Immigration -- what's the big deal?

This doesn't have to be complicated, there is a lot of demand for farm workers and other low wage positions, there is room, there is opportunity ....Back at the start of this country there was virtually unregulated immigration, and I don't see any moral justification for more regulation or barriers to immigration. If you could get here that was enough.

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Statue of Liberty

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... "Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free", is uniquely identified with the Statue of Liberty and is inscribed on a plaque in the museum in its base.[83] ...

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We should also believe that the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence applies to all people.There should be one single basic requirement: that you want to become a US citizen (and anyone not wanting to become a citizen would need a work visa or student visa to stay longer than a typical vacation).One of the defining elements in early immigration of poor people was that they came as indentured servants ...

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Indentured Servants

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Indentured servitude was a labor system whereby young people paid for their passage to the New World by working for an employer for a certain number of years. It was widely employed in the 18th century in the British colonies in North America and elsewhere. It was especially used as a way for poor youth in Britain and the German states to get passage to the American colonies. They would work for a fixed number of years, then be free to work on their own. The employer purchased the indenture from the sea captain who brought the youths over; he did so because he needed labour. Some worked as farmers or helpers for farm wives, some were apprenticed to craftsmen. Both sides were legally obligated to meet the terms, which were enforced by local American courts. Runaways were sought out and returned. About half of the white immigrants to the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries were indentured. ...

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A system that did see some abuse (just as many current "illegal" immigrants are often abused), but which provided opportunity to those who came and wanted to become citizens.Seems to me that this program could be revived with some modifications:

• You sign on for 5 years of work, employers provide lists of jobs to sign up for,
• For each dependent not capable of work (child\parent\handicapped) you need an able bodied worker to do their work,
• You learn english and american history in schools,
• At the end you pass a proficiency test in english and history

Enjoy

There is a shortage of farm workers now. See Message 2.EnjoyEdited by RAZD, : .

Temporary and for all immigrants. An extra burden but not oppressive. Curiously I think of it as being a citizen on probation, learning and earning the right to be a citizen.Enjoy

Curiously you offered nothing worth responding to other than an ad hominem fallacy.Nor did you offer anything cogent as an alternative.Enjoy

So you have no objection to a simpler system that could be applied to both legal immigrants and ones that have come by nefarious means -- a equal path to citizenship where you earn your card by the same process.With a more open door policy the issue of "jumping to the front of the line" becomes moot -- the "line" is your 5 years of work. Another argument for a living minimum wage for all workers and a simple way to become a citizen -- work your 5 years, learn english and american history in night schools and then pass the test.Historically an influx of workers has stimulated the economy with real growth in small businesses and local companies.EnjoyEdited by RAZD, : .

The first laws were fairly simple:

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18th century

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Pursuant to this power, Congress in 1790 passed the first naturalization law for the United States, the Naturalization Act of 1790. The law enabled those who had resided in the country for two years and had kept their current state of residence for a year to apply for citizenship. However it restricted naturalization to "free white persons" of "good moral character".

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The Naturalization Act of 1795 increased the residency requirement to five years residence and added a requirement to give a three years notice of intention to apply for citizenship, and the Naturalization Act of 1798 further increased the residency requirement to 14 years and required five years notice of intent to apply for citizenship.

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The ""free white persons"" is fairly consistent with the Constitution restrictions on voting rights. These requirements were broadened in late 1800's to allow blacksThe first restrictive\exclusive immigration laws were ~ 1900:

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19th Century

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After the immigration of 123,000 Chinese in the 1870s, who joined the 105,000 who had immigrated between 1850 and 1870, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 which specifically limited further Chinese immigration. ...

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The act excluded Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States for ten years and was the first immigration law passed by Congress that targeted a specific ethnic group. ...

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History

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Restriction of Southern and Eastern European immigration was first proposed in 1909 by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.[3]

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In the wake of the Post-World War I recession, many Americans believed that bringing in more immigrants from other nations would only make the unemployment rate higher. The Red Scare of 1919—1921 had fueled xenophobic fears of foreign radicals migrating to undermine American values and provoke an uprising like Russia's 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.[4] The number of immigrants entering the United States decreased for about a year from July 1919 to June 1920 but also doubled the year after that (Cannato 331).[5]

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We still see xenophobia in discussions of immigration law regarding latinos and muslims ... What is "too full" -- and by who's standard? Does New York City have too many immigrants?Enjoy.

But those laws did not change because something dreadful happened or because we ran out of room, they changed because of xenophobia and fear.Note that today some people are admitted by a lottery system, so the only difference between that and letting in anyone who wants to work 5 years is ... ? So it will just be a feeling? It's a matter of being unabashedly committed to the basic founding principles of this country, that all people are created equal, entitled to freedom, liberty, justice, the pursuit of happiness, and the inalienable rights of ALL people ...... that means that the people who just happen to live in the US are no more special than other people ... there is no citizenship test for people born here ... I don't see why.Enjoy