Immigration and YOU

Nan Immigration, , , ,

welcome-g57db5bfa3_640

Anyone that keeps up with political goings-on knows that ONE of the MANY issues being hammered by the Republicans is the current immigration situation.

I’ve done some reading on the steps that are required to enter the U.S., but I actually find it rather complicated. Asylum seekers, refugees, migrants … all these terms to describe folks that simply want to come to the U.S. to live.

I realize there are LAWS related to immigration, but it seems many are bending them a bit to satisfy their own personal perspective (prejudice) of those who are trying to enter this country.

In any event, the point of my post is not so much what’s happening now as it is a personal question. (Note the title of my post.)

Since America was pretty much settled by folks from other countries — which essentially makes us ALL immigrants (outside of Native Americans) — I thought it would be interesting to share a little of our backgrounds.

I was adopted as a baby so I always considered my “heritage” to be that of my adoptive parents (French/Dutch). However, after both of them passed, I discovered I was actually half-Mexican! Via Ancestry.com, I learned my grandmother was one of those “immigrants” that came into this country from Mexico. Records are scarce related to my grandfather, but it appears he was also a Mexican immigrant. I’m also half-German, but unfortunately I have little background information on my father since he was not born here and returned to Germany after I was born. In any event, I would say I’m a typical “American.”

So how about you? What is your background? Are you a (so-called) “pureblood” or do you have a mixed lineage?

##########

P.S. Readers are welcome to ADD your thoughts related to the current border situation, but please don’t limit your comment to just that. Thanks. 😊

P.P.S. Also, in case you’re interested, here is a pretty thorough discussion related to immigration and asylum.

*********************************
Image by John Hain from Pixabay

54 thoughts on “Immigration and YOU”

  1. Since you asked:

    I grew up in Australia, so I’m an immigrant. My mother had some Scottish ancestors and my father has some Germanic ancestors, though I haven’t tried to do any tracing. My wife is Chinese. I don’t have a problem with mixing it all up.

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

  2. Well, I was adopted by cannibalistic atheists as a baby so I’ve always considered myself to be the same. I discovered recently, however, that I’m also part lizard-skinned alien and a liberal; so, in many ways, those things fit right in with the lifestyle I’ve always lived as a cannibal. As for the border, I say, let ’em all come in! I’m running outta good people to eat here, and I’m always looking for more!! 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  3. According to my family tree I am mutinational, but the might not mean what you expect it to mean, and since I do not know my parental grandfather’s heritage at all, it could be even wider than know. Iroquois, Huron, Saulteaux, Cree, French, German, Ukrainan, Polish, and probably a bit of Mongol or Hun, truth to be told. People call me Mètis. As I always say, I am a Child of the Universe. I belong everywhere, and nowhere.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    • Curious … you mention that you don’t know your parental grandfather’s heritage. How about on your mother’s side? Also, you list various possibilities for your heritage. How did you arrive at these? Are they common to the people of your area?

      I notice Métis is defined as “A person in western Canada who is of Caucasian and American Indian ancestry.” When you say “people” call you that, do you feel this is incorrect?

      Yes, I agree. Essentially we are all Children of the Universe. But we all have some “natural” heritage as well. 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      • I mispelled paternal, and never noticed. We never knew his real name or where he was from. The best we know is he was a man on the run from the law, who conned my grandmother into living with him as cover. They had 8 kids in 8 years (no birth control in those days) and then he just disappeared one day. Maybe be got caught, or he just decided it was time to move on. He was never heard from again. (A nice Scottish man married my grandmother and brought up her kids. That was who I knew as my grandfather until I found out the truth.)
        The only ones that are possibilities are the Mongol or Hun. (My one brother looked Chinese, but DNA said he was a full brother. Somewhere back in my mother’s ancestry one of her ancestors was probably the result of rape from a conquering army.
        All the aboriginal nations are real, as the courier de bois moved west with the fur trade my male ancestors who started as a French sailor from Jacques Cartier’s voyages who called himself Henri Desmarais, Parisienne du Canada, married women in each nation along the way from Quebec to Manitoba, where they finally settled in the Red River Settlement that is now Winnipeg in the 1800s.
        The America definition of Mètis is different from the Canadian definition. In Canada a Mètis has French and Aboriginal parents. Anglo-Saxon or other European nationalities mixed with Aboriginals were just called halfbreeds for the first 300 years, until they adopted the name Mètis because is was not such an insulting term, not understanding that originally Mètis was halfbreed in French slang.
        Yes, I am Mètis, and proud of it, but it does not describe the real me. My mother, not my father was the full Europan in our family, everything in me that is not French or Aboriginal comes from her.
        I could call myself a Heinz 57, a term used in dogbreeding, but I call myself a Child of the Universe based on my spiritual beliefs, not just because it sounds nice. All living beings are Children of the Universe, not just human beings. That is the heritage I acknowledge.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

