by Charles Simmins

Created on: April 06, 2008

My brother has spent a great deal of time researching our family's roots. It turns out that much of my family arrived here in the United States before the Civil War, with some arriving prior to the Revolution. That's something we did not know.

There are no well-known names, no military heroes or politicians. It appears that most of my ancestors were just ordinary folks, living their lives in an ordinary way, like most of the other folks in the United States. They served in the military when necessary, the Revolution and the Civil War. But mostly they went about their lives in an ordinary way. Nobody got rich or famous.

In all, everybody seems to have arrived well before 1900. So, just what perspective could I have on immigration?

Well, my ancestors were part of the backbone of the United States. Their labor, and those of uncounted others built this country. Unsung, unheralded, unappreciated.

Just like immigrants today.

My ancestors came to this new land and went to work. Today's immigrants seem to be doing just the same. You and I benefit every day from some immigrant's hard work, whether they're a janitor or a medical doctor.

Immigrant children appear to do well in school. They build on their parent's work, and improve their lot in life. Gradually, without fanfare, they work their way into being as American as I am.

I'm in favor of immigration. The more the merrier, I say. When there isn't work for immigrants, they will stop coming.

One of the things that tells me that our economy is not in as bad a shape as some would tell is that immigrants continue to pour into the United States. They all want a job, and nearly all find one. Within a short few years, most immigrants are an economic benefit to the United States.

The immigration problem isn't that we have them. It's that the Government can't seem to find a way to sort out the few that come here to commit crimes. From the very beginning, immigration quotas have been a way to maintain racial or ethnic purity, and they still are today. Illegal immigrants are illegal primarily because of their ethnic background. We should be welcoming all who want to work, and sorting out the criminals. Instead, our system sends home the job seekers, and gives the criminals chance after chance to remain because of their rights in a criminal proceeding.

Our neighbors to the South are the future of the United States. They are our future trade partners, our future sources of materials and minerals and oil. And the peoples of our Latin neighbors are our future markets, as well as our future labor force.

Our immigration policy should be simple. The anonymous immigrants who built this country should be the goal of our policy. Want to work? Welcome! Commit as crime or leach off society? Buh Bye! We will be a richer society, a richer economy for it.

Mom grew up lace curtain' Irish. Dad grew up sleeping above a stable in Jersey City with a dozen other people. Their grandchildren know security and freedom from want in ways they could not have imagined. That's America and the American way. Out of want and work comes success. Let's offer that to everyone who is willing, regardless of skin color, language or ethnic origin.

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