“Give me your tired, your poor,
“Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
“The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
“Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me.
“I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
For those of you who recently have arrived from Mars, the above are the final words of a sonnet written by the American poet Emma Lazarus in 1883, three years before they were inscribed on a plaque at the foot of the Statue of Liberty which stands in New York Harbor. They have stood as an invitation to millions of immigrants seeking a better life in the New World.
The entire New World, a.k.a. the Western Hemisphere – but especially the United States of America – has been wholly populated by immigrants. Even the so-called “Native Americans” came from somewhere else. Thirty thousand years ago, there was not a single human being living in all of the Americas, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. The first immigrants came from East Asia, either by the Beringia land bridge linking Siberia to Alaska, or by boat across the Pacific Ocean. The first immigrants to arrive from Europe were the Vikings in the 10th Century CE, but they didn’t stay long. Permanent settlements were founded by the English and the Spaniards in the 16th Century.
The immigrants who arrived in the new Republic came in waves, many of ethno-religious persuasion, seeking breathing room, or, relief from persecution. The list is long and varied: Protestants, Quakers, Irish, Italians, Germans, Slavs, Jews, and more recently, Muslims. Each wave was met with resistance by the more established groups; persecution, hate speech/crimes, and homicide were their lot in the beginning. In the end, however, they assimilated and joined the establishment. They became true, blue, loyal Americans.
The one exception to the previous paragraph were immigrants from Central and South America. They were mostly indigenous peoples, Hispanicized by the Spanish colonists. For reasons known only to themselves, they refused to assimilate, but settled in isolated enclaves. Naturally, they did not endear themselves to the establishment and have been met with resistance and persecution ever since, much similar to the Jews of Medieval Europe. But still they came, following the promise inscribed on the Statue.
How to deal with Hispanics has been a thorny problem. One U.S. administration after another has offered a solution of one sort or another, most of which failed due to inefficiency or political sabotage. The most recent wave of undocumented immigrants has been immediately deported, or held in limbo in Mexico until someone comes up with a workable plan.
One almost has to sympathize with president Joe Biden. He is caught between a rock and a hard place. The rock is the Statue’s promise; the hard place is reality. The reality is that the United States is in the middle of a pandemic which refuses to fold its tent and go away; the economy has crashed as a result, millions of Americans are out of work, and the national debt has gone through the roof to keep afloat those already here. Those who want to be here are thus SOL (as they say downtown). Besides which, the U.S. is running out of empty spaces because human beings have adamantly refused to limit their numbers. We could put the wannabes in the deserts, in the mountains, in the swamps, in Alaska (!), but that is just kicking the can down the road, eh?
The root of the problem of immigration is American foreign policy, particularly where Latin America is concerned (cf. my previous essay). The U.S. prefers to deal with the local elite; they’re our kind of people, don’t you know? It makes no difference if the local elite are small-d democrats or dictators; we’ll deal with them and no one else. One administration after another has provided the elite with everything they want – provided they keep the rabble in line. On occasion, the Marines have had to be sent in, in order to assist the elite.
As a consequence, corruption is rife south of the border. Gangs of armed, predatory, murderous thugs roam the streets of every city. Drug dealers spend their days smuggling their illicit products into the North. Anyone, reformists, journalists, even politicians, who dares to speak out against these woes risk assassination. The common people have no hope of a safe and prosperous life, and so they travel to the North, undocumented.
American foreign policy toward the South should be turned around 180 degrees. Economic aid should be given directly to NGOs (non-governmental organizations), rather than to the elite. Local police should be provided the necessary training in order to eliminate the gangs and the drug dealers. Under no circumstances should surplus military weapons be provided; they tend to wind up in the hands of the gangs. American corporations with subsidiaries in the South should be required to pay local workers a living wage and to provide safe working conditions.
With employment and without gang violence, the common people would have no reason to escape to the North. And maybe, just maybe, some who are already here may be persuaded to return home.
Just a thought.