Theodore Roosevelt on Immigration, Reform

Why we should study Theodore Roosevelt - TIME: "TR was President during a period of enormous stress over immigration and the meaning of being an American. He was unequivocally for control of immigration and for encouraging immigrants who wanted to be American while opposing those who would radically change America. As TR put it, 'In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American. . . . There can be no divided allegiance here.' "

The article is a quick, easy read and interesting in reference to both reform and middle ground between conservative and liberal approaches.

With my recent posts about problems with illegal immigration, it might seem as though I oppose immigration or immigrants. Let me set the record straight. We are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants. My great-great grandmother was a native American, and even she was a descendant of immigrants who crossed the great landbridge from Asia a long, long time ago. I love immigrants.

I believe that illegal immigrants are migrants, though. To my mind, an immigrant is someone who wishes to be American, and wouldn't jeopardize that lofty goal by breaking the immigration laws of the nation he wishes to make his own. A migrant plans to move on; an immigrant plans to stay. A migrant keeps his own flag, language, and citizenship; an immigrant takes on the flag, language, and citizenship of his new home country with great pride.

My grandfather immigrated to this country early in the last century. He was almost 80 when I was born, and by then, he spoke English as a native, without a trace of accent. He loved this country. When my father, aunts, and uncles were growing up, they visited family in the old country, and there was a language barrier. The ancestors spoke French; the new generation spoke only English. It was an honor for my grandparents' children to serve in the Armed Forces; it was about as American as you could get, risking your own life in support of the nation. My grandfather came here without an education, but with a formidable work ethic and a drive to learn American ways. He labored - he helped build the Taft School in Connecticut, hauling and lifting boulders that you wouldn't think could be hefted with a team of men. They say he was so strong, he could balance a wheelbarrow on his chin. He worked his way up, gladly learning new technologies as they developed (and many developed in his day - he drove horse carts and then motorized wagons called trucks; by the time he died, we had put a man on the moon and begun putting computers in every home). He was the old school immigrant, without advanced degrees or lots of money. He just had a drive to be an American in every aspect.

I have friends who are immigrants, and they love this country and its freedoms with a vigor that can only come from knowing the alternative. They take deep personal offense when they believe the country is being harmed, and they take great pride when they believe the country has done right. They typically speak English better than American-born citizens, having taken great pains to learn to speak it correctly in both pronounciation and grammar. One friend gets very angry with me when I jokingly speak like a hick, in the broken English of the uneducated South; he is afraid that wrong usage will stick, since English - though his first language in usage, is his second language in learning. Most of my immigrant friends even think in English. Legally, they are immigrants, but I think of them more as Americans born in the wrong country. I'm glad they've come home.