Given the hate coming from the immigration 'issue', I find the Ellis Island

[babylonsister]

plea for funds a bit weird. Every time I hear it, I do this: :eyes:

We either relish our history and try to preserve it, from then to now and beyond, or we put up fences and borders and terra to not allow Hispanics, Iraqis, and any other nationality that still might want to come here.

[MadMaddie]

1. babylonsister you have identified the weakness in this

argument against immigrants...

The very people that are screaming about immigrants and illegal immigrants are decendents of immigrants themselves. The fool themselves in thinking they are different.

Yes the companies that choose to hire cheap labor thus hiring illegal immigrants should be prosecuted and fined. And America needs to come up with a better plan to manage immigrants- legal and illegal.

[babylonsister]

13. Agreed. We need a logical plan, but I fear the hatemongering

has gone too far. It seems out of control to me now.

[TankLV]

14. It's never been about "immigrants" - it's about "ILLEGAL" immigration...

big difference...

but I don't see, and have never understood, why we don't revert back to the way it was back at the turn of the last century when we had OPEN IMMIGRATION WITHOUT LIMITS FOR ALL WHO WISHED TO COME HERE...

That's the 800 pound gorrilla in the room, isn't it!

[babylonsister]

28. 'Back in the day', weren't they all illegals until they went through

immigration? And what exactly is the problem now? Perhaps Lou Dobbs and his ilk making it one?

[MadMaddie]

31. I agree with you but it seems the Neocon argument is

starting to include more than just illegal immigrants...this is why it is so dangerous and must acknowledge.

[Olney Blue]

2. I visited Ellis Island for the first time last year. I highly recommend it!

:hi: Hi babylonsister!

[babylonsister]

6. Hi, my friend! I'm glad you enjoyed this history of ours!

:hug:

[City Lights]

23. My first trip there was last summer with my daughter. We both loved it,

and wish we would have had more time to spend there exploring. If I knew then what I know now, I would have bypassed the Statue of Liberty in favor of more time at Ellis Island. We found my grandparents' names on the wall outside and etched them for my dad and his siblings.

[Olney Blue]

24. How wonderful that you made etchings!

When you step into that great hall, there is such a rush of emotion as you think of the people who traveled for weeks on ships, unsure of whether they would be put right back on the ship to go back home. I had tears several times while in the museum.

[Xipe Totec]

3. What ever happened to "Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free..."

It is a rare day when Free Republic gives us a lesson in humility, but listen to this quote:

"I must admit, and state for the record, that as a policy, I firmly believe that all law breaking must be prevented, and law breakers should be punished.. the sooner the better.

That said, I may be a candidate for a flogging I might be at most a fugitive from justice, or at the very least a shameful hypocrite, because I have in the past, and without a moment of indecision would again, give employment to someone I suspect but cannot prove, may be an undocumented worker, ..yes, AN ILLEGAL ALIEN!

I have experience with this issue.. up close and very personal...

I AM A PRODUCT OF FORMER ILLEGAL ALIENS.. Thank God.

As a young boy, I watched as my 92 year old great Grandfather, an immigrant from the bowels of depravity in Italy, as he stood in a crowded church basement and took an oath, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance to his beloved country to finally become a citizen of the United States Of America. For him, becoming a real member of this wonderful country was the culmination of a lifetime of work, and struggle and hope, and prayers.

My great Grandfather, his aged body bent from years of hard work, managed to stand tall as he listened closely to my uncle, who whispered in his ear, everything that was said from the podium. In those days, hopeful immigrants had to study and be tested to prove they knew enough about this country, and it's founding, history and government, to be qualified to contribute to it's greatness."


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1055662/posts

This is so rare, in fact, that I dug back nearly four years to find it.

[babylonsister]

4. Thank you so much for digging! We all have similar stories,

I'm thinking.

As for your quote, "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor", that was also a song I sung in high school many years ago that has stayed with me.

I also remember a fund drive for Ellis Island around 1989-1990? I remember scrimping together money to buy a tile to honor my parents' parents. It seemed important then.

