Tag Archives: immigrant

Sicily, Early 2000’s, Before the Trickle of Boat People Became a Wave

Before the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts, I wandered through a market place in Sicily, the Mediterranean island nestled off the coast of Italy. A few of the sellers appeared to be recent immigrants from sub Saharan Africa and stood out in that European culture.

Years before, I listened to a speaker in a U.S. State Department seminar. He warned of huge pressures building in African and Near Eastern communities. Europe, he said, would experience a wave of boat people surpassing all previous population movements.

The speaker was correct. In Sicily, I had witnessed the beginnings of those waves of immigrants. The subject of immigration has now roiled the electorate on both sides of the Atlantic.

The United States was built by immigrants, from the first settlers in Jamestown and Plymouth to today’s immigrant harvesters in our orchards and our knowledge workers at Microsoft and Intel. We have depended on immigrants and continue to do so.

With a culture of immigration, the United States has proved a better integrator of immigrants into society than has Europe. It has reaped the rewards of new entrepreneurs and vibrant communities.

Any nation must allow an honest discussion about effects of an overwhelming tide of newcomers. Yet, compassion for the vast majority who flee from awful brutality, who are themselves the targets of terrorism, compels us to develop humane policies.

We can work with all countries where desperate people seek refuge. Some nations like Jordan, one of our allies in the Middle East, cope with refugee numbers massively out of proportion to their small native populations.

Europe and the United States also must own the colonialism and the oil wars that contributed to the economic hardship and brutality that have sent so many men, women, and children fleeing.

Visas and Stereotypes

For a time in my life, I was a U.S. Foreign Service officer and interviewed foreigners from a North African country applying for temporary visas to visit the United States. Since the country at the time was in a period of instability (and still is), many of those being interviewed saw a “temporary” visa to Europe or the U.S. as a path to a better life. Go “temporarily” and then remain, illegally if necessary.

As one who knows many blessings, I approached my job with humility. How could I not sympathize with the applicants and their problems? However, U.S. law required me to give temporary visas only to temporary visitors. The rules for permanent residence were more stringent, requiring sufficient family or employer support, among other requirements.

I had to refuse many, including one man who evidenced little reason to leave the U.S. if he were given a visa. Shortly after the refusal, the man’s relative living in the U.S. called to complain. As we talked, I tried to assure him that I had given the applicant a fair hearing, but that U.S. law forbade me to issue in this case. The caller’s parting shot at me was that since I had a Southern accent, I must be prejudiced against his relative.

I thought it ironic that he himself prejudged me. His idea, I suppose, is that if some Southerners are prejudiced, all Southerners are prejudiced, presumably against—well, against anyone not a native-born American, I suppose. Ironic also because, in another function of my job, I awarded immigrant visas to those of his nationality which allowed them to live legally and permanently in the United States. The difference did not concern origin but whether or not the applicant met the required legal standards.

The heart of prejudice is the attitude that assigns a stereotype to an individual because of his or her accent or nationality or color or political preference or whatever. The list is long. How much better if we remove the filters of group and relate as one individual to another.