At 11:59 p.m. tonight, the COVID-19 public health emergency ends by order of the Department of Health and Human Services. Today, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that more than 270 million Americans have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine and the U.S. has been the largest single donor of vaccines to the global community, sharing nearly 700 million doses with 117 countries.
My grandparents were immigrants. My grandmother could not read or write. She worked as an office cleaner at night. They shared the American dream with their children. My mother became a teacher. I became a research chemist.
Immigrants come to America for a better life for their children, and to escape intolerable conditions in their home countries. They have strengthened this country throughout its history with their energy and innovations and love and respect for America and its ideals.
The only thing that evolves is the countries that those immigrants come from. The haters in this country just change their focus to manufacture a new threat.
The problem with modern immigration law is that it reflects an outdated concept of what a country is - a geographic area bounded by impenetrable borders and containing people who share a common culture, speak a common language, and are, for the most part, ethnically homogeneous. This is not the nature of the modern nation-state. With global travel, global commerce, and increased blurring of traditionally-defined ethnic groups, the idea that individual countries should be striving by force of law to keep outsiders out (and by extension, insiders in) is increasingly irrelevant.
Republicans will NEVER agree to immigration reform. It is the albatross that they can hang around the neck of Dems til hell freezes over. MAGAts should do a little genealogy research and find out that their ancestry is rife with immigrants, including the head MAGAt, chump. Wish we had sent Frederick packing a second time, after he came and was deported.
My story is the story of America. In 1909 my grandmother and grandfather and families, peasants, think Fiddler on the roof, escaped the tzar and Cossacks in Ukraine/Russia and migrated through Ellis Island. My other grandmother from Lithuania who had poor vision and afraid she would not be allowed in, found her way to Canada and, so the story goes, walked across the border into Minnesota where my father was born in 1913. None spoke English or were educated. But the children born in USA were all educated and now are mostly college graduates. And employed. It’s a different world today and recognizing that we continue to be a safe haven is critical for our government. And this is critical: the USA is
responsible for some migration because of our own roles in central and South American countries’ wars and unrest. And Vietnam and the Middle East, including Afghanistan and Iraq. Countries we have a part in destruction and loss. And exploitation. It’s impossible to seal off borders. And irresponsible to ignore Dreamers. Part of the problem is how to humanely address the border crossings, asylum and post crossing. The key is Humanely and Humanity This is a world issue. In 2016 Madrid, Spain, a giant banner was erected across the city hall building, “Refugees Welcome.” By 2018, the banner was gone. As long as we have wars and poverty we will have migration. Start with compassion and kindness, address human needs of violence, disease, hunger (called food insecurity) stop exporting weapons and wars. There will never be a wall high enough and strong enough to stop the human needs that force people to seek safer and better lives through migration.
We don't have enough people to do the jobs we have now.
Talk to farmers who want a path to citizenship for the immigrants they hire.
I have never understood why where you're from, what color your skin is or how much money you have, makes you less of a human being?
Maybe it's because I understand what it's like to have nothing. To be cold, scared and homeless.
Maybe it's because the people with the least helped me to survive.
Maybe because it only takes a few minutes of conversation to understand these people don't want anything but what we all want, a chance to live a life without having to worry about what's going to happen tomorrow.
Like most Americans my great grandparents on my fathers side came to America from Germany for a better life. It was the land of freedom and opportunity. My grandfather on my mothers side was an Irish orphan in America. The present day people at the border are doing the same looking for opportunities to better their situations. Trying to flee gangs, get their children away from the drugs etc. so why is it so hard for the gop to show some compassion and agree to work on some type of reform rather than just complaining?
There is more than a little irony in the Great Replacement fear. After all, the original inhabitants of this continent found themselves "replaced" by a flood of immigrants from Europe, many fleeing persecution back home. So today's conservatives are saying, "Don't let the new Huddled Masses do to us what we did to others. Justice and morality be damned."
Our nation has treated immigrants from all points on the globe frightfully and still they come, believing in the prospect of a better life and freedom from tyranny. And, look where we are a few hundred years later. There is not a single wave of immigrants that have weakened our nation. Some have integrated more seamlessly than others, probably related to the level of education they bring with them. I had a medical school classmate who arrived amongst the "boat people" from Vietnam in the 1970s as an early teen. In a short decade, she had reached the pinnacle of achievement in our higher educational system from a place where she did not even speak the language. First generation Americans enter the public school system and have a legitimate shot at achieving their dreams, even if their immigrant parents struggle to establish themselves. We know this rhetoric about "replacement theory" is nonsense and it's horribly insulting to those who arrived more recently than the rest of us. Remaining calm while they utter such bilious hatred takes every ounce of forbearance in me.
I would bet not one of the Republicans in Congress are true American. If my history learning serves me, this country was built on immigration, dating back to before 1776.
Columbus, Magellan, and all the others that sailed the ocean blue, came from England, France, and other European countries to the “land of opportunity”. The only difference now is the people coming to our southern border are walking from South America to this land of better opportunities for them, and their families.
Who are we, as Americans, to turn them away? Why are we turning them away? Why did TFG “build the wall”? (Supposedly).
We have no right turning anyone away! None! We are all immigrants. We all have ancestry that came from another country. My ancestry is from France, England, and Scotland. They were barrel-makers. Came to this country and became farmers, and I was born, and raised, on a farm.
Now, just a note in the COVID vaccinations. My late wife, and my daughter whom we were living with when COVID came into this country, refused to get the vaccine. They listened to all the negativity on Facebook and Twitter from all the “more knowledgeable than doctors” people, and refused to get the vaccines. I haven’t had the vaccine because I couldn’t get them to take me to get it.
My point here is that as long as people listen, and believe, all the crap they hear, and read, on all the negative social media platforms, and on television networks the likes of FOX Network, then we will never totally rid this country of this terrible killer.
Unfortunately USA, Australia and Europe (and others) are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. We have been far too successful as a species, in temporarily overcoming the limits that nature would normally put on us. Our discovery and profligate use of fossil fuels, has permitted an massive leap in human population numbers. Now with the climatic changes, this use has caused, we have a "wicked" problem - a very "wicked" problem. It's not just the lifestyle opportunists, but the hordes who can't get enough food because of warming, and their number is increasing. For those in a state of terminal disbelief about this ... read Vaclav Smil's "How The World Really Works"
Oh, and bye the way .. that border fence screws up the movement and migration patterns of animals on the border. But, hey, why do we care .. they don't contribute to the economy (or do they??).
I'm second generation born in the U.S. All four of my grandparents came here in steerage from eastern Europe in the 1910s without two nickels to rub together. They got a foothold in a new country and with a new language by staying with relatives and then moving up the ladder. They learned English by reading the newspaper every day. Their children (my parents' generation) became doctors, lawyers, accountants. They fought in WWII. My dad went to college on the GI Bill. My generation continued the trend; taxpayers all. I went to CUNY and have been working and paying into Social Security since I was 14. So, I guess according to DeSantis, my family is a bunch of takers. Bless his heart. And you know what THAT means, right?
When my husband and I visited Cuba this past March, we saw hundreds of Cubans at the airport who, sadly and at great expense, were there to take a charter plane to Venezuela. They planed to walk from there through Mexico to the American border.
The United States has imposed the longest embargo in history (60 years) on the Cubans, making it impossible for them to stay in their own country and make a living. We forbid other countries to trade with Cuba. They are a desperately poor people.
This is purely political. The Cubans in Florida would not vote Republican if the Republicans lifted the embargo despite the fact that over 60% of Cubans living there today we’re not alive at the time of Castro’s revolution. Under Obama cruise ships were again allowed to return to Cuba and the economy there improved.
When Trump came into office, he not only replaced the embargoes that Obama had lifted, but imposed 30 more.
American policy is causing Cubans to leave their country and try to come to ours. We could end their emigration tomorrow by lifting the embargo and letting them make a living in their own country.
I have often, and for a very long time, countered the right-wing garbage about “immigration” with the fact that, unless you are indigenous to this land (ie Native American), you were born of immigrants. So STFU with the anti-immigration rhetoric. “Pilgrim” is just another synonym for “Immigrant” as far as I’m concerned. I’m so tired of the right-wing garbage. My ancestors were Irish and German. Still immigrants…
Although my family and I emigrated from Europe to the New World, after WII, so we didn't face some of the hatred that immigrants from the Central and Southern hemispheres do, it was still quite a challenge for my parents to leave everyone and everything they knew behind and start a new life with two small children in tow. To embark on such a major journey takes determination and strength many Americans couldn't imagine mustering. It is usually larger social forces that make people have to leave their home countries, often caused by US policies. We not only need agreements between the countries involved in the immigration issue, we also, as a country have to rethink policies that cause the upheavals in our neighboring countries, such as drug policies. The US is largely responsible for the rise of drug cartels in other countries, because we insist on criminalizing substance use and addiction, instead of addressing the problem as a public health crisis.
Thank you, Dr. Heather, for another late night newsletter, mentioning the end of the Covid emergency designation, and providing simple explanations of Title 42 vs Title 8 immigration policies.
Hope that maybe you'll get to sleep in a bit later than typical! Rest well. 🍎
My grandparents were immigrants. My grandmother could not read or write. She worked as an office cleaner at night. They shared the American dream with their children. My mother became a teacher. I became a research chemist.
Immigrants come to America for a better life for their children, and to escape intolerable conditions in their home countries. They have strengthened this country throughout its history with their energy and innovations and love and respect for America and its ideals.
The only thing that evolves is the countries that those immigrants come from. The haters in this country just change their focus to manufacture a new threat.
Thank you Heather.
“We are…a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.”
The problem with modern immigration law is that it reflects an outdated concept of what a country is - a geographic area bounded by impenetrable borders and containing people who share a common culture, speak a common language, and are, for the most part, ethnically homogeneous. This is not the nature of the modern nation-state. With global travel, global commerce, and increased blurring of traditionally-defined ethnic groups, the idea that individual countries should be striving by force of law to keep outsiders out (and by extension, insiders in) is increasingly irrelevant.
Republicans will NEVER agree to immigration reform. It is the albatross that they can hang around the neck of Dems til hell freezes over. MAGAts should do a little genealogy research and find out that their ancestry is rife with immigrants, including the head MAGAt, chump. Wish we had sent Frederick packing a second time, after he came and was deported.
My story is the story of America. In 1909 my grandmother and grandfather and families, peasants, think Fiddler on the roof, escaped the tzar and Cossacks in Ukraine/Russia and migrated through Ellis Island. My other grandmother from Lithuania who had poor vision and afraid she would not be allowed in, found her way to Canada and, so the story goes, walked across the border into Minnesota where my father was born in 1913. None spoke English or were educated. But the children born in USA were all educated and now are mostly college graduates. And employed. It’s a different world today and recognizing that we continue to be a safe haven is critical for our government. And this is critical: the USA is
responsible for some migration because of our own roles in central and South American countries’ wars and unrest. And Vietnam and the Middle East, including Afghanistan and Iraq. Countries we have a part in destruction and loss. And exploitation. It’s impossible to seal off borders. And irresponsible to ignore Dreamers. Part of the problem is how to humanely address the border crossings, asylum and post crossing. The key is Humanely and Humanity This is a world issue. In 2016 Madrid, Spain, a giant banner was erected across the city hall building, “Refugees Welcome.” By 2018, the banner was gone. As long as we have wars and poverty we will have migration. Start with compassion and kindness, address human needs of violence, disease, hunger (called food insecurity) stop exporting weapons and wars. There will never be a wall high enough and strong enough to stop the human needs that force people to seek safer and better lives through migration.
We need immigrants.
We don't have enough people to do the jobs we have now.
Talk to farmers who want a path to citizenship for the immigrants they hire.
I have never understood why where you're from, what color your skin is or how much money you have, makes you less of a human being?
Maybe it's because I understand what it's like to have nothing. To be cold, scared and homeless.
Maybe it's because the people with the least helped me to survive.
Maybe because it only takes a few minutes of conversation to understand these people don't want anything but what we all want, a chance to live a life without having to worry about what's going to happen tomorrow.
Like most Americans my great grandparents on my fathers side came to America from Germany for a better life. It was the land of freedom and opportunity. My grandfather on my mothers side was an Irish orphan in America. The present day people at the border are doing the same looking for opportunities to better their situations. Trying to flee gangs, get their children away from the drugs etc. so why is it so hard for the gop to show some compassion and agree to work on some type of reform rather than just complaining?
There is more than a little irony in the Great Replacement fear. After all, the original inhabitants of this continent found themselves "replaced" by a flood of immigrants from Europe, many fleeing persecution back home. So today's conservatives are saying, "Don't let the new Huddled Masses do to us what we did to others. Justice and morality be damned."
Our nation has treated immigrants from all points on the globe frightfully and still they come, believing in the prospect of a better life and freedom from tyranny. And, look where we are a few hundred years later. There is not a single wave of immigrants that have weakened our nation. Some have integrated more seamlessly than others, probably related to the level of education they bring with them. I had a medical school classmate who arrived amongst the "boat people" from Vietnam in the 1970s as an early teen. In a short decade, she had reached the pinnacle of achievement in our higher educational system from a place where she did not even speak the language. First generation Americans enter the public school system and have a legitimate shot at achieving their dreams, even if their immigrant parents struggle to establish themselves. We know this rhetoric about "replacement theory" is nonsense and it's horribly insulting to those who arrived more recently than the rest of us. Remaining calm while they utter such bilious hatred takes every ounce of forbearance in me.
