Mother of Exiles

Mother of Exiles

While contemplating which topic about immigration I was going to write about, I reflected on many things. I realized that until I took the Italian American History class Immigration was a controversial topic that I was aware of, but never really paid attention to. As I paid better attention to what was going on in the world around me I began to develop mixed opinions about the subject. I will discuss some of my opinions on immigration today.

Immigration is a huge issue in our country today. It seems as though some citizens of this awesome country blame illegal aliens for things that are wrong here at home. Things like the employment rate, crime rate, and economy are usually first on the list. But most of the immigrants that come to this country both legally and illegally come here for a better life. They come with the aspirations of raising their children in a place where regardless of gender or race they have the opportunity to become anything they want. They come here and find work doing the toughest jobs for pay that no "real American" would except. They save their money, scrounge and scrape by saving every dime to send to family back home or have hopes of one day living the American dream of owning a house, sending their children to college, or opening up a business. The Only thing these people want is a better live free of oppression, and limits. But when they arrive here they get treated as red headed step children.

It's all very cyclic. When the White Anglo Saxons were in this country and people from places like Ireland and Italy came a shore to this country they were treated the same way as the immigrants who enter our country today. They were treated unfairly and as second rate.

What these ignorant people seems to forget is the fact that they are not indigenous to this land. This country was established and built by taking land from people who already occupied it. Those people are the ancestors of the same people we are trying to kick out of this country or prevent from coming in. I think it's poetic justice how these people find away back to their land, and try their hardest to progress.

This used to be a country whose policy was to welcome oppressed people who sought freedom. We have a one hundred and fifty one foot statue of a woman known as Lady Liberty, The Mother of Exiles, holding a torch with the message of "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." I ask what happened to this ideal? Now there are people who want us to become the oppressors, They now want to exile the people who fought so hard to get here, who have families here in this country, children who were born here, who are citizens but may have their parents ripped away from them.

Immigration is something this country was built on, prejudice and bigotry are what fuel