  4. There are problems in the world. If building walls prevented them from spreading, it would have ended them long ago.

    My ancestors were coal miners (and families of) recruited to come here and mine coal in northeastern PA. They were from Ireland and Wales, with a Scot or two in the wood pile. Those are the tribes of my genetic linage.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. English and German. I was told that one ancestor was William Bradford, first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. There were so many German immigrants in Northern Indiana that we had lutheran high school! And twenty pages of Millers in the old fashioned white pages!!

    I’m a bit torn. There are 300 million of us and I wonder how many more high consuming Americans we need. Yet the doctrinaire racism of the right that even opposes the “dreamers” is just appalling to me. And really really for real enforcing strict border controls leads to horrific cruelty. It wasn’t just Trump…Saint Barry was actually really bad, too. So simplifying things seems to be the only solution. And some argue we need more workers.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  6. Donald Trump and his Jan. 6th supporters were living in Fantasyland when they plotted to topple the government/Constitution, which makes their continued stay in the U.S. illegal. They should be locked up until they can be deported back to somewhere in outer space.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. I have real concerns for our lack of a workable immigration policy. Many immigrants have made it here only to sleep on the the cold sidewalks of El Paso and Ciudad. Small children ( babies) suffering i
    Hunger and the elements at the mercy of the kindness of strangers. I’m Welsh Irish, my ancestors came through Ellis Island. Our government has to work with South and Central American governments to develop a safe plan for those who want to come to American. They have to be processed, they can’t end vulnerable up in cages as they did during Trumps debacle.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. Biden and congress have let us down by not making immigration processing a priority. Our next president will likely be a Republican and we’ve seen the cruel actions of DeSantis and Abbott. It’s not feasible to just open the gates and have cities overwhelmed with refugees, there must have a plan that works with other countries to eliminate the many dangers of making one’s way to America.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. I love genealogy and did AncestryDNA a few years back..mostly Northern European, some English, Scotland, Ireland, but the interesting thing to me is I’m 3% Jewish. I think it is from my Dad’s side and perhaps my great grand father who was German. He came over somewhere in 1850 and I have tried to find out information, but to no avail.
    I love that you are part Mexican!
    I have watched Finding Your Roots on PBS for years. I really think you’d like it. It’s in Wed. nights.
    The big picture for all of this is that many of our ancestors struggle in very poor conditions, yet many immigrated over here to find a better life. We are all descended from immigrants of all ethnic groups and we are all humans and are one big family of sorts. It really bothers me the way they are treated.

    I hate the way the Hispanic immigrants,legal or otherwise, are being treated by the US and the bigotry against them here.
    And BTW, I’m Obama’s 6th cousin 3 times removed. Truly. On my Dads side. Also related to Betty Grable, supposedly Daniel Boone. And the really weird thing is that my husband (who has passed) was also my 11th cousin and a good friend is my 9th cousin. I find it all fascinating.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. My ancestors originate in Africa. They moved to Europe over several hundred thousand years and eventually went frombruen to white and became English.
    Some time after that we conquered a lot of the known world and invented football.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  13. My paternal great-great-great-great-great grandfather moved from Germany to the Pennsylvania Colony in 1731. His son was born there in 1748. My 3 times great grandfather was born in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1799. My paternal grandmother’s family were “newcomers” 😉 to the United States. My grandmother’s grandfather moved to Pennsylvania from Germany in 1835.

    My maternal great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather was born in England and came to the Massachusetts’s Colony with his parents in 1635. His 3 times great grandson was born in New Jersey in 1771. By the time his son was born, the United States had finally come into being. My 5 times great grandfather om my maternal grandmother’s side was born in Pennsylvania in 1797. His parents were born in Germany. I don’t know when they moved to North America.

    Most of my family has lived here so long that have no real ties to any “old country”. I’m an American. About 120 of my ancestors became citizen of the United States when the Constitution was ratified. Some might expect me to be anti-immigrant, but the opposite is true. I think immigration laws are un-American. People are more likely to lose their jobs to machines than to immigrants. Most immigrants work hard … often doing less-than-desirable jobs. Their children and grandchildren help our country to become a more prosperous, stronger, and mor humane society.

