Thread: Immigration Hearing Set for Ellis Island

Immigration Hearing Set for Ellis Island

By Debbie McGoldrick

IN a meeting bound to be rife with symbolism, the House Immigration Subcommittee chaired by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California will begin discussions on the issue of immigration reform on Friday morning, March 30 at Ellis Island, first port of call for hundreds of thousands of immigrants to the U.S. from around the world during the last century.

“This is going to be a fact finding hearing,” Lofgren’s press secretary Pedro Ribeiro told the Irish Voice. “They are going to look at the issue in a historical and demographic context.”

Ribeiro said that most of the 16 members of the subcommittee are expected to attend the meeting. Congressman John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is also a possible attendee.

The meeting will not specifically discuss the immigration legislation introduced in the House last week by Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona known as the STRIVE Act.

The bill provides a path to legalization for the undocumented in the U.S. on or before June 1, 2006. As the bill currently stands, those who would qualify for legal status would have to show evidence of employment, complete all security background checks and pay a $500 fine.

Provided all requirements are met, the applicant would receive a temporary six-year visa that could eventually be converted to a green card. Applicants for such status would have to go to the back of the existing line for legalization, pay a further $1,500 fine, pay taxes, clear security checks and meet a legal re-entry requirement during the preceding six years in temporary status – i.e., leave the country and re-enter through any port of entry, the so-called “touchback” mechanism.

The bill also contains a new guest worker program with the establishment of an H-2C visa, with an annual allocation of 400,000, and an array of border security enhancements. As the bill is written, the guest worker program or the legalization provisions for the undocumented would not be permitted to go into effect until the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security certifies that “improvements in border surveillance technology are bring implemented.”

Praise for the STRIVE Act came from several quarters last week, including Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who has encountered difficulty in re-introducing an immigration measure in the Senate.

“I’m hopeful that the House introduction today will help spur the necessary negotiations in the Senate to help forge the right kind of compromise. Last year, we beat the odds in the Senate by passing bipartisan immigration bill — and I’m confident we’ll do so again in the coming weeks,” Kennedy said.

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs also welcomed the new bill. “Although the legislative situation is fluid and the final outcome uncertain, the introduction of the bipartisan bill in the House marks a significant advance in the debate,” he said.

“In the critical period ahead, I will continue to attach the highest priority to our efforts on behalf of the undocumented Irish. I know that my efforts on their behalf will be strongly complemented by the very effective work of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform.”

Congressman Joe Crowley, a co-sponsor of the STRIVE Act, said, “This bipartisan legislation enforces accountability and strong border controls, while offering an earned path to citizenship to those who have contributed to our society through hard work. I call on leaders of both parties, and the president, to work together for a solution to the longstanding issue of immigration.”

Crowley’s planned meeting on immigration with Gutierrez which was tentatively set for this Thursday in Queens has been temporarily postponed.

http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishin ... 290307.asp

I was trying to call Ms. Lofgren's office to ask her when she is going to hold a hearing for the millions of us that are not wanting the STRIVE Act or anything like it and GUESS WHAT???

Her office is not answering her phones and no answering machine either!!!

Let's flood her office with calls!!!

a meeting bound to be rife with symbolism, the House Immigration Subcommittee chaired by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California will begin discussions on the issue of immigration reform on Friday morning, March 30 at Ellis Island, first port of call for hundreds of thousands of immigrants to the U.S. from around the world during the last century.

Hmmm.........another dog and pony show in the making.

Got through to Ms. Lofgren, and vehemently expressed my feelings about the STRIVE Act and my position. I asked when people like me are going to get a "hearing".

[quote]– i.e., leave the country and re-enter through any port of entry, the so-called “touchback” mechanism. [quote] LIKE THESE ILLEGALS ARE GOING TO ABIDE BY ANY OF THIS NONSENSE! Do you really think their going to go back to their country when the time comes??? This is soooooooooooo insane that they should hold the hearings in an asylum!

March 31, 2007
Where Millions Entered U.S., a Debate on Letting in More
By NINA BERNSTEIN
It was the perfect setting for a Congressional hearing on immigration, all the speakers agreed — the Great Hall on Ellis Island, where from 1892 to 1953 more than 12 million immigrants waited to be let in to America.

But the meaning that could be drawn from the backdrop was a matter of disagreement yesterday as the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration heard testimony from scholars and immigration officials.

Some, like David V. Aguilar, chief of the Border Patrol at the Department of Homeland Security, contrasted the orderly inspection at Ellis Island a century ago with the chaos of illegal immigration at the Mexican border today.

“The vast majority of that clutter, that chaos at our Southern border, are seeking economic employment,” Mr. Aguilar said. Sending more of them into a legal flow, like a temporary guest worker program, would let the Border Patrol concentrate on stopping criminals, he testified.

Others noted that only 2 percent of would-be immigrants were turned away at Ellis Island. The requirements were minimal compared with those of today, said Representative Linda Sánchez, a Democrat from California: reasonably good health and $10, or the equivalent of $216 in today’s dollars, to show that one would not become a public burden.

