The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Some other historical perspectives: http://www.nctimes.com/article
5 comments:
Brilliant! Bravo! Hooray! Thanks for posting it.
Barry,
I like the direction your taking the blog. The quote is nice and it is important to keep history in perspective to remember how this country was built and to remember that we are a compassionate nation, but to compare a system of legal and documented immmigration to the current chaotic lawless undocumented and illegal immigration is twisting reality. By the way, if you want to see a great flower check out http://www.danny-newport.com/Pics/Flower.jpg
That was political? Where's the ranting. Where's screaming. Where's the baseless claims without regard to facts. Poltical? I think not.
This is probably my first and last political post.
Some of the legal options being discussed today are certainly nencessary. We need to cut the numbers of new illegals, make the process for legal easier, but the harsh tactics in some of legislation on in country aliens as well as the waste of money on building a wall seem un-American.
The distinction between the legal immigration say of grandparents and greatparents (in our case) and illegal immigration is certainly important, but things were also very different back then as far as laws addressing immigration.
From Nancy Foner, "From Ellis Island to JFK"
An excerpt is below (Full can be found at: http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/pdf/0300082266.pdf)
What about the background of undocumented immigrants? This is a
relevant question today, but not for turn-of-the-century European arrivals.
Ahundred years ago, the nature of immigration restrictions and immigrant
travel meant that very few newcomers lived in New York ‘‘illegally.’’
Then, as Alexander Aleinikoff puts it, ‘‘a diligent foreigner could sell the
family farm and cow, buy steerage tickets to the U.S. and take upresidence
here (provided he or she was not infected with a contagious disease or
offensive foreign political ideology).’’ 24 Until the s, there were no numerical
limits on European immigration—and no immigrant visas or special
papers that had to be secured from the United States. Europeans were
excluded only on qualitative grounds; criminals, prostitutes, and the physically
and mentally ill were prohibited entry, as were those likely to become
public charges. In , illiterate immigrants were added to the list with
the imposition of a literacy test, basically a simple reading test in the language
of the immigrant’s choice.25 Since nearly all newcomers to NewYork
came by boat and were processed through Ellis Island, they had no way
to avoid immigration inspections intended to weed out the unhealthy and
undesirable. Even before this, steamshipcomp anies had their own examinations
in the port of origin; immigration legislation of made these
companies responsible for returning deportees to their homeland and for
providing food and lodging while they were detained in the United States.
Admittedly, some Italians whom America would not accept for medical
or criminal reasons resorted to illegal strategies. According to one account,
‘‘There was no document or stampes sential to emigration that could not
be expertly forged, including . . . health certificates. In addition, legitimate
documents sometimes changed hands repeatedly. . . . For lire one could
rent American citizenship papers that had been brought to Italy by repatriated
emigrants. Fifteen lirewould be refunded if the person returned them
after use.’’ 26 A number of Italians were smuggled on ships, like Matteo,
who, in , was turned away at the medical screening by the ship’s doctor
in Palermo because of an injured eye. For the price of eight hundred
lire, he soon managed to board a New York–bound cargo shipas a seaman,
shoveling coal in the boiler room.27 New York’s small Chinese community
was also home to some who had entered illegally, despite the Chinese Ex-
Who They Are and Why They Have Come
clusion Act of , which banned the immigration of Chinese laborers.28
The ‘‘paper son’’ strategy, the main illegal route to entry, became common
after Supreme Court cases in and ruled that foreign-born children
of Chinese who were American citizens were entitled to American citizenship.
A Chinese American returning from a trip to China would report to
the immigration authorities that he and his wife had produced a son during
his stay in China. He would then sell the legal papers to someone who
wanted to come to America.29
The number of these illegal immigrant New Yorkers at the beginning of
the twentieth century was minuscule, however. Today, limits on the number
of available immigrant visas, combined with the continuing desire of
many to move to the United States, have created a climate in which undocumented
immigration flourishes. Nevertheless, fears about the numbers
involved are exaggerated. Illegal aliens are not flooding the New York
area. At any one time, a relatively small proportion of New York City’s immigrant
population is undocumented. A widely accepted figure from the
Immigration and Naturalization Service put the number in NewYork State
at about , for —an estimated percent of whom live in New
York City.30 California has the lion’s share—some percent of the nation’s
illegal immigrants, compared to percent in the state of New York.
The overwhelming majority of the undocumented in theNew York area
have not snuck secretly across the border or hidden out in boats. Most
enter the United States legally on temporary visas and become illegal immigrants—
or visa overstayers, in immigration parlance—by failing to leave
when their visas expire. According to INS estimates, nine out of ten of
New York State’s illegal residents in had overstayed their visas.31 The
undocumented rarely come from the ranks of the very poorest in their
home countries. Available studies show that, like their legal counterparts,
unauthorized immigrants are self-selected in terms of ambition and willingness
to work. They tend to have above-average levels of education and
occupational skills in comparison with their homeland populations.32
Indeed, a study of Dominican immigrants in New York City in the early
s found that the undocumented held more prestigious jobs before emigrating
than did the documented immigrants; they were far more likely
to have been professionals and managers in the Dominican Republic.33
Another survey of some two hundred undocumented immigrants in New
York and New Jersey concluded that they often came from lower-middleand
middle-class households in their home countries.34
I hear the statue is made out of copper. I think that's out of my league.
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