AMERICA: A UNIQUELY PROUD NATION OF IMMIGRANTS
"I was once asked by a reporter why as a non-citizen of the United States, I volunteered to join the military and serve in Vietnam. I answered, ‘I was always an American in my heart.’” Alfred Rascón
Immigration is our eternal legacy. It is our salient strength…and our most divine providence. Could it be that foreign-born Americans—immigrants—are even more American than those born into being on American soil? I have, over the years, met a considerable number of Americans—genuinely patriotic Americans—who were not born here, but arrived in our peerless land of promise. A promise that always comes with angst, but, in the end, is filled with the wonder of possibility…and gratitude.
My wife is one such American—born in the Philippines, raised and educated in the United States, and a naturalized citizen since 1978. American, not by birth, but by inclination and desire. She had a choice. And the choice she made was to apply for citizenship and join those who came here looking for opportunity and a better life. How can this ever be interpreted as anything other than deeply admirable?
According to the Pew Research Center, the United States of America has, by far, the largest number of immigrants on the planet, with an estimated population of around 50 million foreign-born residents. This accounts for one-fifth of international migrants globally, with 14.3% of the US population.
Immigrants move here for a wide variety of reasons:
The primary reason immigrants come to the US is for improved job prospects, including higher wages, greater job availability, and opportunities for career advancement.
A considerable number of refugees are fleeing poverty, tyranny, and the possibility of outright threats to their lives; my wife’s parents, for instance, were escaping the repressive Marcos regime.
The US has long been perceived as having a higher standard of living, and this perception is a principal driver of immigration to this country, especially from the Third & Fourth Worlds.
Undoubtedly, many seek reunification with relatives now residing in the United States, many of whom have been here for decades and are model citizens.
And a large number of immigrants pursue greater educational opportunities (again, according to Pew, “immigrants were about as likely or more likely than the US-born to have at least a bachelor’s degree.”
Finally, perhaps most importantly, they are seeking a better way of life, especially for their children—how can this not be considered commendable?
Now, with the horrors of climate change, we will also, unquestionably, see many who are fleeing South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, and the US will be a prime landing zone for those climate refugees.
Yet, disconcertingly, and tragically, the US has a long, sad history of discrimination and outright banning of certain ethnicities of immigrants—especially from Latin America, Asia, Ireland—and, of course, embarrassingly, European Jews fleeing the Holocaust.
The bilious MAGA bund conveniently denies the fact that they, themselves, are immigrants. They hold a distinctly perverse notion that “I will deny my immigrant heritage because I don’t want those people coming here and threatening my American way of life.” And by threatening, they perceive immigrants as criminals, even though they have a 41% lower criminal conviction rate than native-born Americans.
Thus, it cannot be emphasized enough that, other than the Native Americans, we are all immigrants—even that vampirical side-pimp, Steven Heydrich (alias Miller), the seedy, little villain who no doubt wears jackboots to bed, despite his Jewish Russian roots. Known throughout the White House as "the man with the iron heart," it is rumored that he occupies a darkened closet there and sleeps upside down, suspended from an inversion device.
Miller is the chief architect of the Trumpian Final Solution to the “immigrant question” and deep, deep down in his satanic, metallic, blood-pumping apparatus, he would—unquestionably—like to do much more than just deport immigrants. I won’t elaborate.
What Trump’s Hitlerian henchmen don’t seem to realize is that the very fabric of what we know as America would be catastrophically diminished if those very people were not allowed to come here—for instance, can you visualize America without Mexican food? Or Chinese? Or Italian? How, on earth, could America be America without taco trucks, orange chicken, or pizza joints—can we even remotely comprehend that? I think not.
Despite the likes of Donald Trump, Steven Miller, and the far-right fanatics who aid, encourage, and fund their diseased, diminutive brains, immigration will always be our heritage, our strength, and our eternal, forthright destiny. Nothing is more American than the acceptance of the “tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”