    The last time that this part of the world should have had immigration restrictions was 1492. The indigenous peoples should have told Columbus, “It’s nice of you to visit, but it’s time for you to go home … and never come back. Maybe will come over there and ‘discover’ you some day.”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Ha! I would say you (or someone in your family) has done some research! Thanks for sharing.

      And I definitely agree that the immigration laws are un-American. Good grief! This whole country is essentially made up of immigrants! Of course, we all know that the current immigration hullabaloo is more related to the country of origin (aka skin color) than it is to anything else.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • If one wants to know about one’s family tree, Ancestry.com is a wonderful thing. 😁

        I’ve been concerned about our country’s way of dealing with immigration for several years. I wrote articles that reviewed the current events and history (and my less than humble opinion on the subject) in 2016 and 2018. For anyone who’s interested, here are the links:

        Immigration

        Immigration and Racism

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        • I admit I didn’t read the entirety of either post (I’m not into extended reading … except books), but I agree with what I did read. Good research!

          I agree with you about Ancestry.com. There’s a LOT of information to be had if you can provide some basic facts. Of course, my problem as related to my birth-dad is I don’t have those facts. I did do some research on my own at one time and if any of it is correct, I might have a half-sister in Germany. But I’ll never know for sure. 🙁

          Like

          Reply

    • Of course, the unfortunate thing is even quick visits meant that OTHER immigrants were able to eagerly make themselves at home in North America. I am talking about viruses, of course. I have read that Old World diseases killed upwards of 90% of the American population even before colonization really started?

      Like

      Reply

      • Visitors spreading disease is nothing new. That’s how bubonic plague wiped out a large fraction of the population of Europe in the Middle Ages. Some of the deaths at the beginning of colonization of the western hemisphere were efforts at genocide … like giving the indigenous people “gifts” of blankets intentionally infected with smallpox.

        There’s some evidence that the 1918 pandemic started in Kansas and our World War I soldiers spread it to Europe. Spain was blamed because they were the source of the news. Not being involved in the war, Spanish news sources alerted the world to the spread of the virus. Calling it the “Spanish Flu” is a case of “shooting the messenger”.

        Sometimes, I think that we’re the viruses and pandemic infections are the planet’s antibodies. I can only hope that we can evolve from infection to symbiote before Earth kills us or we kill it,

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  14. I have no idea. As in your case I was adopted and always considered my parents’ heritage as my own. I was never curious enough about my biological parents to want to look into who they were. I imagine I was the son of some poor girl, possibly a teenager, who got pregnant and had to give me up. That was the case with my sister who was also adopted.

    The family was always a bit mysterious about how they ended up here. I do know that they were German on both sides, probably from the Bohemia region. The family names on both sides are extremely common there so it seems likely. It seems that both sides of the family came here in the mid to late 1800s. According to one aunt they were German Jews who came here fleeing one of the many pogroms that were periodically launched against Jewish people in Europe. No one had any actual documentation of that but considering what I know of history that seems highly plausible. Another family legend is that one fellow had been part of the Bismarck government and said or did something that displeased the chancellor and had flee. Supposedly a family artifact, an extremely ornate double barreled Jäger style shotgun inlaid with gold and silver and ornate engraving was supposedly a gift from Bismarck and one of the few possessions that ancestor managed to bring with him. Almost certainly untrue but still a fun story.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I’ve heard/read of other adoptees not being all that interested in the circumstances of their natural birth. For me, I remember asking questions very early-on … and you wouldn’t believe the stories I was told! Anyway, it sounds like your adopted family had its own interesting history and in many ways, “you” were a part of that. Thanks for sharing.

      Like

      Reply

  15. I’m not American, but modern day America only exists because of immigration. As for me, British people are mostly Normans, Vikings or Celts. These islands were invaded many times in the past. My maternal family originates from Sweden in the early 19th century, and my paternal grandmother was possibly Spanish, or a Romany. None of can genuinely claim to be ‘pure blood’ anything.
    Best wishes, Pete.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Run the numbers back ten generations and that’s 1,024 ancestors. Fifteen is close to 25,000. It is statistically impossible to remain “pure” anything across ten generations, let alone fifteen.

      Unless, of course, there really are lizard people. There’s only one race, the human race; only one species, the human species, all else is, like religion, manmade bullshit. Nothing, not the kink of our hair, the bend of our nose, or the color of our skin, prevents us from breeding.

