Guest Editorial

By William Breining


Immigration Then and Now

In response to Marcony Almeida’s weekly column. Mr. Almeida claims in the Aug. 24, 2006 edition of the Everett Leader Herald of the long period of time and obstacles facing today’s immigrants. He states that “immigrants arriving in the United States in the 19th or early 20th century were not placed on long waiting lists or faced with a reduced number of annual green cards and that almost all were authorized to work and that there were no Social Security number requirements as there are today.” That statement is a willful distortion of the truth.

Social Security numbers were not required in the 19th and early 20th centuries for a valid reason, Social Security did not exist until the 1930’s (a program started after the Great Depression by President Roosevelt). It is a further distortion of the truth to claim that immigrants did not have to go through a “qualification” process to be considered as a candidate for immigration. During the time period Mr. Almeida brackets, there were many obstacles facing immigration to America, including sponsorship by a U.S. Citizen; a place to live; a job waiting for the immigrant; and passage through Ellis Island or similar facility. Arriving at Ellis Island (or its counterparts) was no guarantee of entry into America. It was the processing point for immigration. Here the final and perhaps the most grueling qualification began; quarantines, identification verification, medical evaluation, etc. If an immigrant did not meet the standards, they left Ellis Island on a ship home, not released into the general population waiting for a court date for an appeal; you were gone, period! A new immigrant, leaving an intake facility, stepped on the soil of his new homeland cleared and thankful to have been accepted into America. U. S. immigration, in many ways, was stricter than it is today.

Mr. Almeida, further states (in his article) “As long as American immigration laws remain viewed as inefficient, more families will remain separated and America can be called a nation of immigrants only with difficulty.” We are not a nation of immigrants; we are a nation of American (U. S. Nationals) descendent of immigrants; we are a nation, not a tourist attraction! As I have stated before, immigration is a privilege, not a right! And its parameters remain at the discretion of the American people.

Mr. Almeida’s final complaint is that it takes too long to become a U. S. Citizen and that the process requires that candidates fill out a 13 page form; be of good moral character; pass both an oral and written English exam, be tested in American History and pass a Federal background check. And this is a bad thing??? America is an English speaking country, the background check is necessary to our security. People coming to America, in the past, came here to be Americans. They did not need additional incentives. Again Mr. Almeida speaks generally of illegal aliens, not legal immigration. Immigrants are not relegated to “second class” status as indicated; in no other nation do immigrants enjoy the freedom and benefits they receive here in America. Those who remain “hidden” from society do so because they chose to ignore our laws and come here illegally…and who is to blame for that? In closing, I ask this question, “What kind of citizens will they be; those who begin their life in a new nation through deceit and contempt for our laws? Not the kind that made and continue to make our nation the greatest on earth.