As I began reading the first thirty-five pages of Nancy Foner’s literary work, “From Ellis Island to JFK: New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration,” I came across a particularly interesting line in the text that is highly applicable to life in the United States today. Foner states, “They [immigrants] were in short, what made America great” (3). I find it ironic that our current president, Donald Trump, whose campaign slogan was, “Make America Great Again!” has taken such a strong stand against immigration into the United States. His slogan, which parallels Foner’s statement in purpose, has the opposite intention when it comes to immigration. His travel ban on citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen, specifically impeded the very morals and love for diversity that the United States is supposed to uphold. He is instilling fear of immigrants within his supporters by means of discrimination.
The opening chapters of “From Ellis Island to JFK: New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration,” assert the crucially important role of immigration in the history of New York City, as well as in the grand scheme of the American dream. People have been journeying to New York City ever since its founding. It is migrations like these that have caused New York City to become such a diverse location, which is a key characteristic that this city is known for. Immigrant populations have called New York City their home for ages and have been aiding the presiding communities living there for just as long. There are nearly no pure-born Americans left in New York City. Almost everybody is related to family members who made the opportunistic decision to travel to the United States for a particular reason. Why then are the immigrants of new so heavily stigmatized when the immigrants of old have made such sizeable contributions to modern New York City? Today’s new wave of immigrants has brought with them strong technical skills, as well as higher educational degrees than that of their ancestors (Foner 15). These immigrants thus have the ability to contribute to our society in even more positive ways than their predecessors did.
I find it absurd that Donald Trump thinks that banning immigration from certain Middle Eastern nations, even if it was temporary, is the way to solve problems in the United States. Internal immigration is at the core of American history. More specifically, it is at the core of New York City’s history. America is known for being the land of opportunity, a place where anything and everything is possible. New York City is a strong example of this. Why then should immigrants, who helped build the very cities that we now live in, be deprived of these chances?
BY: Annmarie Gajdos
Although the new president is a lifelong New Yorker, he seems strangely uninspired by the important role that immigrants play in NYC compared to the rest of the country. His anti-immigration stance is clearly designed to please people who reside elsewhere in the USA, many of whom have never met a person from Syria, Libya, Yemen…