A Nation Of Immigrants
There’s no denying it. America IS a nation of immigrants. The percentage of our population that are Native Americans (what we used to refer to as “Indians”, an appellation that, by the way, goes all the way back to Christopher Columbus!) is less than ONE PERCENT. By definition then, the remaining 99% of the American populace are either direct immigrants or descendants of immigrants.
I, too, am a third generation son of immigrants. Accordingly, readers of my essay from September 17 (The Costs of Immigration) might question the anti immigration tone of that piece. In other words, “if America is a land of immigrants, and if I am, in fact, of immigrant descent, how can I, in due fairness, caution against immigration now? I will try, in this essay, to answer that question. I will focus my discussion today primarily on the distinction between immigrants of the past and the Mid Eastern immigrants of today. The distinctions I will discuss do NOT apply, I believe, to our Asian immigrants and most do NOT apply to our Mexican and South American immigrants either. (Although America certainly needs to identify and eliminate the small number of criminals embedded in unrestricted Mexican immigration, much of the following contrasts, do NOT, I believe, apply to them).
The rationale, then, for cautioning against contemporary Mid Eastern immigration, while acknowledging the constructive nature of America’s immigration history, is really very simple: THAT was THEN and NOW is NOW. Things are very, very different now than during past immigrations. VERY different! How? Let me start to enumerate:
1) Past immigration to America involved people that were incredibly GRATEFUL to be here. At the Immigration Museum on Ellis Island a visitor can pick up a pair of headphones in many locations and listen to recordings from actual Ellis Island immigrants describing their experiences. You can hear the PROFOUND gratitude in their voices, that they are HERE in America and have been granted entry. It is very moving to listen to. Unfortunately, I don’t hear anything like that in interviews with today’s immigrants! It sounds like they feel relief to be out of the hell holes from which they came, but not, for some reason, gratitude. Maybe they feel that, as the Koran teaches, they are “the best of peoples” and resettlement is, accordingly, their due. For what ever the reason, a profession of gratitude is NOT forthcoming! Not even close!
2) Past immigrants brought with them a culture not terribly different from that of the USA. Certainly there were language differences and, of course, different traditions, but their religion was usually similar. Family orientation was similar. Concepts of right and wrong were similar. The concepts of acceptable and unacceptable behavior were similar. Not so among our Mid Eastern immigrants today. Their primary code of conduct is dictated by Sharia law, a strikingly different rule book by ANY standard! By the way, if the reader has any doubts about the difference between our rule of law (basically updated British Common Law) and Sharia Law, I would strongly recommend reading the primary codification of Sharia law, The Reliance of the Traveller (sic), the Al-Bukhari Edition, available through Amazon.com).
3) Past immigrants brought with them a strong work ethic. There was little in the way of welfare and “government services” back then, and they knew it. They understood that unless they found a way to be productive, they would either starve or become beggars. Accordingly, nearly ALL became self sufficient productive members of society. By contrast NINETY FIVE PERCENT of today’s Syrian immigrants are already on food stamps! NINETY FIVE PERCENT!
(Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration of Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement, June 11, 2015). Amazingly, we have also learned, from numerous news reports, that MANY of terrorists wreaking murder and mayhem throughout the USA and Europe, have been on government assistance prior to their attacks! Where is the work ethic? Let me know if you find it.
4) Past immigrants had a very strong drive to assimilate. Our language was learned, and quickly. Names were changed. Accents were muted. Patterns of dress altered. (Had they worn burkas in the “old country” they would have put them in a drawer tout de suite!). Today we see hijabs galore and even burkas on our streets. The drive to assimilate? No where to be found!
5
) And lastly, past immigrants did NOT want to change us. They did not want to kill us. They did NOT want to wage holy war. They did NOT disparage the land that took them in. They wanted NOTHING more than to be PART of our wonderful country. Show me where those sentiments can be found among our Mid Eastern immigrants of today!
So, dear readers, it is my belief that Mid Eastern immigration today is a different beast from immigration in the past, and, as a consequence, we MUST change our attitudes toward it, and our policies on it.
As a last analogy, I’ll leave the reader with the following: In the 1800’s, it made economic SENSE to have large families. Children cost little and could be counted on to provide labor, child care for the younger children, and to CONTRIBUTE to the family welfare. Accordingly, families in the 1800’s were VERY large! At present however, large families do NOT make economic sense. Children today, and the education they require, are very expensive propositions. And often children today can’t be productive for the family for many many years (if ever). Consequently, families today are SMALL. That’s not to say that people in the 1800’s were foolish. Quite the contrary, they were smart to have many offspring. Not so today. Times change. Circumstances change. What was good and productive about large families in the past, is no longer the case now, and our attitudes and behaviors reflect that. Likewise, what was good and productive about immigration to America in the past is no longer the case with the Mid Eastern immigrants of today, and our attitudes and behaviors need to reflect that, as well. Times change. Situations change. And WE must change accordingly.