ANOTHER IRONY IN US IMMIGRATION LaW

The following Letter to the Editor was sent to but not published by the Register-Guard

To the Editor:

O me, o my!  Irony upon irony!  The press is now criticizing President Trump for using the “chain migration” he has abhorred to make US citizens of his wife’s parents.  What the journalists who write such stories apparently do not understand is that, in its odd way, the Trump use of family unification fulfills the intent of the original legislation.  The original purpose of the law was to encourage the additional immigration of Europeans by admitting the relatives of those already here.  But not to encourage the “huddled masses” from Asia and Africa who had not yet begun to arrive in significant numbers.  When the Europeans did not come, eventually a single African or Asian could achieve citizenship and begin a chain to unite his family.   

Thus, in an ironic twist, the Trump family is fulfilling the original intent of the legislation.  Racist?  Yes, racist and hard to understand for those who believe our “golden door” has always been open to the “tired and poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” 

The door was open.  But only to Europeans.