Huddled Masses #350
By Hank Silverberg
"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!"
Emma Lazarus
Commentary
Those words, written in 1883, adorn the base of the Stature of Liberty in New York harbor and have been a symbol of the United States for over a century and a half. Millions of immigrants received that welcome with joy as they landed with nothing, but went on to build solid, productive lives in America.
There have been periods in our history where the contributions of immigrants to the strength of our nation have been ignored, ridiculed or excluded, and it appears we are headed that way again.
Up until 1882, there were no immigration laws in the United States. Thousands of Chinese were imported during the 1870's and, along with Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine, and freed slaves, they were employed in great numbers to build one of America's biggest success stories of the 19th century, the Transcontinental Railroad. It opened up the West and turned the United States into an economic powerhouse. The railroad would not have been built without immigrant labor.
They were rewarded with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which then prohibited people from China from entering the country.
Then in 1921, with Europe decimated by World War One and anti-immigration and isolationist organizations flourishing in parts of the country, Congress established a quota system for immigrants, particularly aimed at people coming from Africa, the Middle East, and southern and eastern Europe.
That law was still on the books in the 1930's and it applied to Jews trying to flee the Nazis. Over 100,000 were refused entry, and most died in Hitler's concentration camps.
It wasn't until the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 that our https://www.history.com/articles/immigration-act-1965-changes current system was enacted, eliminating quotas and setting up the current application process.
The Pew Research Center says since then, immigrants living in America have more than quadrupled, now accounting for nearly 14 percent of the population. The overwhelming majority work in jobs Americans won't take and yet they contribute more than $97 billion to our economy each year.
Why the history lecture? It has become clear that the current administration is targeting not just those who come here illegally, but is also trying to limit the number of people who immigrate in general.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees the LEGAL immigration system, has been told to add additional factors when determining who gets in legally and who gets rejected. These are the people who get green cards to work and usually seek naturalized citizenship after the five year waiting period. The new factor now added to the application is a tightening of the "good moral character" qualification. In the past that meant no criminal record or no alcoholism. But the new policy adds an assessment of the applicant's "behavior, adherence to societal norms and positive contributions that affirmatively demonstrate good moral character."
And it puts greater emphasis on the applicants' "positive attributes and contributions".
In addition, that emphasis includes exclusion for "acts that are contrary to the average behavior of citizens in the jurisdiction where aliens reside," including actions that are "technically lawful" but also "inconsistent with civic responsibility within the community."
It means basically, they can eliminate gay and trans people, anyone who has been a dissident/political activist in another country, or anyone who is unskilled.
To put this into numbers: The United States naturalizes between 600,000 to a million people each year. They follow the rules and come here legally. This new emphasis is an effort to significantly cut down that number by not letting immigrants in legally.
America is a nation of immigrants. They built this country, and there is a pretty good chance that your family has a story of those one or two immigrants who came here and made sacrifices to make your life better. We need to remember this. Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it. The people in power now don't seem to care.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-uscis-ctizenship-good-moral-character-scrutinize/
News You May Have Missed
Credit Card Binge Over?
Are you using your credit card less often? A report in the Wall Street Journal indicates credit card spending is growing more slowly than debit card spending, even as credit card balances climbed above $1 trillion. The data comes from Visa and Mastercard, which have reported soaring balances during the recent period of high inflation.
But with family budgets under stress, student loan payments resuming after the pandemic pause and higher interest rates, some credit card companies are getting pickier about to whom they offer cards. That has produced a downward trend in credit card usage.
Pow-Wow Cancelled
2026 will be the last pow-wow. For decades, thousands of people have gone to Albuquerque, New Mexico for North America's largest pow-wow, a celebration of Indigenous dancers, musicians and artisans from around the world. But organizers announced on Saturday that after 43 years, 2026 will be the last time the event will be held. The official poster for that event uses the words "The
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| (powwows.com) |
https://www.lakotatimes.com/articles/2025-oglala-nation-celebration-cancelled/
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This week's dumbest quote comes from Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
"Life in America on a daily basis will be largely unaffected whether there's peace in Ukraine or not. That's just a fact. We have a lot of issues we're focused on, not just at home but around the world."
Well, guess what, Marco? You are wrong. America has already spent $175 billion on that war, and the cost could be way higher in terms of American lives if Putin is not stopped. Rubio's comments are similar to those made by isolationists as Hitler expanded his Nazi regime in the 1930's. Ukraine is a democracy in Europe. America has learned the hard way--twice--that ignoring wars in Europe can lead to world-wide disaster. Oh, and those other problems in the world like the Middle East, the trade war and cold war with China and more, they will all get worse if we don't help Ukraine beat Putin.
(You suggestions and comments are welcome)
My recent book "The Campaign" can be purchased at the links below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at: HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
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