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EDITOR’S NOTE: An appropriate topic as we celebrate our freedoms, and acknowledge that we ALL came here from somewhere else; we are all immigrants, unless your roots connect to the native indigenous tribes. There are celebrations that call for us to remember why our forefathers formed this “one nation, under God, indivisible and with justice for all.” This is a traditional time for many to take part in citizenship ceremoniesk. Let’s welcome them. For all… Happy Independence Day.
By Jim Heffernan
I’ve been thinking a lot about immigration these days and how migrants are always portrayed as a menace. I was always repelled by the lie that countries were “sending” us immigrants. They come here for powerful reasons, fear and hunger lead the list, but the desire for a better life is close behind. My great-grandparents came here for the similar reasons. I suspect yours did too.
It’s a particular shock to my system because I grew up in a time when the Statue of Liberty was a treasured symbol of America, along with its pledge (an Italian sonnet* written by a Jewish poet, Emma Lazarus in 1887). Here’s the last five lines I heard in grade school.
“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!”
I wonder why we so easily swallow the lie about migrants as menaces.
I met a man who was one of these feared migrants. He had left his home country 22 years ago because he lived in a country where the leading industry seemed to be extortion, by gangs and by the government.
He was 19 when he left and has lived here in fear of deportation until 3 years ago. When I asked him about his recipe for evading deportation for 16 years, he told me, “You need to stay away from the borders. You need to stay away from government offices. You need to learn the ways to have taxes withheld from your paycheck without revealing your immigration status. You need to learn English. You need to work and you need to stay out of trouble.”
He, and others like him, work the jobs that most of us don’t want, hard menial jobs like picking crops, working as dishwashers and landscapers, planting trees, and milking cows. These are jobs that are very hard and really don’t pay very well, but just think where we would be without them.
Nobody really knows how many undocumented migrants there are in the country, but I see the figure 10-13 million as a reasonable estimate.
Some advocate for mass deportations of these millions of undocumented workers here now. Everybody complains now about how hard it is to find workers. Imagine what it would be like with a missing 10-13 million.
The truth** is that immigrants, both legal and undocumented, boost our economy. Immigrants are the reason the American economy has performed so much better than other economies in developed countries since COVID.
I’m convinced the worry about undocumented immigrants ruining our country is just another example of exploiting us by planting seeds of fear. It’s another way to distract us from bigger problems like inequality and climate change.
*The New Colossus
Emma Lazarus, 1849–1888
1887
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!”
This poem is in the public domain. The twin cities she talks about are New York City and Brooklyn.
** https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58939 Link to Congressional Budget Office report of April 2023. Of particular interest, is table which shows what benefits undocumented workers are eligible for – NONE, ZERO.
As always, discussion is welcome at codger817@gmail.com Feel free to forward and re-use.
