Two of my four grandparents were born in the US. One of my eight great-grandparents was.
I know that it's different in different parts of the country, but I remember, when I was in fifth grade, we were learning about immigration, and we had an assignment to interview an immigrant. At least half the class interviewed a grandparent, and a few people interviewed their parents. At least five kids of the 25 or so in the class were immigrants themselves, maybe a few more.
(I interviewed my grandfather for that project. He said that he was very disappointed when his ship docked, because he looked out and thought, "This is the New York City that's so famous? This place isn't anything special." Turned out, the ship had actually docked in Hoboken.)
All the talk about making the border walls higher and adding more patrol, etc, just makes me shake my head. People will still try and succeed in coming here. They're leaving situations where they've got nothing to lose; they're desperate. Bigger walls? More patrols? It's like teaching abstinence instead of comprehensive sex education; it's not being realistic and it's grounded more in fear than in hope.
All the talk about making the border walls higher and adding more patrol, etc, just makes me shake my head.
As a 1st generation American, with no grandparents who were born here, I realized I just can't process anti-immigrant sentiment at all, legal or not.
As a 1st generation American, with no grandparents who were born here, I realized I just can't process anti-immigrant sentiment at all, legal or not.
And I trace my maternal roots in the U.S. back to 1700's and I feel the same way.
It's just so "fear of the other".
As a birthright citizen, I've seen and heard some brow-raising rhetoric in the last couple years around my very own status. Not that they mean me, of course. I'm pale enough for them. And they probably don't know my parents weren't American. Doesn't make me not want to punch them in the face, mind.
It occurs to me that I don't even know if my Dad's parents ever became citizens.
I always knew there was something funny about you.
Turned out, the ship had actually docked in Hoboken.
Hah. My grandparents both got (separately) Ellis Island, according the records I found there. And then moved to Buffalo for a few years. At least they were used to the cold??
I had a thing, but suffice to say: illegal immigration is a problem, but I don't think it's as big of one as it is being made to be, and there's a lot of underlying -isms and fear at play. There always has been, even with waves of legal immigration. I think we already have adequate tools to deal with it, but they are unevenly used and that's just as much the fault of the business community (hey, that's us!) as it is the gov't (also us!) (employer verification, etc.)
I don't believe you can really compare the US to countries in europe wrt to immigrants cause we have a whole different cultural myth going on. We've got more ingredients in our salad, so to speak, and adding new ones...it isn't as shocking when you bite into a new veggie. God, was that tortuous or what?