[Xipe Totec]

5. It is still important today

We need to light Lady Liberty's torch once again.

[babylonsister]

7. We need to make people realize how bigoted they sound and are.

Why is this suddenly acceptable, to everyone? I know, it's not sudden, but it's overwhelming.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. I'm Italian. I never heard of any 'bowels of depravity'.

What's up with that?? :shrug:

[JVS]

11. I think he was referring to the Olive Garden's bottomless pasta bowl.

He just mis-spelled the bowl part

[babylonsister]

12. Something must have been going on in Europe for everyone to

want to leave.

[Xipe Totec]

19. I have no clue

got to make some allowances for the source.

[OHdem10]

9. Could it be there is a little bit of difference.

When the Immigrants came through Ellis Island, it was controlled
Immigration. Only a certain number could come at a time, they
were checked from head to toe for disease, etc. They were brought
in in waves so "assimilation" could take place.

The problems we are facing now of a Government who can only act
when a crisis occurs.

Some day we are all going to have to be flexible and come to a common
sense solution, Some give and take on all sides.

[Xipe Totec]

20. The difference is, none of those Ellis Island immigrants would qualify today

It is not an issue of control, or of disease; that is a ruse.

The issue is the rules of immigration today. A common laborer willing to work for wages cannot immigrate into this country.

You have to be a relative of an American, marry an American, or be a high tech worker willing to work for slave wages for 15 years in order to obtain legal residence. Then five more years to get citizenship.

There is no reasonable path to legal immigration for the common man.

[EFerrari]

25. When was the last time the government functioned in a crisis? n/t

[Swamp Rat]

10. Maybe Ellis Island will be used as a staging area for deporting people,

or waterboarding them.

[madeline_con]

15. Are Iraqis sneaking acrosss the southern border illegally?! n/t

[babylonsister]

18. No, they ironically aren't being allowed in, even when they should be. nt

[EFerrari]

16. My grad school class of 19 went to a day trip to Angel Island here

in the SF Bay. It's lovely -- there are families out on their bikes all over the place and couples walking and to get there from here, you have to take a beautiful ferry ride across the bay.

We went to visit a detention center that is still there, preserved. It housed Chinese deportees, women. They wrote messages to each other on the walls and you can still read them. "Tell my family I was here for three months before they sent me home." That was shortly after this country decided that Asian immigrants were disease ridden criminals.

I'm afraid we're back into the same mindset.

[babylonsister]

17. Thanks, stexpat2000, for putting another face to this. Regressing?

I need a new face to convince me all is not as dire as it seems. No more dynasties imo.

[EFerrari]

21. We need Lyndon Johnson. He didn't appease Republicans.

There are a lot of things he got wrong but he got that right.

Republicans need a scapegoat to keep their party running and the Democrats have spent years appeasing them. That's why, imho, we're on this awful slide. That's why a man like Tancredo can build a constituency instead of get the shunning he so richly deserves.

I think the DLC is the worst thing that has ever happened to this party since Reconstruction.

[aikoaiko]

22. I too have wondered why people hate illegal immigration when we celebrate legal immigration

:eyes:

[blondeatlast]

26. Those ads bother me too. Why can't we build a Staute of Liberty at the border instead

of a worthless fence?

I've known some illegal immigrants. Because my family was nice to my next door neighbors, they made us homemade tamales--just because we were kind and respectful to them. Southern border crossers want very little.

Every time I see one of those ads, it kind of makes me sick. Emma Lazarus must be spinning in her grave--she didn't exclude the tired, poor, huddled masses just because they came from the south, not the ocean...

[Bluebear]

27. You said it. nt

[Xipe Totec]

30. You got that right

it's all about R. E. S. P. E. C. T.

It is a different culture, and the values are not the same. Language has nothing to do with it.

It's all about respect, and loyalty.

:thumbsup:

[spanone]

29. contrary to what lou dobbs spouts, this is a nation of immigrants

[Zywiec]

32. Does anyone know how other countries handle immigration?

If I wanted to move to Europe for work or living, is it easy or hard?