReplyDeleteI say we let all the immigrants come in if all the Hollywood actors/actresses would leave. They don't like the US anyway, right?
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Damn straight.
ReplyDeleteYou're skirting pretty close to Godwin there, Rob.
ReplyDeleteOnly if I were trying to win an argument, Jim.
ReplyDeleteThe sad truth of the current state of US immigration law is that there is no room for compassion, or reason, or the excercise of judicial discretion. I work as an immigration lawyer, and there is so much desperation and hope that someone in the government will recognize these people ... as people, and not just nameless "illegals". When I have to tell clients that there is nothing that can be done to legalize their status, or that they will have to be separated from their families for decades, I feel helpless, and ashamed of the laws of my country.
ReplyDeleteI doubt we will get meaningful reform this year, but I keep hoping that reform will come - we can't go on as we are now.
Ugh. I have two competing emotions here. One is admiration for hard work and striving for a better life, and it comes from my heart. The other frustration and exasperation, which comes from my daily reality, living in Los Angeles. The harsh reality is that our schools are full to bursting with children who are hungry and for whom learning is a secondary consideration, far down after survival. Good friends who've been determined to send their kids to public school to enjoy the beauties of multiculturalism give up in disgust. Children who speak English are left to fend for themselves as the overworked teachers struggle to teach the basics (cat! bat! that!) to fourth and fifth graders. In several cases I have seen families enroll kids in private Catholic schools (even though they're anything but in accordance with Catholic beliefs--try Jewish and/or atheist) because in public schools, their kids were being used as unpaid teacher's assistants as the instructors tried anything to cope.
ReplyDeleteThere are almost no emergency rooms left in Los Angeles. They have closed, unable to cope with the sheer numbers of people who use them as their primary form of medical care, out of desperation. Medical insurance is horribly high and I've had to go without it in the past. When I was younger and poorer I've used this system as a safety net in the past. But the hard facts are that we have people who use the "safety net" from cradle to grave, and it's caused the whole thing to go under. Can we support an ever-growing influx of poverty-stricken people, who remain below the poverty line much of their lives? What do we do with people who are here illegally and break the law? Our jails are also filled with illegal immigrants---as high as 40% of our prison population. How do we differentiate between "good" illegal immigrants who choose to move up and out, and bad ones who by desperation or by design, drain the system- how do we debate the pros and cons, when any differentiation, even between "legal" and "illegal" is instantly called racism? There are no easy answers.
I also worry that many people can't see that exploitation is an integral part of this mess. Big businesses "support" immigration/amnesty, along with the Catholic Church. Why? Money. Power. Cheap labor and full pews. I rarely see my fellow liberals questioning the strange bedfellows they've acquired....
Complex issue. It is good to look at these things on a very personal level and several documentaries I've seen in the last few years help with that. "Farmingville" is eye-opening especially for the way the immigrants have to live with middle-class and lower-class communities while their labor is desired by more wealthy people. "Letters from the Other Side" does a stunning job of showing families ripped asunder by the draw of jobs and the stricter enforcement that makes people hesitate to go back for a visit. (Also being dead for suffocation in the back of a semi prevents returning home.) I also saw another one a few years back where a young Amercian guy crossed with some illegal immigrants. (Anybody know the name of that one?)
ReplyDeleteThere are many aspects to this problem and I understand a lot of the opinions. But nothing will make me be a supporter of making felons out of people who give humanitarian help. That's insane. Maybe if a petty thief is on the street and the Salvation Army gives him a meal we should get them for aiding and abetting crime? Makes as much sense. I also see the labor problem. I'm not so naive about the people I see mowing and edging my lawn. Sure I'm paying my all-American entrepreneur who started a service in our neighborhood. But he's got to find people to work to grow his business.
And then there is the billions of dollars paid into Social Security and Medicare Taxes for people who cannot legally access these services. There is a huge amount of money that goes to Mexico from workers here (legal and illegal). It is something like the second highest influx of money to Mexico, after oil. (I think, this fact was in "Letters.") But these folks LEAVE a lot of money here, too. They pay for a lot of food, services, rent. They pay usury rates for loans and high fees to transfer that money to Mexico. We want even talk about immigration lawyers.
If I were queen, I would make a much more generous immigration deal for Mexicans. And Canadians. Simply put, the border is too long to protect against people who want to work. We should concentrate our efforts on catching people and contraband who could be dangerous. Funneling economic immigrants through channels would allow us to do that. I'm reminded of my trip to Niagara Falls last summer. We walked across the border. The Canadians wanted our passports and asked us "do you have a firearm?" Flooding over our southern border are thousands of people, most innocent and harmless and unarmed. We aren't getting a chance to be sure they don't have guns, though.
Having said all that...trying to keep the people out is big business. I have relatives who make some of their livelihood on the immigration business. I'm sure the wall faction is funded by the firms that want to build that wall. Of course, when in history has a wall been build that didn't become an embarrassment to the builder, one way or the other? Even the Great Wall of China is just a momument to building by the ancients, a little joke in our age.
Sorry -- I tried to sit on my hands, but I have to say something to "loveithere":
ReplyDeleteHi. I work in the entertainment industry, and rub shoulders with a number of the "Hollywood elite" that you say "don't like the U.S.". I'm presuming that you believe that because you hear them delivering critique.
I've always felt that, instead, those who criticize U.S. policy -- and, to bring this back within shouting distance of the point, Rob is occasionally one of those people -- do love the U.S. They love it so much, in fact, that they are driven to speak out when it's falling short of what it could be rather than just getting lazy and settling for what it is.
Might that be possible?
Kim
Honestly, though I have compassion, I know that our country simply doesn't have the resources to host all these millions of people who come over here with good intentions but fail to succeed.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes this country so great is quickly being squished out by the crime and overpopulation that makes their countries so tragic to live in.
Off the subject, but have you decided about Schuyler participating in the dress code?
ReplyDeleteI don't believe we voted either way. I guess we'll just wait and see what the school decides.
ReplyDeleteYes, your article is deeply
ReplyDeletetroubling. I offer another
facet, for your guests.
www.lazyonebenn.blogspot.com
Oh, good lord...
ReplyDeleteCan anyone here suggest a place to go to where you can read about this whole issue plainly, clearly and easily? Sometimes the news is so bombastic that the real issues get obscured, and all I know is that there are going to be "reforms", but not what type, and their plausible effects.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Australia.
ReplyDeleteWe have the same issues here. (except for the Hollywood twist!)
Surely everyone deserves a little taste of the good life. Regardless of where they are born. The borders are way too high.
Compassion. Humanity. Consideration. That's what we need more of.
Aren't we the lucky ones to be born in Australia/America/Italy/Sweden instead of Sudan/Timor/Iraq. That's their bad luck, huh?
Could we get a working definition of the term "Hollywood type"?
ReplyDeleteAll too often I hear that used as a synonym for "liberal", so I'm just checking whether that's the definition we're using here.
Kim
Yeah, and let's leave Angelina Jolie out of the "they really LOVE America!!" defense, as last I heard, she and family currently live in PARIS. Yes, as in France.
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