We've regressed along way, haven't we?

[RC]

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Inscription on the Statue of Liberty

[SemiCharmedQuark]

1. Please explain what you mean by "regressed".

Do you mean as far as treating people with compassion?

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. While he's at it, he should explain "along"

Should it have read "We've regressed along the way"?

Or is the OP missing a well deserved space bar strike?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

8. The plaque was there reading those beautiful words. But the REALITY that the immigrants faced was

not really so rosy.

It seems unfair to compare actions of today to words of yesterday.

[JonQ]

2. They went through immigration

came here legally and a great many were turned back for a variety of reasons (infectious diseases being a big one).

Not comparable to the mass *illegal* immigrations of today.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

4. "legal immigration " then and "legal immigration" now are two very different things.

[JonQ]

7. Yes the system now is more fair

and organized.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

9. Depends on whose viewpoint you are looking at.

My great grandparents came here legally in the 1920s. My husband came here in 2003. I can tell you which experience was easier and more organized from the viewpoint of the immigrant.

[NoPasaran]

3. Please explain what you mean by "regressed along way"

[FiveGoodMen]

5. Most 'Murkins would consider that to be treason.

[anonymous171]

10. That should be replaced by John Galt's 70 page monologue. This is Reagan's America now. nt

[opihimoimoi]

11. i guess the Op is saying...as a Nation...we fucking it up...

[stray cat]

12. Do you really think immigration was ever easy? However, I know people who sponsor immigrants

and they do an excellent job helping them out.

[paulsby]

13. it has also ebbed and flowed

based on numerous factors.

iow, it is not a linear progression from "easy" to "hard" to legally immigrate

there have been times in our nation's history where it has been much HARDER than it is now, and times when it has been much easier.

[JVS]

14. Phrased otherwise "Send cheap labor, I'm trying to build an industrial juggernaut dammit!"

Let's not view the past through a rose-tinted lens.