[ The immigrants haven’t really changed since the Ellis Island
days — but America has. In 1923, immigrants did not need a visa, or
any other sort of prior permission, to enter the United States.]
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THE IMMIGRANTS ARE THE SAME — AMERICA IS DIFFERENT  
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Razvan Sibii
May 16, 2023
Greenfield Recorder
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_ The immigrants haven’t really changed since the Ellis Island days
— but America has. In 1923, immigrants did not need a visa, or any
other sort of prior permission, to enter the United States. _

Immigrants waiting to be transferred, Ellis Island, October 30, 1912,
Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division (This work is in
the public domain in the United States because it was published (or
registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1928.)

 

While the vast majority of Americans have long given up on preventing
the spread of COVID-19, the Biden administration found it convenient
to keep alive a Trump-era regulation that speeds up the deportation of
asylum-seekers under the pretext that they might be bringing the
coronavirus into the country.

That is, until last week, when that regulation, called Title 42,
expired, and the government found itself forced to once again give
asylum-seekers the due process they are legally entitled to.

The already high number of immigrants seeking entry into the U.S. is
expected to rise sharply, setting off the usual race between
politicians to define the situation as either a “dangerous crisis”
or a “manageable challenge.” As always, what is lost in the
shuffle are the stories that those immigrants are carrying with them.

Here’s a quick extract from one immigrant’s story:

“When we got [to America], I went one way and my family went
another. I don’t know what happened to them. They brought me to the
hospital. I was there for 23 days. My sisters, with my father and
mother, went to Pennsylvania. My father had to pay a $250 bond that he
would return to get me. I wanted my mother. I was crying when they got
me. There were two men that brought me into the hospital. I was
kicking and screaming and after a while I got tired [...]. Nobody told
me anything. Nobody explained, nobody ever said a word to me for 23
days. Just the nurse that came in and took my temperature. She gave me
medicine. That’s all I saw was the nurses. [...] At night was the
only time I would run away from my room, because during the day I was
afraid they would holler, the male and female nurses, whoever was
there. They would holler if I’d try to get out, but I never stayed
in bed. I had two lumps, the size of walnuts in my throat. They said
it was contagious, but I think they forgot me after a while. Then my
mother got a telegram to come and get me.”

As you might have guessed, this is not actually the testimony of a
recent arrival to the United States. Rather, it’s the testimony of a
Sicilian immigrant who came through Ellis Island in 1923 at age 10.
(The paragraph is taken from Peter Morton Coan’s 1997 “Ellis
Island Interviews”). But replace “a $250 bond” with “a $4,250
bond” and “a telegram” with “a phone call,” and this
narrative could easily have come from any one of the thousands of
Guatemalan or Honduran kids currently on the cusp of what might end up
being the most consequential moment of their young lives.

The immigrants haven’t really changed since the Ellis Island days
— but America has. In 1923, immigrants did not need a visa, or any
other sort of prior permission, to enter the United States.

The family of the Sicilian lady I quoted above simply made its way to
the port city of Palermo, got on a boat, and arrived in New York 13
days later. At Ellis Island, they were checked for diseases and asked
a few questions about who they were and what they intended to do in
the U.S. Interestingly, they were also asked if they had come to
America “because of solicitation or offer of employment,” as that
would have been grounds for immediate deportation.

These days, a Haitian immigrant who gets on a boat and arrives off the
coast of Florida can expect to be turned back immediately. However,
having an “offer of employment” from an American company is a good
thing, as it can lead to a work visa — but only if the visa quota
for your country of origin has not already been filled.

The “Should we stay or should we go?” decision facing immigrants
is the same it ever was. It’s the immigration system that awaits
them as they approach the U.S. border that has become unbelievably
complicated, confusing and even contradictory.

“I don’t think people understand that the rules have changed. I
don’t think they relate on a human level with refugees and
immigrants, and they don’t understand their stories,” said Darlene
Lynch, an attorney and spokesperson for the Georgia office of the
Center for Victims of Torture, and organization that advocates for the
rights of immigrants.

“We have lawmakers, for instance, who meet a client of ours [who is
a refugee]. The conservative lawmaker who loves business meets the
[refugee] business guy from wherever who was thrown in jail because he
complained about corruption, and then went on this incredibly brave
and difficult journey to save himself and his family. And then he came
here and all he wants to do is work. What’s not to like about this
guy? And so when we introduce an actual person to some of these folks
who have these bad ideas [about immigration], they come around pretty
quickly,” Lynch said.

The Italian lady who came to America in 1923 bought a dressmaking
factory 36 years later and employed 28 workers. Her passage from
central Sicily to Palermo to Ellis Island to New York City was not by
no means easy, as evidenced by her recollections. But her potential
was recognized by a country that wanted her.

If only that country also recognized the same potential in the
Honduran lady who this morning faced a stern-looking immigration agent
who asked her for a myriad of documents her Sicilian counterpart never
had to produce to be given refuge.

_[RAZVAN SIBII is a senior lecturer of journalism at UMass Amherst. He
writes a monthly column on immigration and incarceration. He can be
contacted at [email protected].]_

* Immigrants
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* Immigration
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* Racism
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* Nationalism
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* xenophobia
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* Haitian refugees
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* Latin American immigrants
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* African immigrants
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* Asian immigrants
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* European immigrants
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* population change
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