ow times and the world have changed. In 1958 when I decided to make the plunge and prepare for a future in the United States, I walked from my apartment to the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London, to find out what the requirements would be to start the process of immigration. The following morning, after having filled out the official forms, I returned to the great grey building to be told that I had been accepted and that there was no waiting period.
I bought a ticket on a Holland America line ship, The Maasdam. I paid my bills, gave the British tax collector what I owed, broke up a love affair that was going nowhere, bade farewell to friends and family, and shipped out.
I was thrilled and nervous and had no idea what awaited me. But that's all a story for another time.
I mention the ease of application at the start of a week that has seen protestation all over the United States (with the major parade of people peacefully protesting in Los Angeles. Half a million waving both United States and Mexican flags, downtown L.A.).
Quotas have always seemed to be Eurocentric, at the expense of much of the rest of the world.
Yes, we are still the nation of immigrants, having welcomed more than the rest of the world combined, but those seeking a better life are no longer from England, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Canada, they come, more and more, from Mexico and Central America, the Middle East, and Asia. Now, the major concern is not with those who got on waiting lists, which might well have necessitated years before they were granted entry, legally, but with those who are determined to cross into this country, across our contiguous border with Mexico, at any cost. They are, for those who sympathize with their plight, "undocumented". To most they are simply, "illegals".
Most everyone agrees that the current immigration system warrants a severe makeover.
11.5-12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States. Of these, an estimated 6.2 million are Mexicans. Another 2.5 million come from Latin American countries.
There still is a slight chance that there will be meaningful legislation that would address the nation's need for immigrant workers without automatically turning them into criminals. In the Senate, reason is still trying to prevail, subsequent to the atrocious bill passed in the House of Representatives two months ago.
The Republican Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Spector has a proposal that incorporates much of the White House thinking on the issue as well as legislation by Sens. Edward Kennedy and John McCain. As a lead editorial in the Los Angeles Times put it, "The Spector compromise is a practical, fair and sensible approach to immigration, making it very different from the reflexive xenophobia we've come to expect from this session of Congress". It focuses both on tightening border security and creating a program that allows millions of people already in the country illegally to obtain guest-worker permits. At the end of a probable six year stay, the workers could then apply for U.S. citizenship, but their applications would be processed after those of legal immigrants, waiting their turn, and they would have to pay fines. So that, by no means, would this be a reward for those who came here illegally, nor would it be unfair for those who followed the legal path.
It seems most likely that the president will sign any bill that Congress can agree upon, provided it has a path to eventual legalization, a guest worker program and border security.
It would be encouraging to believe that those who come to the United states, by whatever means, learn to assimilate.