By Nancy Thorner & Bonnie O'Neil -
Disagreements regarding Immigration issues have always existed; however, they have become particularly divisive recently. It is therefore wise to review our national history on the subject for more clarity as to what our wise forefathers thought on the subject. America’s Founding Fathers did not encourage unlimited immigration, but neither did they prevent or discourage it by any federal legislation. They believed most decisions should be left to individual states to regulate.
George Washington indicated that immigration should be limited to “useful mechanics and some particular descriptions of men or professions.” Thomas Jefferson saw the new government as a unique combination of the freest elements of English law and political custom. He was concerned that unrestricted immigration of people from foreign lands unacquainted with the principle of representative government might undo the careful work of our Founding Fathers.
“Yet,” he said prophetically, “from such we are to expect the greatest number of immigrants.”
Our ancestors wisely decided that this new "nation under God with liberty and justice for all," would have no king and no privileged class. Their ideals, in spite of human frailty, allowed the United States of America to become a nation unparalleled by any other. America had its challenges, such as the Civil War, but each trial seemed to strengthen instead of harm us.
America’s culture, customs, language, and laws were considered basically untouchable, but there is concern each is under assault today from foreigners who come to America for different purposes than in the past. Many Immigrants today come out of necessity to escape poverty and terrorism; others to enjoy our prosperity, but many among them have no intention of adapting to the American way of life. They keep their own cultures, languages, and religion. Some even have the audacity to put pressure upon us to adopt to their ways. This new immigrant has become a danger to America. Therefore, it has become imperative that all Americans review our heritage to understand the reasons it must be preserved. We the People must demand our leaders adhere to our established immigration laws, and thus avoid self-destructing through ethnic strife.
Immigration Act of 1917
There was a need to make a change in the original law due to a surge in immigrants during 1880 to 1920, when 23,465,000 immigrants arrived, thus doubling the total for the previous fifty years. Concerned with this increase, Congress was prompted to pass the Immigration Act of 1917,
followed in 1921 with the nation's first immigration law based on national quotas. A few years later, March,1924, the New York Times published an editorial which stated:
”The country has a right to say who shall and who shall not come in . .. the basis of restriction must be chosen with a view not to the interest of any group or groups in this country, . . . but rather with a view to the country’s best interests as a whole.”
Notice that the primary consideration by this Court and which was reiterated in the N.Y. Times was that immigrants were to benefit our Country, not a burden or detriment. Immigration officials were tasked with vetting applicants based on their job skills and ability to sustain themselves in our Country. That wise policy has gradually diminished and the once hard-fast requirements gradually began to favor the immigrant instead. Possibly our leaders forgot how quickly once thriving nations can cease to be prosperous due to ill-thought-out changes, and that there can be unintentional consequences when we do not put Country over compassion.
A Warning to America
Consider that at the end of President Obama’s term, which allowed an unprecedented surge of unvetted immigrants, America was left with a $20 Trillion dollar debt. How generous can our nation afford to be? We provide for these immigrants, when most are not even willing to assimilate with our customs or people? We are a generous nation, but there are inevitable consequences for not following reasonable laws and procedures. Our citizens end up being the losers.
President Trump, a non-politician, became a surprise winner of our 2016 election. How did that happen? Voters responded to his campaign message that emphasized correcting our immigration problems and restoring our historic (Conservative) values. He talked about putting America first. The people resonated with this message.
America's demographics can be changed forever with little or no opportunity to reverse its course, if we continue to ignore established immigration laws. This has never been more important because the average immigrant family produces more children than natural born American citizens. Three times as many children were born to immigrant moms in 2014 as in 1970. In that same period, the number of children to American born moms dropped 11%. This must be considered if we want our Country to have the same ethnic identification of our forefathers.
There were 1.8 billion Muslims in the world as of 2015 – roughly 24% of the global population – according to a Pew Research Center estimate. However, while Islam is currently the world’s second-largest religion (after Christianity), it is the fastest-growing major religion, due to birthing far more children than Christians today. Indeed, if current demographic trends continue, the number of Muslims is expected to exceed the number of Christians by the end of this century. Without a change in immigration procedures, there is a very real danger America will not only lose its current ethnic identity but our Christian identification as well.
