Immigration
In his
There is nothing more American than “chain migration.” My own family immigrated from Italy. My grandparents were not highly educated, they had no degrees to hang on their walls, no titles or awards with which to impress their neighbors. They simply had a desire to provide for their children and a belief in the American system. My grandparents were able to provide my parents with an opportunity. My parents took full advantage of that opportunity, graduating from college and opening their own business. As a result, my sisters and I have even greater opportunities than my parents had, and it is up to us to take full advantage—not by denying the opportunity to others but by succeeding on our own merits just as our parents and grandparents did.
Millions of Americans have a family history similar to my own. Of course people say that things are different now—the people coming today don’t want to assimilate as they have in the past. That is simply untrue. After all, my grandparents lived in an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY and after thirty years in the US my grandmother barely spoke a word on English.
Obviously their children (my parents) learned English and became fully “American,”
just as the children of immigrants are doing today.
Sadly, our immigration debate has devolved to the point where catchphrases and buzzwords have taken the place of thoughtful argument. I hope that people will stop and consider their own histories before adding “chain migration” to that list of negative words.
This letter has not been edited.
Paul,
You make the point of everypne opposed to illegal immigration. Your lazy grandparents refused to learn the local language just as the lazy illegal immigrants of today.
Just because your family came from Italy doesn't make them any better than today's crop of immigrants.
Bottom line: illegal is illegal whether they come from Italy, Spain, France or Mexico.
First (for the gutless wonder who chose not to include a name)- I don't recall Paul saying his grandparents were illegal. In all probablity, coming from Europe (as my grandparents & mother did) I suspect they were legal.
Second, if Paul's grandmother was a full time homemaker (as many of that generation were), she didn't have to learn English to speak to her family - or folks in the neighborhood. I am not saying this is the best way to assimilate, simply stating a fact. I kknow that while he was on a waiting list for 2 years to be allowed to immigrate, my grandfather attempted to teach himself English, then worked at teaching my grandmother English when she got here. My mother told us she didn't speak English when she started first grade, but thanks to English immersion & high intelligence, managed to get skipped a grade in her early teens & graduated high school at 17.
Paul - you are NOT a beneficiary of 'chain migration' - unless of course your grandparents came here without their children (one of whom was one of your parents) and then those children got to immigrate after becoming adults. Chain migration refers to extended family members (sibling, aunts, uncles, cousins, even parents) getting preferential treatment in the immigration process because another extended family member is already here. It does NOT refer to spouses or minor children (nuclear family members).
I am not sure whether 'chain migration' is a good thing or not. I am sure that the vast majority of us do believe that while immigration is acceptable, illegals flooding the country and lowering base wages, waving flags of their homelands while DEMANDING rights that those homelands deny immigrants to those homelands, and belonging to groups which state they want to reclaim parts of the US which have been parts of the US for over a century (California & the southwest states) is not.
Posted by Mary on July 13, 2007 06:03 AMChain migration from Italy across the Atlantic Ocean and chain migration from Mexico on our southern border are two different animals. The system has been used and abused and it is time for it to go. Welcome to the 21st century.
Where are the rest of our representatives standing up for Americans who now see the need to end liberal and illogical immigration policies? Thanks Dave Schultheis!
Mary,
Paul attempted to equate his Grandparents immigration to the current illegal immigrants. He referenced the letter of the Colorado Springs State Senator which specifically addressed the issue of illegal immigration. While Paul did not identify his grandparents as legal or illegal, he left the reader to assume they were illegal, otherwise he would have been comparing apples to oranges.
While it wasn't nice to call his grandparents lazy, Paul should have addressed why his grandparents chose not to learn the language. Their situation and circumstances could be vastly different from the current Illegal Immigrants.
I do tend to agree with the anonymous letter writer that many of today's immigrants are lazy when it comes to learning English. They would rather build sub-communities within their community. Look to the border towns of Texas or Miami. You will find examples of multi-generational families incapable of speaking English.
Just because immigrants come from Europe does not excuse their behavior. If Paul's intent was to say it’s ok because they were from Europe, I disagree with him wholeheartedly, but neither you nor I know what he was attempting to convey since he left out certain details. I would suggest that before you defend someone's letter, you should first know all the facts and not make inferences based upon missing significant details.
