Posted on 07/06/2005 8:44:08 PM PDT by CHARLITE
The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are symbols that used to be etched in the minds of millions of American immigrants. They are still living symbols for millions of other Americans who were born here and trace their ancestors to the Old World. To go and stand where your grandmother came to America, and see across the water to the lights of New York City still may leave a lump in your throat.
A hundred years ago most immigrants came to the U. S. after a long sea voyage. They left behind the Irish potato famine or being drafted into the Kaiser’s army, and they left behind religious persecution or a handful of rice a day. Many of these immigrants had a one-way steerage ticket. They had to cook their meager rations on board a ship that didn’t have facilities to bathe.
Some of them stopped counting the days at sea and walked the deck back and forth and half asleep. Then, one day somebody onboard shouted, “Look, out there,” and they bent over the ship’s rail and squinted in the half fog only to see the shape of the Statue of Liberty looming before the harbor of New York City. They knew they had arrived, now.
After processing at Ellis Island, these immigrants to America took the ferry across to Manhattan. They were on their own. They had made it to a new life. The ceremony of immigration was legal and complete. They had the rest of their lives to fit in as Americans.
When you are an illegal immigrant you never really fit in. There is no sight of the Statue of Liberty, but just the sun floating a mirage on the Interstate. There is no processing at Ellis Island and a document check, just more walking in the shadows. There is no ceremony of arrival into the New World, but just working in the underground economy and hiding from “la migra.”
The desert that separates Mexico from Texas and Arizona is just that, an arid zone. If it weren’t for the “coyotes” to guide them and the plastic bottles of water they carry, these illegal immigrants would be dead in a few days. Many travel under the cover of darkness and hope not to step on a scorpion. They know they are in the U. S. when someone says so, when they hear English they don’t understand, or see cars with license plates that say “Arizona--Grand Canyon State.” They made it into the U. S., yet these illegal immigrants did so without any ceremony of arrival.
Ceremonies are still important to many Americans. That’s why they want marriages, baptisms, Bar Mitzvahs, the pledge of allegiance and fraternity initiations. Seeing the Statue of Liberty was a ceremony of arrival for many new immigrants to the U. S. That ceremony made them feel they were part of America. Illegal immigrants do not have this ceremony of becoming an American, and are lesser for it. That’s why many illegal immigrants have more feeling about the U. S. dollar than they have for the United States.
There is no Statue of Liberty on the southern U. S. border with Mexico. Illegal immigrants smuggled across that border at night only lift their flashlights to thorny cactus and tumbleweed. There is no Ellis Island either, no rubber stamps on documents, no health checks, no saying good-bye to the old and no sight of New York City across the glistening water. Most of these illegal immigrants look down at their sore feet instead of up at the Star Spangled Banner.
On the southern U. S. border there is thirst, hunger, old clothes and groping in the dark. There is worry, running, and shortness of breath. There is hiding in a gully, fear, and moving on with sand in your shoes. There may be no love for the U. S. and no hope of becoming a citizen who someday will speak English and read the Declaration of Independence. There is no ceremony of arrival here—only the ceremony of green backs.
Without a ceremony of arrival like seeing the Statue of Liberty, illegal immigrants wander bound by shadows, not open and free below beautiful for spacious skies. The only hope the illegal immigrant has is to make over again the old he left behind, and not the new that is America. That is why southern California is now almost a part of Mexico. That is why illegal immigrants want amnesty instead of respect for our laws.
Amnesty may remove the punishment but not the crime. It does not turn the tired and poor into Americans. Only respect for our laws can do that. Without a ceremony of arrival, illegal immigrants remain thieves who steal from us, and from their children, and ours. They steal at night an American identity that only the lamp from the Statue of Liberty makes bright.
About the Writer: Robert Klein Engler is an adjunct professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and a versatile writer of op-ed articles, poetry, and philosophy. His recent book, "A Winter of Words," is available from amazon.com.
Those who cross oceans to get here come here to be Americans, those who sneak here come to NOT be Americans.
Some of the places I see where they have hidden make gullys look appealing.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to eat free, without having to work, or pay medical expenses,
The wretched illegal refuse of your teeming shore who won't work, don't want to work, just sit around and watch TV, or support Terrorist Infiltrators.
Send these, the homeless, worthless, low-lifes, tempest-tossed illegals to me.
I lift my lamp so that they can illegally cross the borders easily, reaching inside the golden door of your pockets!"
Ping!
What about the Chinese and Muslim illegal immigrants who sneak across oceans to get here? Where do they fit into your dichotomy?
I agree that there should be some barrier that must be overcome, some level of 'activation energy' that must be exceeded. With cheap and easy air travel,
this in most cases does not exist and the immigrant can still cling to his/her
old country and not psychically leave it. They cross an ocean, but do not
cross a threshold of committment.
Actually, in my jurisdiction, there is a nontrivial number of illegal Europeans.
They have crossed an ocean, but have not bought into the idea of America. I'm concerned with all illegal activity, but more concerned with immigrants who bring with them their relativist and socialist attitudes of 'old europe', than with most others.
Why are all the Mexicans fleeing Mexico?
Why are all the Mexicans fleeing Mexico?
Have you ever been to Mexico? Dirt, squalor, corruption, low wages, little education, small ruling class, little chance for advancement, same as 50% of the rest of the world.
Why should Mexicans benefit by reason of geography over millions of others similarly situated peoples in other parts of the world? Say English speaking Filipinos, Indians, Cubans, Africans, Chinese, anyone living with a lower standard of living than the USA....let one group in, why not let them all in, that way we can go down the sewer faster...
All of that has proven to be a mistake.
I was given to understand that the Mexicans are fleeing Mexico because the potatoes are kaput.
I heard from a German couple, friends of my parents, who had fled East Germany and managed to make their way to America in 1950. They worked hard while they were here, and then they attempted to retire in the place where they had been born, which became East Germany.
When they arrived there after 50 years in America, they were appalled by what you correctly term "relativist, socialist attitudes." They discovered that Communism had all but destroyed the thinking (and expectations) of the E. German people.
Those in West Germany also have a lot of philosophical, political differences with those in the East. They blame them for much of the economic stagnation that besets reunified Germany.
Thanks for your comments.
Char :)
Yes. I live in Tucson.
The biggest problem is the Mexican government. While Bush is pushing Democracy in the Middle East, he ought to spend some time pushing for Democracy in Mexico.
Quote of the Month.
The only people that immigrate to Mexico are those on their way to the USA.
bttt
Nice column that I'm sure brings the truth to the forefront for many older immigrants.
The border isn't even a line in the sand anymore.
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