Immigration and the American experience

        Please, stop all the insistence that we are a nation of immigrants.   Since the first colonists arrived in the 1600s, Americans have been trying to limit the influx of the poor, huddled masses.  The original Anglo-Saxon colonists hated German immigrants.  Upon assimilation, the Germans in turn despised the Irish, who looked down on the Italians.  Don't even get me started on the discrimination faced by Chinese and Japanese immigrants.  Many of my contemporaries, whose grandparents were allowed through the golden door because of a need for cheap labor now want to build a wall to keep out brown and black people.

     There is no easy fix to the problems we face coming up with an equitable immigration policy.  Even the most pro immigration  people admit we can't absorb the millions of people who wish to come here.  On the other hand we can't build a wall and declare we are now Fortress America.   There is a middle way, allowing those who are being persecuted to seek asylum in our country in a legitimate manner.  It will take a miracle, but it is a possibility if we heed the angels of our better nature.