There has been so much reporting on the news about immigration, a topic I assumed was a distant matter in my own family. However, one day I realized that my grandmother was an immigrant. She came to America in her mother's arms.
I do not know why her parents made that decision. My Great Grandfather's brother came ahead of him, and they were very close, but that does not explain why either one of them came to America. The rest of their family remained in England and seemed to be doing well. The decision to come to America proved to be a successful decision.
The realization that I was closer historically to someone who had chosen to immigrate was a surprise, although not particularly significant, yet it does make me wonder if many people living today are unaware of the close history of their own family's immigration.
Emigration was not always controlled by the federal government. Yet, early on we chose to open the door for some and close it to others. That included bringing men to America to do dangerous work but refusing to let them stay when the work was done.
Some examples of immigrant labor, whether by those who were refused citizenship or those who became citizens provide an example of the enormous value of emigrants to America: The suspension of the Brooklyn Bridge, Mount Vernon was created by Immigrant Craftsmen, Immigrants were Transcontinental Railroad workers, and the construction of the Hoover Dam are all examples, as well as many more.
Even today there are many examples of those who brought a variety of talents to America. Some examples are Albert Einstein, Germany; Audrey Hepburn Belgium; Henry Kissinger, Germany; Andrew Carnegie, Scotland, and many more.
Yes, many immigrants of the past and the present are not famous, nor do they do daring or beautiful things. Yet, farmers depend on immigrants to work on their farms, they work in hospitals, hotels, and restaurants--or open restaurants of their own. They baby sit our children, work in slaughter houses, and clean our houses, schools, and nursing. The do what many of our ancestors have done to get a start and make a better life for their children.
We see these things every day, but if my "discovery" is an example, we often fail to consider that not many generations ago our own families took the risk of coming to America to make a better life for their children. It is obvious that current immigrant issues are in a mess, and decisions and appropriate actions are needed. But, my personal realization that I exist because my grandmother's father decided to come to America in search of a better life for his family made me reflect on the dreamers of today a little more sympathetically than before.
