Immigration - The History of US

With the recent attempts by the current administration in Washington to issue a travel ban, there's been much attention given to the issue of immigration.

We tend to forget that there were native people living in the United States well before our ancestors got here. Which means before there was an Ellis Island there were at least two centuries of assimilation going on.

European nations settled the portion of the continent that became the US with little regard for established boundaries. When more land was wanted, the policy of Manifest Destiny conveniently opened up millions of acres (known as the west) for exploration. When that wasn't enough, the same policy looked south (to Mexico) and the US took hundreds of thousands of acres from our neighbor to establish California and Texas. The current state of Hawaii was also annexed after a long history of commercial exploitation.

Of course, there is also a more positive side to this story. Millions upon millions of our ancestors came to the US through Ellis Island and other ports. From 1892 to 1920 the US received 20 million immigrants. So, it's totally accurate to say that we are, indeed, a nation of immigrants. Almost every one of us can trace our family's history back far enough to prove its truth.

Like it or not, this is part of US history.

So it's more than slightly ironic to witness the clamor in Washington against immigrants: the aforementioned efforts to issue a new travel ban on Muslims, plans to hire an additional 10,000 ICE agents to round up immigrants, calls for extreme vetting and plans to build a "huge" wall to seal ourselves off from Mexico.

None of these plans honor our history. It's as if the authors behind such actions have willfully given in to a selective amnesia that wipes out truth and ushers in unfounded fear. (Even though many ethnic groups have faced prejudice, there were relatively few federal attempts to limit immigration until the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was passed. And since the Immigration Act of 1924 there had always been limits set on various ethnic groups, until 1965 when such ethnic limits were abolished, but numerical restriction was maintained using other criteria).

Simple quotas were established in 1978. And in 1986 the Immigration Reform & Control Act was passed into law. By 1990, the total, more flexible number of immigrants allowed into the US had increased to 675,000. Since that act, it has become increasingly more difficult for immigrants to receive acceptance to come to the US. The current vetting process typically involves 20 separate steps, staring with the United Nations, and includes at least three different federal agencies.


Regardless of the number of individuals allowed into the US, the fact is, all of us (except Native Americans) come from a long line of immigrants. That is about the only thing that we all have in common as Americans.

Ironically, about the only common thread running through the various faith traditions practiced in the US is how to treat the stranger among us. These traditions teach us to help the stranger among us (Christian), welcome them (Muslim), that there is a special blessing reserved for those who do (Jewish and Christian) and that ultimately life is suffering, most of it caused by us, but we can actively choose to recognize and eliminate it (Buddhist).

In an effort to help remind us of the good of immigration - the following quotes are offered:

“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.”
Emma Lazarus, Poet, These words are on the Statue of Liberty

“I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.”
George Washington, First President of the United States, son of immigrants

“I’m troubled by [the immigration debate]. When [my family] came from England during the war, people said, “You are welcome here. What can we do to help?” I am a beneficiary of the American people’s generosity, and I hope we can have comprehensive immigration legislation that allows this country to continue to be enriched by those who were not born here.”
Madeleine Albright, 1st female Secretary of State, Immigrant

When you get to know a lot of people, you make a great discovery. You find that no one group has a monopoly on looks, brains, goodness or anything else. It takes all the people - black and white, Catholic, Jewish and Protestant, recent immigrants and Mayflower descendants - to make up America.
Judy Garland, actress

America was founded on immigrants. The immigrant experience is common to all of us.
Nia Vardalos, actress

We are indeed a nation of immigrants. People who choose to come to America have always been one of our greatest sources of national vitality. They keep our economy strong and our communities dynamic. They are some of our greatest patriots.
Thomas Perez, Democratic Party Chair, son of Dominican immigrants

To underscore the economic importance of immigrants in the US, the New American Economy (NAE) has put together a data-base where you can search the economic impact of immigrants in your state or congressional district. According to the NAE, 40% of the CEOs of Fortune-500 companies are immigrants or children of immigrants.

According to the NAE, in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, three of the battleground states during the recent 2016 presidential election, there are 1.7 million immigrants; and they paid $17.4 billion in taxes in 2014.

Photo Credits:
1) scholastic.com
2) immigrantetoamerica.org
3) www.ccri.uottowa.ca
4) billmoyers.com