Chuneh Avruhm Zynger’s emotional letter “I Am an Immigrant” (Jewish Link – Jan. 23, 2025) surely resonates with so many Jews in America today who have similar stories, including myself. America, the “Goldene Medina” has certainly been a blessed country for immigrants welcomed by the majestic Statue of Liberty.
However, there is the other side of the coin that Mr. Zynger doesn’t touch. What he wrote about was of a different time, with different types of immigrants, and in a different America.
The flood of immigration that had been occurring along our southern and Canadian borders in recent years consisted of illegal immigrants, and it has become a major crisis that concerns many Americans today. They worry that so few are vetted, which means that no one knows how many criminals or terrorists are among them or how many health problems they are bringing in.
The American population tripled in just the last century from 114 million in 1924, to 341 million in 2024, and thus the critical need for new workers is much less today than it was a century ago. The entry process in earlier times involved having visas, entering through portals like Ellis Island, and being examined for health, mental and financial issues. Those who didn’t pass requisite standards were either sent back or kept in quarantine. Only after clearing all standards were they allowed onto the mainland, where they worked hard to improve their and their children’s lot, strove to assimilate into American culture, were extremely patriotic and had access to only a few government handouts, The word “welfare” was shunned even by those who depended upon it.
Today, millions of illegal immigrants have just been streaming through our open borders without any documented credentials and they are dispersed throughout the country with virtually no record of their existence. They receive “cradle to grave” governmental coverage and often do not try to assimilate into American culture, but rather try to change it to their ways.
This has turned into a toxic brew, where major cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco, just to name a few, have rapidly become littered with homeless illegal immigrants, who too often turn to crime and lawlessness.
In short, today’s open borders have become more of a problem to America than an asset.