European Countries Reaping Serious Consequences from Immigration Policies
Consider European countries like Germany and Sweden, both examples of accepting unprecedented numbers of immigrants, mostly Muslims. They are already reaping serious consequences. It has been reported that Swedes no longer feel safe in their own country. An article written by Judith Bergman, published on July 21, 2017, went even further to question if Sweden was a failed State.
It is hard to argue with facts explaining that in 2015 only 14% of all crimes in Sweden were solved. By 2016, 80% of police officers were allegedly considering quitting the force. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Stefa Lofven still refuses to call this a crisis, even though Sweden now has the second highest number of rapes in the World after Lesotho in Africa.
Co-author Bonnie O’Neil spoke with three Swedish male golfers recently. When asked their opinion about the reported rape of Swedish women by Muslim men, their comment was shocking. They lamented the dirty secret the Swedish government does not want revealed, and which the media refuses to make a priority, is that Swedish men who dare to date Muslim women are being murdered by Muslim male immigrants. Swedish officials and media sources are less than forthright in providing facts. Apparently they are unwilling or unable to admit their generosity toward immigrants has turned out badly for their own citizens.
Although ethnic Swedish citizens have been offering information about these immigrant-related happenings, authorities ignore and even deny the problems, further announcing they are preparing for another 140,000 migrants to arrive this year, 27,000 of them underage and most of them male. A growing number of Swedes are questioning what their leaders are thinking? This single issue has divided the Swedish population like nothing before.
Unfortunately, many of our immigration and federal officials have allowed a steady flow of unvetted immigrants into our Country, without concern that this annual tidal wave of legal and illegal immigrants endanger our way of life. A majority of today’s immigrants are (consciously or unconsciously) undermining our customs, our culture, our language, and our institutions.
It is interesting to consider Middle Eastern immigrants have neighbors who share their customs, beliefs, language, and religion, but these neighbors have not opened their doors to them. Perhaps the reason is that unlike European countries that need replacements for their declining populations, Saudi Arabia does not; in fact these immigrants would be a burden to their people. This might also explain why specific European countries welcomed them. They are experiencing plunging birthrates across Europe and an aging population makes replacement migration a good option. A U.N. document — “Replacement Migration: Is It a Solution to Declining and Aging Populations?” — set forth the idea of "replacement migration" in 2000.
Demographic Changes and Decline in Christianity
The United States is experiencing demographic changes as well. We also have a lower birthrate, largely due to the legalization of abortion on demand and women choosing careers over becoming mothers. A 2016 seven year study showed that like Europe, America’s Christian church is also declining. The percentage of people dedicated to Christianity has changed significantly in the last 50 years, causing the religion to lose much of its influence in our everyday lives. A Gallup survey found that 21 percent of Americans have no religious identity — up from the 15 percent of respondents who said the same in 2008. According to Christian Post, “Gallup also found that church and other religious attendance has been declining. While 73 percent of respondents said in 1937 that they were a member of a church, only 56 percent said the same in 2016. Additionally, 72 percent of those surveyed in 2016 said that religion is losing its influence on American life.”
Perhaps this is not a good time to introduce an unprecedented number of immigrants whose religion dictates most every area of their lives and many of those dictates oppose the culture and even laws of our Country.
Although there is agreement that Europe has been badly harmed because of its out-of-control immigration, there is still time in our nation to rely on the wisdom of our forefathers, those who provided us with our established Immigration policies and laws. It is essential we begin again to strictly enforce them. The consequences of not doing so opens America to the possibility of suffering the same consequences we see in Europe; empty churches, cultural changes, and terrorist attacks by those who interpret the Koran as a mandate for jihad.
Abraham Lincoln was asked if he believed that God was on the union’s side during the Civil War. His response is as appropriate today as it was then:
“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”
President Trump's rousing Warsaw speech on July 6, 2017 appropriately called for a return to our Christian roots:
"Only if the West returns to God, and only if the West chooses to defend its heritage, and traditions, and the dignity of every human life — only then can the enemies at the gates be beaten back.”
These are great quotes but until “we the people” stand up and demand our Immigration laws be strictly enforced and our Christian heritage protected, we cannot expect our leaders to know our firm commitment to keep America the Country our forefathers wisely provided for us.
Thorner & O'Neil: Keep America the nation our forefathers gave us (Part 1)
