The Immigration Debate - Part I - A Personal Commentary

The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!

H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, 1926

{ed. note: There are two sides to any given argument, and the validity of the issue more often than not lies in a third realm. The immigration bills being formulated in Congress and being debated amongst the body politic seem to be engaged on secondary issues and are seemingly avoiding the first step on the path to understanding and resolving this issue. To provide that needed clarity, the Madison Conservative will discuss this issue over the course of two blogs. The first requires some personal history to help properly frame the subsequent constitutional argument in favor of stricter and more intelligent reform.}

I am the grandson of immigrants, both paternally and maternally. I am the product of Italian and Polish heritages. Our house celebrated the feast of the seven fishes on Christmas Eve and broke and shared oplatek on Christmas Day.

My grandparents did not demand that their new home have anything printed in either Polish or Italian. They felt themselves Americans, and you spoke English in America if you were to enjoy the fruits of your labors in pursuit of the American dream. My maternal grandparents had the opportunity to become involved in their church, and grabbed hold with both hands in that endeavour. They were involved in their community and took pride in their hard won accomplishments. They did not have hyphenated identities; they were from Poland yes, but they were in fact ‘Americans’. The only complaint I ever heard from my grandmother about anything relative to a negative against the Polish people was how the local traffic reports identified the Kosciusko (correct pronunciation, according to my grandmother -  ‘Kos-koosh-ko’ ) Bridge which spans Brooklyn and Queens in New York City. They pronounce it ‘Kah-ski-ah-sko’ and it bothered her, but only a bit.

Both sets of grandparents were bi-lingual, and my maternal grandfather served his adopted nation in uniform during World War II.

I could go on and on about my grandparents, as would any proud grandson, but I made the above notations for several reasons, in the context of this discussion. First, my love, admiration and pride in my grandparents are unparalleled und unquestioned. Any comments made with regard to them are absent any hint of condescension or embarrassment and the intent is not to negate their accomplishments or their character.

That caveat made, the bigger point is that my grandparents, especially on the maternal side, are the classic stories of immigrants to this nation.

They came in pursuit of the American dream, where they knew that one respected the law, worked hard and became an asset to their newly adopted homeland. They asked for no special treatment and expected only to be treated fairly.

I believe that they, and all those who came before them and with them would be appalled at the state of immigration in this nation today.

My maternal grandmother often questioned, when venturing into the city, why there was so much official signage and such printed in Spanish. She asked not with contempt or anger, but with genuine confusion. There were never signs in Polish, save maybe for the local butcher or other shopkeeper in the neighborhood. Looking back on it now, I am in awe that my grandmother took no particular pride in being bi-lingual. It was merely what one did in America if they wished to become an American.

My grandmother was to turn a phrase, smart as a whip, yet I do not think she was smarter than every other single immigrant in the past thirty years. Yet, we are told that the influxes of Spanish speaking immigrants need to have official documentation and signage written in Spanish, lest we be considered somehow ‘unfair’ or discriminatory. Any reasonable attempt to establish English as the official language of government is instantly decried as being racist and bigoted. How? Is not making the assertion that these new immigrants are incapable of learning English and in need of help the true racism? Again, my grandparents were smart as any, yet I find it incredible to assert that they, and their contemporaries, were any more intelligent than our current immigrants.

My maternal grandparents had six children and in the midst of the great depression – the real one – managed to provide for them without needing any manner of federal financial assistance. Again, the claim is made by the political left that any attempt to impose stricter guidelines on public assistance for this generations immigrants is harsh and cruel.

My immigrant grandparents believed in the law, and the respect for this nation and its founding. There needs to be a cohesive argument put forth by advocates for immigrant amnesty, in any form, to explain how an individual who broke the law to be here in the first place should in any way be rewarded, given that their first act in their new nation was to flout the law.

The constitutional aspects of this issue will be discussed in the next blog, but in their absence, I will presume to speak for my grandparents.

To wit:

Please explain why today’s immigrants have political interests promoting legal amnesty for breaking the law, need not be required to speak the language of this nation and why are they receiving the hard earned tax money from those who work hard, provide for their families and help to build their communities?

These are not racist, xenophobic inquiries. They are simply the questions asked by those who came here to be a part of building the greatest nation the world has ever seen.

To them, I say salute’ and sto lat!