14 May 2006
To the editor:
Have you ever been to Ellis Island? My cousin visited this shrine to US immigration several years ago in search of family history. Millions of US citizens trace their lineage to ancestors who came through this portal to the "land of opportunity".
But you won't find our family there. There is no reference to our paternal grandfather. It appears that Grandpa landed on a ship from Europe at a Canadian port in the 1880s.
The trail ends there. Subsequently, Grandpa turns up on the US census in the early 20th century along with his wife and 3 children, all US citizens. The conclusion: Grandpa was a wet-back, an "illegal immigrant" who crossed the St. Lawrence, not the Rio Grande! The statute of limitations and my having been born in this country probably insures my not being deported.
Knowledge of my history and that of all the legal and illegal immigrants who have come to these shores drives my resolve to help the latest wave of immigrants, They are refugees from the results of US foreign and trade policy.
My people came to escape the pogroms of eastern Europe. Our Latino neighbors came to escape poverty and the terror of US sponsored repressive regimes. Those who would turn back the latest wave of immigrants ought to re-visit their family history and think what they would do to support their family in the absence of jobs and security.
Anthony Ernst
Southampton, NY