Mary, Everyone on these posts is anonymous so you are just as gutless as the rest of us unless we all start posting our full names and addresses as the guy from Longmont does.
I did not see any business hating in this post from you! What happened? Did you have to get into your big business made car, drive on the big business made roads, go to King Soopers (another big business) and buy some groceries and felt guilty of the kind of condescending hypocrit you are?
"I don't recall Paul saying his grandparents were illegal. In all probability, coming from Europe (as my grandparents & mother did) I suspect they were legal."
Mary,
All Europeans have been illegal in this country since 1492. Manifest Destiny, Devine Right, however you wish to justify your presence here, you, just as the ones you despise, are a descendant of an illegal immigrant—period.
American indian.
Look the difference is that we can actually DEFEND our country from invasion nowadays.
Also, If you want to get technical about it. your kind came here from the asian continent long long ago too, so you were illegals also. The indians just couldnt DEFEND what they CLAIMED as theirs properly so it was taken from them.
Posted by fresh on July 13, 2007 09:34 AMTwo Indians watching the landing at Plymouth Rock: One looks to the other and says: "There goes the neighborhood."
At any rate, Tom Trancredo introduces legislation to terminate anchor babies which reinstates the 14th Amendment of jurisdiction: One parent must be a U.S. Citizen and only then does the baby inherit U.S. citizenship.
Deicide Corner: “My parents did not practice any organized religion, although my father was raised Roman Catholic and my mother was Jewish. But there was always an ethical context to our lives, a very strong notion of individual moral responsibility.”
-- Harrison Ford,
How To Destroy America
by Dick Lamm
(Editor's note: A 2004 speech on the dangers of multiculturalism in the United Stated titled "I Have a Plan to Destroy America", became famous after being frequently forwarded as an email. With the immigration debate again heating up, it is time to revisit the speech. Reprinted with permission.)
We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Recently there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of American's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Davis Hansen talked about his latest book, Mexifornia, explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.
Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"
"Here is how they do it," Lamm said:
"First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country." History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: 'The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.' Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans."
Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, "Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.
Third, "We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: 'The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.' Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."
"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high. school."
"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population."
"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. E. Pluribus Unum -- From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus'. Instead of the 'Unum,' we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."
"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."
In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said, "Lastly, I would censor Victor Davis Hanson's book, Mexifornia. His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."
There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book, 1984. In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."
Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that the future of our great nation is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped quickly, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.
Richard D. Lamm
"Also, If you want to get technical about it. your kind came here from the asian continent long long ago too, so you were illegals also."
Fresh,
That's why they call it the Bering Strait Land Bridge THEORY--because that's all it is, a THEORY--Not fact.
"The indians just couldnt DEFEND what they CLAIMED as theirs properly so it was taken from them. "
The Indian's didn't CLAIM land. The old ones believed they could own the land as much as they could own the air or the water. The U.S. Government, illegal Europeans, however believed in the owning of land so, of course, their reaction was, "They don't claim to own the land so naturally it is ours for the taking." So, my mildly educated friend, the Indians were not trying to DEFEND the territory by which they resided as much as they were trying to SURVIVE and EXIST the systematic persecution executed by the U.S. Government.
"Also, If you want to get technical about it. your kind came here from the asian continent long long ago too, so you were illegals also."
Fresh,
That's why they call it the Bering Strait Land Bridge THEORY--because that's all it is, a THEORY--Not fact.
"The indians just couldnt DEFEND what they CLAIMED as theirs properly so it was taken from them. "
The Indian's didn't CLAIM land. The old ones believed they could own the land as much as they could own the air or the water. The U.S. Government, illegal Europeans, however believed in the owning of land so, of course, their reaction was, "They don't claim to own the land so naturally it is ours for the taking." So, my mildly educated friend, the Indians were not trying to DEFEND the territory by which they resided as much as they were trying to SURVIVE and EXIST the systematic extermination executed by the U.S. Government.
