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February 12, 2007
Rank and File
by Nova Stubbs, insurgent49

Immigration, Then and Now

    At the turn of the twentieth century, tenement housing in New York City was brimming with immigrants. The year of 1910 is known as one of the great waves of immigration in American history. Back then, most immigrants were of European descent. America’s greatest wave of immigration, however, took place between 2000-2005. Now, most immigrants are from Mexico.

    Back in 1910, immigrants were not always warmly greeted when they first set foot on American soil. Nativism was as real then as it is now. Nativists essentially believe that only those born in our country are worth employment, because it is the right of natural born citizens to have greater privilege then those who are foreign born. It is an ideology that promotes discrimination.

    The irony of all of this is that at some point, most of us came from the blood of immigrants. Many Americans often talk, even brag, about the fact that they are Irish, Italian, German etc… with great pride. Many of these European immigrants came to the U.S. some where between the early nineteenth century and the early to mid twentieth century. And a lot of us are descendents of those immigrants.

    So why then do we tend to bitch about those “damn immigrants that steal our jobs”?

    We are a nation built on immigrants and diversity, so why then are we closing our borders? It should be noted that, today, those who are from Western European nations have an easier time getting through the bureaucracy of immigration than those from any other place. Of course U.S. Immigration would probably deny this, but Mexicans and other immigrants that are not Western and white often have greater difficulties obtaining work visas.

    Today, it is Mexicans who really have it hardest when it comes to immigrating to America. They have difficulties getting through the bureaucracy, but they also have to deal with racism. In some areas of the U.S., Mexicans do not have it any easier than the European immigrants of hundred years ago. They too live in crowded small apartments, where conditions are not necessarily sanitary.

    Many of those who oppose immigration believe that immigrants have it easier than their forefathers who came here over a hundred years ago. But this is not necessarily the case. Many immigrants of today also live in slum like conditions, where disease and abject poverty are rampant.

    Many labor unions, as well as most conservative Republicans, oppose immigration, as they often believe that American jobs are for Americans. By this logic, every single Native American should have their pick of jobs, and the rest of us European and African descendants should be forced to wait in the “land of opportunity.”

    America, like the rest of the world, should open its borders to everyone. We must act as an example by leaving no one from any nationality out in the cold. We should give them the same opportunity as we give our own citizens, because a country’s immigration policy is merely a reflection of the compassion of its government and people.

    Would you make your own ancestors stop at our borders, and make them go back to a famine, a flood, or a war?



   

     

     

      Nova Stubbs is a freelance writer and activist, and is co-founder of Insurgent49. Nova resides in an undisclosed location in downtown Anchorage and may be contacted at nova@insurgent49.com.

     'Rank and File' appears on insurgent49.com every Monday.
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in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership.