AUGUST 2019

GUEST column
Where would Chaldeans be if today’s immigration
proposals enacted before
N. PETER
ANTONE
SPECIAL TO THE
CHALDEAN NEWS
President Trump recently
proposed an
immigration bill that
would increase the number
of highly skilled individuals
(good idea) but limit the
number of family and refugee
immigrants (bad idea).
This is not the first time
such proposal has been circulated.
In 1897, Congress
proposed a legislation requiring
a literacy test for
would-be immigrants. The President
then, Grover Cleveland, had the
wisdom to veto it. In his veto message,
President Cleveland wrote, “It
is said, however, that the quality of recent
immigration is undesirable. The
time is quite within recent memory
when the same was said of immigrants
who, with their descendants, are now
numbered among our best citizens.”
How wise and wonderful this statement
by President Cleveland
was back in 1897 and
how true it is today!
Had President Cleveland
not vetoed that legislation
in 1897, many of
our own Chaldean community
would not be here
today. Many of the early
Chaldean immigrants
came directly from villages
where they had little
education and skills except
for farming. They were exactly
the type of immigrants who Congress
at the time thought undesirable. Yet,
many of those Chaldean came here,
worked hard, established a wonderful
life, and now many of their children
are professionals, doctors, lawyers,
successful business people, and so on.
It would really be a pity if our community
looks at current immigrants
who might be just as unfortunate in
their opportunity to gain a high education
as many of our ancestors were.
America is the land of opportunity.
If we limit our immigration to only
those with high skills, we will become
the land of second opportunity, open
only to those who have had the chance
Many of the early
Chaldean immigrants
came directly from
villages where they
had little education.
to get a higher education in their own
country. But many of those unskilled
people who come here, risking their
lives for a better opportunity for their
kids, have the genes of ambition and
courage; they simply did not have the
opportunity to flourish in their own
country. That is why America is considered
history’s greatest experiment.
America’s essence is that a human being,
given the chance, can thrive and
be his or her very best, and that only
restrictions of class, circumstances, and
limitations that exist in the old world
are the hindrance. If we give up those
ideals, then America will become just
like any other country.
This does not mean that we should
not welcome the highly skilled. Those
are very much needed. But the numbers
of those highly skilled should
not be increased at the expense of
refugees and less educated immigrants
who very much resemble our ancestors
many of whom came from poor
villages of northern Iraq.
N. Peter Antone, Immigration attorney
and former professor of Immigration and
Nationality Law at MSU
Ciao
Italian Bistro & Wine Bar
6199 Orchard Lake Road
West Bloomfield MI 48322
T / 248-862-6374
F / 248-862-6389
www.ciaoitalianbistro.com
HOURS:
Monday – Thursday 11 am - 10 pm
Friday 11 am - 11 pm
Saturday 12 pm - 11 pm
Sunday 12 pm - 9 pm
Our philosophy is simple… “Manja Bene” (Eat well).
OUR BANQUET
HALL HOLDS
120 PEOPLE
JOIN OUR MAILING LIST | NEVER MISS AN UPDATE
8 CHALDEAN NEWS AUGUST 2019