Subj : Immigration then and now
To   : JEFF THIELE
From : Mike Powell
Date : Sun Sep 04 2022 11:12:00

> What was border security like in the 1880s when your family arrived in the
> US? Were the borders more, or less, open than they are now? How did that
> affect our national sovereignty? What was the driving force behind the change
> in border policy? Answer those questions correctly and I think you'll have a
> much more accurate understanding of "America First."

Considering that most immigrants were coming across the Atlantic by boat...
the boats would arrive and the immigrants would be processed through
processing stations like Ellis Island, where the ship master would present
paperwork that was supposed to account for each immigrating person aboard
his ship.  They were not all automatically accepted or "set loose" in NYC.
Some where quaranteened for observation, others were turned away outright.
Having a job already lined up, or relatives already in the country, was a
plus.

If someone crosses the southern border now, at a legal crossing point, they
go through at least some of the same treatment.  But not all of them cross
at legal crossings, and not all of those that don't get caught.  Apparently
many of the legal ones do not have sponsors or jobs lined up.  Otherwise,
the government would have turned them over to said sponsors before the
local governors got a chance to ask them if they want to travel to NYC,
Chicago, DC, or another proclaimed "sanctuary city" and put them on a bus.

> Illegal immigration is a problem and does neet to be dealt with, but the
> solution to that problem should not be taken out on legal refugees.

Similarly, illegal immigrants should not be lumped in with legal refugees
as "refugees."  You make a distiction here.  Others often do not.


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