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Immigrants shaped our lives and our nation; Ruth Barrett (RB); Beaver County Times; February 28, 2017.
My only previous review of an RB letter was entitled “Roosevelt had it right; we cannot let fear rule.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Who of us don’t have immigrants in our family lineage. I am proud of my feisty, smart, Irish great-grandmother from County Cork, Ireland, a hard-working farm woman who came to this county to start a better life. My great-grandmother on the other side was from Scotland, just like the president’s mother, who immigrated to this country at age 14. She came with only $50 in her pocket to start her new life, intending to be a domestic.
“My other great-grandparents were also from Germany, like the president’s great-grandfather. Mine were hard-working German immigrant farmers. They were German at a time when being German was not popular because of what one man was doing on the world stage to bring deep sadness, tragedy and destruction.
“I am proud of my immigrant family members. They will always be a part of my family’s deeply set values of hard work and dedication to stand up for what is right and just.
“If we are to ‘make this country great again,’ and I believe it already is, we must never forget whose shoulders we stand on -- those immigrants who had a dream in their hearts and the guts to get here and work hard, often against all odds. We must never paint all immigrants with a broad brush of stereotype, hate, segregation and denigration. They are us; all of us.”
[RWC] My paternal grandmother immigrated from Scotland and two of my maternal great-grandparents immigrated from Ireland.
Who “paint[s] all immigrants with a broad brush of stereotype, hate, segregation and denigration?”
I think it’s safe to say the vast majority of Americans favor legal immigration. I also think it’s safe to say the vast majority of Americans recognize we need rules to control whom we let in and the rate. I don’t know if RB agrees.
It’s obvious most border crashers are not engineers, doctors, and so on. Large numbers of undereducated and unskilled residents, whether illegal or legal, depress wages for everyone. The undereducated, unskilled, and English-illiterate also place a heavier demand on so-called “safety net” programs and public schools, meaning more taxes for legal residents. There are considerations other than purely economic, however. On the non-economic side, throw in an inability to speak/read/write English and we have a double whammy. Large numbers of the undereducated, unskilled, and English-illiterate tend to segregate themselves – out of desire or perceived necessity - instead of assimilate. This is bad for society. Legal immigration is great and most of us support it. What isn’t great is any policy that doesn’t allow us to assimilate immigrants at a rate that benefits us all. Even the U.S. has limits on its rate of assimilation. Naturally, not all immigrants are undereducated and unskilled. My paternal-grandmother’s family was an example.
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