      Though I do have doubts as to most’s sufficient degree of evolution, that’s an environmental factor generally overcome with education. If capable. Otherwise a reservation.

      Not to mention that Metis` is best: “It has long been known that to obtain the best crops the farmer should not seed with the seeds grown in his own fields, but with seed brought from afar. The strain of domestic animals seems always improved by imported stock, even poultry-breeders finding it best to sell the male birds they raise and supply their places with cocks brought from a distance. Whether or not the same law holds true with regard to the physical part of man, it is certain that the admixture of peoples produces stimulating mental effects. Prejudices are worn down, wits are sharpened, language enriched, habits and customs brought to the test of comparison and new ideas enkindled. The most progressive peoples, if not always of mixed blood, have always been the peoples who came most in contact with and learned most from others. [Henry George’s Protection or Free Trade, 1940]”

      White-bred is inbred …

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  17. Mr. Biden, tear down this wall!

    What ever he otherwise said, did, or represented, when president Reagan demanded Berlin wall to be taken down, he was demanding freedom and he was right. Now his party is on the opposite side of the fence. Why was it wrong to limit the freedom of Germans to move where they pleased, but not Mexicans, Hondurasian, or Guatemalans?

    My ancestry is from eastern Finland, Carelian and Savoan freeholders, with a little mix of Germans from the 15th century. I live currently in western Finland and altough I “migrated” here a couple of decades ago, I am still surprized by some of the local customs from time to time, even though I have experience of living in a lot of different places.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      • No doubt that is one of the reasons, but I wonder how internalized is it? How many Republicans admit to themselves this racistic trait in their thinking?

        How much of it is just shyness, a form of “nimbyism”? That the idea of freedom to everybody may seem like a just cause to them until it means they themselves have to face strange and different people in their own lives? Because they are very affraid of any new situations, suddenly any excuse a populist politician gives to reject such freedom goes. Even the most outlandish claims, like how expensive it is to take in refugees (as if you could put a pricetag on saved lives) is somehow ok without any question as to how expensive it is to keep them out. It is sad, really.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        • From my (limited) experiences, I would say a very large percentage of U.S. Republicans are biased against people of color. Mostly against black, but other races don’t fare all that well in certain areas either. Of course, the noisemakers put the issue front and center (albeit masqueraded as “other issues”), but I daresay even the “quiet” Republicans feel the same prejudice.

          Like

          Reply

          • Yes, I have often wondered who passes as “white” in the USA? Dudes like this Fuentes character, who dined with Trump not so long ago with Kanye West appear as openly racistic, but him and for example that leader chap of the Proud Boys would definetly be seen as coloured folks by the local racists here. Latinos are seen as coloured if they come from Central Americas, but not if their ancestry is from Cuba, even though it is likelier, that they have African blood in them. Everyone there seems super intuned to what the “race” of others is supposed to be and all the research and lesser surveys are categorising people into races regardless, if it has anything to do with nothing. It appears to me that people are confusing social class with the imaginary concept of race. Maybe, because it is a learned habit and emotionally easier to face than the injustice created by idolized Capitalism?

            Liked by 1 person

  18. The laws regulating immigration are maddening. If I could snap my fingers and decree that every potential immigrant must be able to hop on one foot for 2 minutes, I have no doubt that the majority of Republicans would stand by this absurd requirement and be in favor of kicking out anyone who cannot hop on one foot, since “those are the rules, sorry!” Just because the law exists, that doesn’t automatically mean it makes sense or that we ought to stand behind it.

    I’m a bit of a mutt, mostly northern European but with some mix of French / English heritage also. Every single one of us here in the US has an “immigrant” as an ancestor, and they didn’t get kicked out for not adhering to some stupid rule.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you, SFN, for adding your thoughts. I hope you’ll visit (and comment) again on other topics.

      And, BTW, I agree with you. 😊

      Like

      Reply

  19. What I have noticed in the US politics with regards to immigration is that, of the two parties, Republicans are mostly repelled by the idea of paving the ways for immigrants to settle in the. Why is that?

    Like

    Reply

    • From what I’ve heard and read, most of the immigrants (at least the ones that are in the news) aren’t “white folk,” which is, generally speaking, the Republican’s preferred skin color.

      BTW, thanks for joining the crowd. Hope to see more of you!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Don't Be Shy -- Tell Us What You Think!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.