I would bet not one of the Republicans in Congress are true American. If my history learning serves me, this country was built on immigration, dating back to before 1776.
Columbus, Magellan, and all the others that sailed the ocean blue, came from England, France, and other European countries to the “land of opportunity”. The only difference now is the people coming to our southern border are walking from South America to this land of better opportunities for them, and their families.
Who are we, as Americans, to turn them away? Why are we turning them away? Why did TFG “build the wall”? (Supposedly).
We have no right turning anyone away! None! We are all immigrants. We all have ancestry that came from another country. My ancestry is from France, England, and Scotland. They were barrel-makers. Came to this country and became farmers, and I was born, and raised, on a farm.
Now, just a note in the COVID vaccinations. My late wife, and my daughter whom we were living with when COVID came into this country, refused to get the vaccine. They listened to all the negativity on Facebook and Twitter from all the “more knowledgeable than doctors” people, and refused to get the vaccines. I haven’t had the vaccine because I couldn’t get them to take me to get it.
My point here is that as long as people listen, and believe, all the crap they hear, and read, on all the negative social media platforms, and on television networks the likes of FOX Network, then we will never totally rid this country of this terrible killer.
Unfortunately USA, Australia and Europe (and others) are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. We have been far too successful as a species, in temporarily overcoming the limits that nature would normally put on us. Our discovery and profligate use of fossil fuels, has permitted an massive leap in human population numbers. Now with the climatic changes, this use has caused, we have a "wicked" problem - a very "wicked" problem. It's not just the lifestyle opportunists, but the hordes who can't get enough food because of warming, and their number is increasing. For those in a state of terminal disbelief about this ... read Vaclav Smil's "How The World Really Works"
Oh, and bye the way .. that border fence screws up the movement and migration patterns of animals on the border. But, hey, why do we care .. they don't contribute to the economy (or do they??).
I'm second generation born in the U.S. All four of my grandparents came here in steerage from eastern Europe in the 1910s without two nickels to rub together. They got a foothold in a new country and with a new language by staying with relatives and then moving up the ladder. They learned English by reading the newspaper every day. Their children (my parents' generation) became doctors, lawyers, accountants. They fought in WWII. My dad went to college on the GI Bill. My generation continued the trend; taxpayers all. I went to CUNY and have been working and paying into Social Security since I was 14. So, I guess according to DeSantis, my family is a bunch of takers. Bless his heart. And you know what THAT means, right?
When my husband and I visited Cuba this past March, we saw hundreds of Cubans at the airport who, sadly and at great expense, were there to take a charter plane to Venezuela. They planed to walk from there through Mexico to the American border.
The United States has imposed the longest embargo in history (60 years) on the Cubans, making it impossible for them to stay in their own country and make a living. We forbid other countries to trade with Cuba. They are a desperately poor people.
This is purely political. The Cubans in Florida would not vote Republican if the Republicans lifted the embargo despite the fact that over 60% of Cubans living there today we’re not alive at the time of Castro’s revolution. Under Obama cruise ships were again allowed to return to Cuba and the economy there improved.
When Trump came into office, he not only replaced the embargoes that Obama had lifted, but imposed 30 more.
American policy is causing Cubans to leave their country and try to come to ours. We could end their emigration tomorrow by lifting the embargo and letting them make a living in their own country.
Cuban emigration is a problem of our own making.
I have often, and for a very long time, countered the right-wing garbage about “immigration” with the fact that, unless you are indigenous to this land (ie Native American), you were born of immigrants. So STFU with the anti-immigration rhetoric. “Pilgrim” is just another synonym for “Immigrant” as far as I’m concerned. I’m so tired of the right-wing garbage. My ancestors were Irish and German. Still immigrants…
Although my family and I emigrated from Europe to the New World, after WII, so we didn't face some of the hatred that immigrants from the Central and Southern hemispheres do, it was still quite a challenge for my parents to leave everyone and everything they knew behind and start a new life with two small children in tow. To embark on such a major journey takes determination and strength many Americans couldn't imagine mustering. It is usually larger social forces that make people have to leave their home countries, often caused by US policies. We not only need agreements between the countries involved in the immigration issue, we also, as a country have to rethink policies that cause the upheavals in our neighboring countries, such as drug policies. The US is largely responsible for the rise of drug cartels in other countries, because we insist on criminalizing substance use and addiction, instead of addressing the problem as a public health crisis.
Thank you, Dr. Heather, for another late night newsletter, mentioning the end of the Covid emergency designation, and providing simple explanations of Title 42 vs Title 8 immigration policies.
Hope that maybe you'll get to sleep in a bit later than typical! Rest well. 🍎