Share your, or your families immigration story

[MishMash]

So, the common theme in the news is the deportation of illegal immigrants, and the deportation of some immigrants that have been in this country for decades.  I've noticed on media comment sections that the vast majority of individuals have NO idea how the US immigration system works (or doesn't) and that immigrants are, in general, getting bashed. We mostly all come from immigrant families so I figured I would start a thread where everyone could share their story.

My story starts with my grandfather, he was Jewish in Germany during Hitler.  A friend of theirs warned them of what was occurring early on and his mother and father took heed, a rarity.  They weren't wealthy but had enough to secure steerage passage to Shanghai, my great grandmother sewed all her jewelry into the lining of a coat and was able to pass inspection by the Nazi guards at the port.  This was early on in the war, that jewelry allowed them to secure housing in China. 

They lived in Shanghai in the Jewish ghetto, there GF apprenticed as a baker and met grandmother.  Since sugar at the time was a hot commodity...he plied her with sweet baked goods ;-)  They were there for many years until Mao cleared everyone out.  From there they moved the entire family, including both sets of parents to the US, they went through a Jewish foundation to get refugee status.  They were the only survivors from the family.

Grandfather started working in a business and 6 years later had the opportunity to buy it.  He wasn't a full citizen at the time, so he went down to the states office and literally bribed the clerk to put his paperwork through, yes he only became legal because of graft (we are pretty sure he did the same for his drivers license, until the day he died you did NOT want to ride in a car with him).  Once that cleared the entire family, all 12 from both sides that all lived in a 2 bed townhome, pitched in and the business was bought.

Fast forward a number of years and he built that place up to one of the premier bakeries in his city.  It supplied all the fancy hotels, local food establishments and the community for 40 odd years until he retired and sold it.  He had one of the lowest turnover rates in the city, and largely hired immigrants, he always said if you treat your people fair, they will do the same for you.  His funeral (he was 98) brought employees he hadn't seen in 20-30 odd years to the synagogue and to shiva, many of whom shared their own success stories.

[nancyjnelson]

My great grandparents immigrated from Norway to Canada with all their children (at least five, maybe more) in the early 1900s.  The boat let them off in Montreal.  The Counsul at the Norwegian Consulate took one look at all those poor people and, not wanting them and their problems in his district, paid for their onward passage to the United States.

True story.

[J Boogie]

My wife's parents fled the Ortega regime in the 80's and moved to Miami.

They experienced the worst of authoritarian socialism so I don't blame them for watching fox news and supporting Trump - it's easy to veer too far in the opposite direction when you have such a negative experience.

[CheapScholar]

Oldest line goes back to 1640's.  Came from England.  Took part in revolution against a shitty King.

[brute]

My dad's side has been here since before the current era. All of us bastards crossing that land bridge should be run right out of town!

Mom's side came over from Germany in the 1800s. Legally. With skills. Grandfather taught math at a major university before turning to real estate. His main downfall was he was too nice of a guy to kick out people who didn't pay rent, but he managed to get by.

Me? I'm just some jerk who thinks it's impossible to draw true parallels between the migrations of 500 years ago and whats happening now.

[Gimesalot]

My father worked for IBM in Argentina in the mid-eighties.  He was offered a position in New York, and he jumped at it.  I was 6 months old when we came to the United States.  When my parents arrived, they were blown away by the opportunities and rich lifestyle.  At the time Argentina's military junta was falling apart.  They had lived through the worst of the disappearances, kidnappings, and right-wing indoctrination sessions.  We stayed for three years until my father's contract was up.  In the meantime, they had my brother, who was the only U.S. citizen in the family.  From what they told me, they tried very hard to stay, but they were unable to find a way.  So, we went back to Buenos Aires. 

My parents were determined to get back, so they kept looking for a way.  They discovered that they could apply for the visa lottery.  They applied for my mother, my father, and me.  Both my mother and I won.  Since, only one person per family needs to win to emigrate, they rejected my visa, so another family would get chosen.  They had about 4 days from the time they won, to when they had to decide to leave all of our family.  By the time we made it back I was 6, about to be 7. 