“I am the youngest daughter of immigrants who came to this country with very little money,” she said. “They sent every one of my six brothers and sisters to college.”

Zoe Lofgren, the California Democrat who chairs the subcommittee, evoked her immigrant grandfather, Carl Robert Lofgren, who debarked in Boston at 16 a century ago without money and speaking no English, “armed only with his dreams, his work ethic, his optimism and visions of America forged from reading Westerns written in Swedish.”

“This room is a visible vestige of a controlled, orderly and fair immigration system,” she said.

Like four other members of the subcommittee, the lone Republican, Steve King of Iowa, spoke of an immigrant forebear — a grandmother, who arrived at Ellis Island from Kiel, Germany, on March 26, 1894, as a 4-year-old. But he went on to caution, “The realities today are not the same.”

With a nod to the New York skyline, which could be seen through the arched windows of the hall, sparkling across the bay, he mentioned the attacks of the World Trade Center and warned, “Criminal aliens are coming to the U.S. in record numbers.”

But the testimony of several scholars painted a more optimistic outlook — and a less golden picture of Ellis Island’s past.

Dan Siciliano, who teaches corporate governance at Stanford Law School, cited recent research showing that the record immigration between 1990 and 2004 had helped to increase wages in the United States, contradicting older research that predicted the opposite would occur. He said that immigration— including illegal immigration —increased the wages of the native-born by an average of 1.8 percent, and by as much as 3.4 percent among 9 out of 10 native-born workers with at least a high school education.

Mr. Siciliano, a research fellow at the Immigration Policy Center, an organization affiliated with groups that support liberalized immigration, said the older studies failed to recognize that immigrants create jobs as well as fill them.

With enough immigrant waiters to staff a restaurant for lunch as well as dinner, for example, he said, the owner will make more on his capital investment — and perhaps open a second restaurant across town.

“There’s a divide between what we say we want from immigration and what the economy is telling us we need,” he said.

Immigrants at all skill levels will be needed more than ever over the next 20 years, said Dowell Myers, a demographer from the University of Southern California, to offset the aging of the baby boom generation and the decline in the nation’s birth rates.

From the other side, Jack Martin, a director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said no study showed that the United States was harmed from 1914 to 1965, when immigration was reduced to a trickle. And he suggested tradeoffs might be necessary, noting that a new White House plan considers denying citizens the right to sponsor foreign brothers and sisters, in exchange for more employee visas. “The country changes, and the needs of the country change,” he said.

Some things do not change, however, said Daniel J. Tichenor, who teaches history and political science at Rutgers University.

“Each wave of ‘new’ immigrants has been scored by critics as incapable of successfully joining our ranks, only later to distinguish themselves among our most loyal and accomplished citizens,” he said. And American history has been marked by waves of xenophobia that ebbed as the new immigrants gained the power of the ballot box.

He cited Benjamin Franklin’s complaint that German immigrants in Pennsylvania had made his home “a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them.”

In response, Representative King suggested that if the number of immigrants of one group grew too large, Franklin’s fear of his culture being overwhelmed was legitimate.

“The Germans did help Germanize the United States,” Professor Tichenor replied. “There was a blending.”

Mr. King persisted. “Is there a missing component in American culture?” he asked.

As Mr. Tichenor thought about his answer, tourists of all complexions gawked from the sidelines, and an audience of immigrant activists let their T-shirts do the talking — “Legalize the Irish” and “I Love Immigrant N.Y.” They sat on the same benches where years ago anxious immigrants waited to be called for inspection.

“We’ve always been a nation becoming,” Professor Tichenor said. “We’ve always added layers.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/31/nyreg ... ation.html

“Each wave of ‘new’ immigrants has been scored by critics as incapable of successfully joining our ranks, only later to distinguish themselves among our most loyal and accomplished citizens,” he said. And American history has been marked by waves of xenophobia that ebbed as the new immigrants gained the power of the ballot box.

Operative word here is

IMMIGRANTS

I just happened to get an email that sort of connects to this topic so I'm going to post it here:

Letter to the EDITOR:

((of the orange county register))



Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that should have been published but with your help it will get published via cyberspace!

New Immigrants
From: "David LaBonte"

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined.
Dave LaBonte (signed)

Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants.. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented.. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture..

Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, Franceand Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of Americaas one people. When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2006 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.
(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

P. S. Pass this on to everyone you know!!! KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING!!
I hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation!!

With all this need for new "immigrants" how come it is so hard to find a decent paying job? Every job I go to wants to pay me less than half of what I was making before but requires that I do more work, most want you to work more than a 40hr work week. We need less workers not more.

This is a photo-op! And a trick to try to display themselves as having some concept of the LEGAL immigration process. They might take a good hard look while they're at Ellis and remember the immigrants who passed through there did it legally. They followed the process, they were SCREENED. And if they didn't have proper documentation they were sent back.

It's our officials who need a history lesson, I hope they learn something.