An American Indian,
I am 1/8 Ojibwa. I also wrote my senior thesis on the Migration and Pattern of the North American Indian. Because you fail to understand and comprehend history, the facial similarities, the documented pattern of migration, the similarity in dialect, in hair, and now (after I wrote my paper in 1996) DNA evidence STRONGLY suggests that 'fresh' was indeed correct.
http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/origin.htm
Didn't mean to pick nits here with you, but I did write a fairly lengthy paper on this subject (86 pages to be exact).
Now, back to Mr. Buono's letter. Mr. Buono seems to not understand what "chain migration" is. Chain migration, as defined by Wikipedia is:
"Chain migration refers to the mechanism by which foreign nationals are allowed to immigrate by virtue of the ability of previous adult immigrants who gain citizenship to send for their adult relatives. It is often used by immigrants from developing world countries seeking economic opportunities in industrialized countries."
What it is NOT, is the off-spring of migrated adults, and the citizenship of those persons who were born in the United States.
What I also find interesting is lack of historical knowledge many demonstrate on this topic. As examples, the whole assimilation into American culture and language. You mind find this interesting but, according to statistics presented by media historians Edwin and Michael Emery, the United States had 160 foreign-language dailies in 1914, and a total of 1323 foreign-language newspapers in 1917.
Everyone just take a deep breath.
Posted by Dan2 on July 13, 2007 12:10 PM"DNA evidence STRONGLY suggests"
Dan2,
A strong suggestion is NOT a concrete, unquestionable fact. I advise you to look up the word 'suggest' in a dictionary.
Listen to the language used. ALWAYS listen to the language and of course consider the sources by which your research is based. You cannot read uncritically, especially supposed facts relating to the American Indian.
"DNA evidence STRONGLY suggests"
Dan2,
A strong suggestion is NOT a concrete, unquestionable fact. I advise you to look up the word 'suggest' in a dictionary.
Listen to the language used. ALWAYS listen to the language and of course consider the sources by which your research is based. You cannot read uncritically, especially supposed facts relating to the American Indian.
WELL then mr " indian" if you didnt CLAIM ownership of the land, then WHAT are you complaining about since ( by your own words ) didnt defend it anyway ?
fact of things are
the american indians lost the ability to CONTROL the land they lived in, because of the INABILITY or choice not too ( which ever you want to subscribe too ) defend it from invaders!
the differnce is today, we care about PREVENTING this invasion, and are WILLING to DEFEND our land to stop it!
any questions ?
Posted by Fresh on July 13, 2007 04:07 PMI am a Native American as well, Cheyenne tribe to be exact, and to "An American Indian" 's post:
"That's why they call it the Bering Strait Land Bridge THEORY--because that's all it is, a THEORY--Not fact."
a theory is: a theory is a mathematical or logical explanation, or a testable model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise falsified through empirical observation. It follows from this that for scientists "theory" and "fact" do not necessarily stand in opposition.
just wanted to educate the tribe on what a theory is as seeing it used in so many ways that it starts to lose its meaning, and just cause your off the reservation does not give you an excuse to be uneducated....
needless to say , i am AGAINST illegal immigration as i have many friends and in-laws that come from other countries who are here legally, waited in line for years to gain their citizenship and assimilate into society and learn the language and work hard and pay taxes...i welcome these people with open arms.
however if you come into this country and disrespect out nation and laws , i will stand up and defend my country and rights and deport you myself to the border.
invasion :An invasion is an action consisting of one geopolitical entity entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering territory, altering the established government, for humanitarian purposes, or a combination thereof. An invasion can be the cause of a war, it can be used as a part of a larger strategy to end a war, or it can constitute an entire war in itself.
The term usually denotes a strategic endeavor of substantial magnitude; because the goals of an invasion are usually large-scale and long-term, a sizable force is needed to hold territory, and protect the interests of the invading entity. Smaller-scale, tactical cross-border actions, such as skirmishes, sorties, raids, infiltrations or guerrilla warfare, are not generally considered invasions. Because an invasion is, by definition, an attack from outside forces, rebellions, civil wars, coups d'etat, and internal acts of democide or other acts of oppression, are not considered invasions.
Posted by hoimaha on July 14, 2007 07:07 AM