Immigration: (noun) the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country, usually a talking point during an election.
We’ve been talking about immigration since the conception of the United States; Benjamin Franklin, for example, was very vocal about his feelings of want German immigrants coming to change the British Culture of the colonies. As a country, we’ve been against Irish immigrants, Roman Catholic immigrants, Asian immigrants, German immigrants, Latin American immigrants, Jewish immigrants, Polish, Italians, Russians—you name it. You could probably throw a dart at a map and if you hit land, Americans were probably against their people’s immigration to the United States.
The fear of immigrants has always been a part of society in the United States. For example, in May of 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed into law the Chinese Exclusion Act. This was the first real restriction of immigration in our country; it completely stopped Chinese immigrants, especially laborers, from coming into the United States. These immigrants were mainly coming to the States to help build railroads, but they also came in search of gold during the California Gold Rush. This act was eventually made permanent, and was not repealed until 1943. Any Chinese immigrant that came during that time would have been considered illegal. Does that sound familiar to anyone? Immigrants’ coming to our country to do the work no one wishes to do?
However, immigrants don’t just work in farming, service, and construction jobs. Skilled and educated immigrants come into our country all the time. Without them, places similar to the Silicon Valley would not be able to function. Steve Jobs was an immigrant.
Many important immigrants have done great things for America and for the world. Marquis De Lafayette (who is an honorary American citizen, and came to the colonies against the wishes of the French military under threat of death), Alexander Hamilton, Albert Einstein, Madeleine Albright, Arnold Schwarzenegger (who actually had a higher popularity rating than Ronald Regan in the same position, as well as served as governor with no salary), Irving Berlin, Elie Wiesel, Sergey Brin (who co-founded Google), Eddie Van Halen (greatest guitarist of all time, and one of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century), Henry Kissinger, Joseph Pulitzer (as in Pulitzer prize), and countless others.
Unless you are Native American, you’re family immigrated to this country at some point. Whether it was in the beginning of our nation, like my mother’s family, or in the early 1900s, like my great-grandfather, or if you are the first in your family to live in America, we are all the same. We have wants, needs, wishes, dreams. Our country is not simply for those who had the blessing of being born here. It is for all those who search for freedom, who search for a better life. Freedom is not restricted to those who can buy it.
The inscription on the Statue of Liberty reads, “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-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Ellis Island is where we received most immigrants coming from Europe. This inscription is what these brave people first saw when they came to this country. There are no specifics on race, color, religion, or class. We accept both poor and rich, both old and young. We accept all those who wish to be free. No wall or rule will ever change that.
Immigration: (noun) the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country; the action of the “huddled masses” coming from all corners of the Earth to share our freedom. “We hold these truths, to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The action of those fighting for these rights by traveling to the only country that swears to protect them.
