Golis: Getting past the anger

Early in 2015, I listened as the descendants of immigrants talked about the injustices visited upon their families. These Sonoma County residents were proud Americans, but they weren't going to pretend that the generations that came before them didn't suffer discrimination and cruelty.

By sharing their recollections (in a program sponsored by the Historical Society of Santa Rosa), these local people were honoring their families' sacrifices. They were also offering a history lesson about what happens when fear and prejudice take hold.

They talked about the Chinese Exclusion Act that outlawed Chinese immigration and denied citizenship to Chinese people already living here. They talked about how Americans of Japanese ancestry — including 1,000 from Sonoma County — were imprisoned during World War II. They talked about how people of Italian descent could be detained for being out past the 9 p.m. curfew. They were, the government declared, 'enemy aliens.'

These are familiar stories. Throughout its history, this nation of immigrants has struggled to live up to its promise. At one time or another, many groups felt the sting of prejudice — Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Irish, Polish, German, Middle Eastern, African, Latino, Catholic, Jewish.

At the NewYorker.com last week, writer Jeffrey Toobin recounted that the U.S. government turned away a ship carrying 937 Jewish refugees from Hitler's Germany in 1939. A poll showed most Americans agreed with the decision by the government of President Franklin Roosevelt. Two hundred and fifty-four aboard that ship would later die in the Holocaust.

Now we are debating whether to admit refugees from the violence in the Middle East, while critics warn of calamities to come.

The most outspoken of the critics, presidential candidate Donald Trump, suggests a system for registering and monitoring Muslims. It's difficult to imagine how collecting the names of millions of Muslims would make us safer, but as with almost everything Trump says, his latest utterance responds to the anger of our time.

Millions of American blame illegal immigration for the country's economic woes, polls show, and now they want to blame immigrants for increasing the risk of a terrorist attack.

A Washington Post poll last week found that most of the voters who want to deport 11 million illegal immigrants also want to deny admission to Middle Eastern refugees.

Amid the passions that drive the immigration debate, we sometimes forget that people aren't wrong to be unhappy about their government's failure to control the nation's borders. It shouldn't be business as usual that 11 million people are here illegally.

And the same critics aren't wrong when they insist that government use every legal means to guard borders, screen immigrants for security risks and otherwise do what's necessary to reduce the threats posed by a worldwide network of terrorist groups.

But it would be helpful if we could separate measures that would make us safer from proclamations that only speak to our frustration with government and our wish for a world that wasn't changing. It's difficult to believe that a Syrian refugee family that must navigate a two-year review process poses an imminent threat to national security. And most middle-class jobs aren't being loss to immigrants; they're being lost to people who live in Asia.

When it comes to refugees from the Middle East war zones, we also have reasons to bring some humility to our deliberations. It was, after all, the invasion of Iraq that set in motion the violence and chaos that has engulfed Syria and its neighboring countries.

When there is a straight line between U.S. foreign policy and men, women and children left with nothing more than what they can carry, it's only fair and reasonable to expect the U.S. to do its share.

President Ronald Reagan understood the need for a balanced approach. 'Our nation is a nation of immigrants,' he said. 'More than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands.'

At the same time, he added, 'No free and prosperous nation can by itself accommodate all those who seek a better life or flee persecution. We must share this responsibility with other countries.'

Reagan, who signed the last legislation to grant a path to amnesty for illegal immigrants, came to know the hard realities of the immigration issue.

He also knew that America has always drawn strength from immigrants. (Reagan's great, great grandfather immigrated from Ireland during the Great Famine of the 1840s, a time in which Irish immigrants were subject to discrimination and abuse.)

Immigrants bring energy and innovation to the economic engine of America — the current CEOs of Microsoft and Google are immigrants — and immigrants add to the cultural tapestry of a country that is like no other. By encouraging others to become Americans, we demonstrate our aspirations for a world in which people from many backgrounds arrange to get along.

Listening to the descendants of immigrants, I remember the pride that people expressed — pride in their family's courage and pride in their country. These were people whose ancestors may have been born in China, Japan or Italy, but they were Americans now, proud to be citizens of a country willing to welcome people from everywhere.

Americans remain angry and divided. Perhaps in time, we will figure out how to better manage our borders — and also make room for immigrants who have been arriving here since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and organized the first Thanksgiving.

Pete Golis is a columnist for The Press Democrat. Email him at golispd@gmail.com.