Nevada echo- Immigration made America great: "nativism" and its consequences

We always have been a country of immigrants.  A Nevada point of view with quotes from The New York Times.

A prayer after leaving a tribute near Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Saturday. Forty-one people died there, the authorities said. Credit Cornell Tukiri for The New York Times

An echo opinion published in the Nevada Reno Gazette Journal newspaper, by Donne Levy

This opinion was published on February 14, 2019, weeks before the March 15, heinous murder of 50 innocent Muslims in Christchurch New Zealand. Tragically, the massacre was committed without provocation by an evil White Supremacist who referenced Donald Trump in his racist manifesto. "Americans need to understand and address the poisonous pipeline of extremism (and White Supremicism) that has emerged over the past several years, whose ultimate effects are impossible to quantify but clearly far too big to ignore," wrote Kevin Roose in the March 15, 2019 The New York Times.   (MaineWriter- the consequences of "nativism")

Nevada opinion:  America has been built on immigration ever since the first Europeans arrived and proceeded to seize the land from the Native Americans. We always have been a country of immigrants. Yet we have gone through periods of strong hostility toward immigration tinged heavily with racism. We are now in one of those periods.

A prejudicial reaction against immigrants called “nativism” has reared its ugly head throughout American history. For example, a mid-19th century common feature of newspaper want-ads for jobs ended with “Irish Need Not Apply.” In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act banning Chinese laborers from immigrating, in effect excluding an entire ethnic group from America. In 2016 a presidential candidate advocated banning an entire religion (Islam) from America.

In 1924, Congress passed a quota law permitting immigration from only two percent of the number of people of each nationality in the U.S. as of 1890. Previously, most immigrants were from Western Europe. Beginning around 1890, America experienced the “new immigration,” Italians with swarthy skin and Eastern European Jews. The law was designed to keep America white and Christian as much as possible.

In 1965, Congress destroyed the racist quota system with a law establishing immigration based on reuniting families and attracting skilled labor. President Lyndon Johnson signed the law at the Statue of Liberty. That basically was America’s immigration policy until the Trump era.

America must welcome immigrants because our nation's current population demographic is not sustainable without their valuable contribution to our economic growth

In discussing immigration, we must recognize its value. Our economy depends on immigrants. Undocumented immigrants pay about $11.5 billion in taxes a year and their payments help sustain Social Security as many do find employment. Without continued immigration to fill jobs, the economy would stagnate.

Yet Trump tries to reduce legal immigration of nonwhites. He capped refugee immigration at its lowest level since the Refugee Act of 1980. Hewants to destroy the Diversity Visa Program that encourages Asian and African immigration. He wants to deny immigration for extended families. Trump has said it himself that he wants immigration from Norway, not s---hole African countries.

With accusations about Mexican rapists, murderers and drug traffickers, Trump proposed a wall stretching thousands of miles trying to bring back the pre-1965 racist era. Yet no evidence exists that his wall makes America safer. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says that 80 to 90 percent of hard drugs enter through ports of entry, not the vast border. With the ability to build tunnels, a wall costing tens of billions is useless. Already with increased patrol, appropriate fencing and technology, illegal crossings have dropped by 90 percent since the year 2000.

Economically, we need immigration while creating a citizenship path for those brought here as children and the 11 million undocumented. However, if you want America as white as possible, support Trump.  (MaineWriter post script- But we already know that Caucasian Americans do not want to do the kinds of labor intense jobs, the ones we hire immigrants to do for us.)

Donne Levy is a former community college history instructor.

Humanitarian disaster at US southern border - mourning the death of Jakelin Caal Maquin

Almost 15,000 migrant children are now in the custody of the US government. This is a humanitarian disaster! Shelters are nearly full. (Where are the zealous pro-life Evangelicals when they are called to protect the health and welfare of all children?)

Jakelin's mother Claudia Maquin (center) stayed in Guatemala caring for her three other children.

Thousands of miles away, grieving family wants to know how 7-year-old girl died in US custody

Reported by Scott Simon:

Jakelin Caal Maquin, 7 years old, died while in the custody of Border Patrol agents

I do not doubt that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents did all they could to try to save the life of Jakelin Caal Maquin, a 7-year-old girl from Guatemala, who died in the custody of the United States.

The little girl and her father were among a group of more than 100 migrants who turned themselves over to Border Patrol agents last Thursday night, Dec. 6, after they had crossed the U.S.-Mexican border and trudged through a rugged, isolated area of the New Mexican desert.

The girl and her father were placed on a bus. She was reportedly not breathing by the time she arrived at a Border Patrol station, about eight hours after she had been placed in custody. Emergency medical personnel found the little girl had not had food or water for days. She had a temperature of 105.7 degrees. She was flown to Providence Children's Hospital in El Paso, Texas and less than a day later, Jakelin Caal Maquin died.

Border Patrol Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said, "The agents involved are deeply affected and empathize with the father over the loss of his daughter. ... We cannot stress enough the dangers posed by traveling long distances, in crowded transportation, or in the natural elements through remote desert areas without food, water and other supplies."

I've reported stories on Border Patrol agents. I know many of them are fathers and mothers from families with their own migration stories. Many agents talk about the times they have had to rescue people stranded in deserts or forests after they've crossed the border or saved people who have been savaged by criminal gangs and smugglers.

(Unbelievably!) Thousands of children are now in the custody of U.S. government. Even if you hold the family of the 7-year-old girl responsible for putting her life in danger to cross into the United States, you may wonder: Was a 7-year-old girl who had been taken in from the desert not given water or food for the eight hours she was in U.S. custody? And how can the president, who often contends the U.S. has never been better, stronger or richer, be astonished when thousands of families in countries that are roiled by crime, drugs and poverty decide to set out for the U.S. — whatever the risks — because they see it as what Abraham Lincoln called "the last best hope" of Earth?

Jakelin Caal Maquin's father is now with a charity group in El Paso and told the Guatemalan consul that he has no complaints about the way his daughter was treated by the Border Patrol or medical staff. The Inspector General's Office of the Department of Homeland Security will investigate how Jakelin Caal Maquin died.