The Complex Issue of Immigration
To the Editor:
Is America built by immigrants or settlers, or both? A recent letter writer claims that settlers build, and immigrants take advantage of their accomplishments. The letter reasons that “modern immigrants” only come “here to eat the fruits and the good things offered by an established country.” Perhaps the crux of the problem is “modern” immigrants.
Let’s examine the claim, “We are all immigrants.” Anthropologists and archeologists agree that what is called the United States, including Alaska, became settled by human immigrants 10,000-12,000 years ago. Much later, Europeans (British, French, Spanish, Dutch and others) came to the eastern and southern shores, and up through Mexico into today’s Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California; they encountered indigenous people. This letter is written around what my calendars say is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, formerly Columbus Day, a name which President Trump wants to restore. The United States was settled by immigrants who became indigenous; immigrants became settlers.
The history of Texas Independence is that of immigrants, such as Stephen F. Austin’s families, Jim Bowie, and others who came to this part of America with the blessing of the Mexican government. These immigrants encountered Mexican citizens and indigenous peoples who had settled the area. Stephen Austin’s father, Moses, came from New England immigrants to settle in Virginia and Missouri, and dreamed of helping to settle Texas. Early Texans were immigrants who became settlers and set the stage for German and Czech immigrants (roughly 1840-1870) who settled in a land new to them, including Fayette County.
Although his family is recent to the nation, perhaps President Trump deserves special credit for understanding immigration. His grandfather was an immigrant. Friedrich Trumpf (1869-1918) left behind a life in Germany with limited prospects and arrived in New York City in 1885, at the age of 16, following his brother’s footsteps. Friedrich migrated to avoid three-years of compulsory military service, worked as a barber in NYC, saved his money and moved to Seattle where he learned to run a restaurant and hotel before heading to the Klondike. He was not interested in panning or digging for gold but in accommodating needs, comforts, and desires of the miners: “To mine the miners” as the saying goes. He returned to Germany with his savings, took a wife, returned to NYC, built a family, and died young from the Spanish Flu. So, Friedrich was an immigrant and settler as was often the case. His grandson, the President, married two immigrants. DJT’s mother was born on a Scottish isle and arrived virtually penniless in 1930. She worked in domestic service before marrying Fred Trump, when her job became caring for family.
America has known many immigrants who made good. Andrew Carnegie of US Steel was one. Recent immigrants who prospered include Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. The rise of Nazi Germany sent many immigrants to benefit America, including Albert Einstein (physics) and Billy Wilder (movies). In an era when politicians debate birth-right citizenship, we remember that Senator Cruz was born in Canada to a mother who was an American citizen and a father who was not.
Generations of immigrants became settlers seeking a better life, wanting to continue a good life, or escaping very bad circumstances. One immigrant in my maternal line, mother’s mother whose maiden name was Grove, was named Jacob Graff Jr. Following a forebear who came to Pennsylvania in 1684, Jacob Jr. and his father immigrated to Philadelphia in 1775. Making his own bricks, Jacob Jr. built a red-brick, three story house at S. 7th and Market streets in 1775. In 1776, Thomas Jefferson rented the second flour to have a quiet place in which to write the Declaration of Independence: https://www. visitphilly.com/things-to-do/ attractions/declaration-graffhouse/.
Demolished in 1883, it was rebuilt and now is part of the Historic Independence District of Philadelphia protected by the National Park Service.
Born and raised, as I was, in Western Colorado, we knew Italians, Serbs, Croats, and other nationalities that were brought to work in coal mines, on the railroads, and the Pueblo steel mill. Miners worked 1012 hour days, seven days a week, were paid in script, were in debt to the company store, rented company houses, and often received religious service at the mine entrance because they were too tired to go to church. They were indentured workers.
During WWII, a military unit of newly-minted Japanese Americans, the 442 Regimental Combat Team, became the most decorated unit of its size in American military history. Known as the “Purple Heart Battalion,” it helped liberate Dachau concentration camp and rescue the “Lost Battalion,” the 1st Battalion of the 141st Infantry Regiment, a Texas-based unit that was surrounded by German forces in the Vosges Mountains of France.
Back to the original question. Residents of Fayette County, Texas, and other states agree that immigrants come to settled areas. Do they only come to eat the fruits and the good things offered by an established country, to live off others and not contribute? Millions of “immigrants” do yard work, tend and harvest crops, work in restaurants, clean buildings, paint buildings, build fence and buildings, shingle roofs, build businesses, and raise sons and daughters some of whom serve in the military. Farmers and small family operations struggle to survive. Currently, Michigan’s large apple crop is endangered because of a shortage of migrant pickers.
Is the problem “modern” immigrants? Folks, I talk with, think today’s immigration issue is complicated and needs to be humanely solved. It tests our character and soul. Senators such as James Langford (R-OK) craft bi-partisan legislation, An American Approach to Immigration, which would help the problem, only to have it skuttled so candidates can use it as campaign fodder. Yep, there are “bad hombres” among the “immigrants” and “settlers” as well. Migrants have long provided needed labor. Our immigration issue is 400 years old. Will our patience hold?
Stimmst du zu? Perhaps so, and maybe not.
Bob Heath Carmine