Society/Culture

-By Frank Hyland

One of the hottest debates raging at the moment is that on immigrants and our policies toward immigrants. It is also one of the most serious debates because it has implications for the very security of our nation.

The U.S. is not the only nation that is feeling imperiled by the problem. A number of other nations that also have held their doors open wide for decades and longer have reached the point at which they are going beyond questioning their historical welcoming policies, and have decided that they have been mistaken in the past. France, Germany, and Australia are just three examples among many. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said there are too many foreigners in France and the system for integrating them is “working worse and worse.” He went on to say that he intends to reduce the number of immigrants by almost half. In perhaps the harshest criticism of the situation, Germany’s Prime Minister Merkel declared that Germany’s attempts to build a multicultural society have “utterly failed.” Australia’s Prime Minister Gillard, in a speech delivered almost a year ago, provided a great deal of insight into the problem, its origins and the solution: Gillard said that Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law should leave Australia and that “…immigrants, not Australians, must adapt. Take it or leave it.”

Typically, none of the U.S. Mainstream Media coverage has defined “foreigner” before praising or criticizing. It ought be thought very curious by those who call themselves “Journalists,” to say the least, that a nation like the U.S., founded by and inhabited by literally millions and millions of immigrants can so suddenly encounter an immigrant problem. A closer look at reports of problems sheds light on the answer. Two paths taken by those emigrating to the U .S. are rather obvious. On the earlier path, the millions who arrived in the U.S. from all over the world – Europe, Asia, Latin America – emigrated because they sought a better life, a life where their hard work could and would give them and their children and grandchildren a life that, previously, they could only dream about. To begin with, the great majority emigrated legally. They lived in homes that were, at best, far from ideal. Many worked under conditions that were horrible. They were both subjected to and carried out discrimination based on their ethnicity. But they kept their dream alive throughout their work lives – a better life for their descendants. And along the way, they maintained their identity. Columbus Day, Passover, St. Patrick’s Day parades and numerous other ethnically oriented occasions existed, as did Chinatowns from coast to coast. They identified themselves as Italian-AMERICANS, Irish-AMERICANS, Chinese-AMERICANS, Polish-AMERICANS, and on and on. There were numerous enclaves, sections of large cities, which had strict ethnic identities, a la the Chinatowns and Little Italies you can still see to this day.
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Too Many ‘Foreigners’”