In the 27 years we  have been here, my parents both went to community college and learned English. They went on to get university degrees (the ones from Argentina didn't count here).  They did well at their careers and now have a thriving rental housing business.  My brother and I both went to college.   He started his own real-estate business, and I worked but now I am FIRE.

I hate all of the things being said about immigrants, whether legal or not.  Immigrants overall are a net positive to the economy by keeping the overall age of the population lower than it would be if they weren't here.  If you want an idea of what can happen when no immigration exists and the population ages, look at Japan. 

[mathlete]

My mom was a natural born citizen. I don't know when her family immigrated. My father immigrated as a child. Got a blue collar job, worked his way through school, and became an engineer and eventually a manager.

Not family, but at my very first job, working in a restaurant kitchen, I was surrounded by immigrants. Mostly from places like Mexico and Central America. They outworked all of the native born workers, and it wasn't really even close. At my current job, I work with a lot of high skill immigrants from Asia and Africa.

My father, the guys in the kitchen, and my current immigrant coworkers all work very hard, pay taxes, and raise or have raised American children. They're what makes the USA the best country on the planet.

[spicykissa]

My great-grandparents on my father's side immigrated from southern Italy around the turn of the century. One of my great-grandmothers was a Catholic missionary in Brazil prior to coming here, but I don't know much else about her or her husband. The other set of grandparents ran a boarding house, where my grandfather lived while going to college and met my grandmother.

My father was raised to be as 'American' (think football and apple pie) as possible, because it wasn't a good thing to be an Italian-American immigrant. He never learned Italian at all, and his boarding house grandmother's English was legendarily terrible! :) It makes me sad that we've lost all connection to that part of our family history, but I'm very proud of how hard they worked to build a life here for their families.

My mom's side supposedly came over on the Mayflower. Color me skeptical.

[LifeHappens]

My grandparents were born in Poland. At the start of WWII my grandfather was 27 and my grandmother was 16. They both spent the war in German labor camps, where they eventually met each other. After the war they were "lucky" enough to end up in a refuge camp in the American occupied portion of West Germany. They married and had 4 children between 1945 and 1951.

In 1956 they were sponsored by Polish fraternal organization to move to Chicago. They lived in a two bedroom apartment on the west side of Chicago. My father, who was 7 at the time, slept in a closet. Their neighbors all spoke Polish. My grandfather got a job in a Polish-speaking factory. The Catholic school my father, aunt and uncles attended was taught by Polish speaking nuns.

Within 20 years my grandparents had accumulated enough money to move to a more rural location. They purchased a very nice piece of property with a small mobile home park and 3 houses. They lived in one house and rented out everything else.

My father and his siblings all went on to varying degrees of financial success. One of my uncles and my aunt are firmly upper middle class. My father struggled but eventually learned a skilled trade and did reasonably well. My other uncle died fairly young.

In short, my father's family is a pretty typical immigrant story. They came here with nothing except each other and a whole lot of trauma. They worked hard, raised a family and contributed to our country. Within two generations, the family has integrated into American life. My cousins and I are all normal Americans. None of us are terrorists, tax dodgers or living off the welfare state. I believe 99.9% of immigrants end up about the same.

[dude]

Great thread!  Love hearing these stories. Don't know specifics about my family's immigration circumstances other than father's side came from Ireland and Germany, mother's side from Quebec province (French Canadia). None were skilled, none were college educated.  Several served in the U.S. military, including my grandfather in WWII.

Wife's parents descended from Lithuanian (father's side) and Peruvian (mom's side) immigrants. Her mom came from Peru legally at age 23, all by herself.  Became a nurse and is the kindest, most compassionate person I've ever met.  She single-handedly worked to bring nearly her entire family here over the years (some legally, some not). They have all been productive citizens and many of their children have gone on to the best universities in the U.S.

Immigrants are largely self-selected for success. If you are willing to risk everything to come here for a better life, chances are you are one motivated mofo and will make the most of your opportunities.

[MayDay]

Similar to Life happens, my in laws met in a labor camp in Poland. They went to Australia first,had 2 kids, then came to the US and had 2 more. My GMAIL still does not speak much English- they loved in a Polish neighborhood in Cleveland and she never had to.

My great grandmother came to the US from Denmark. I don't know the details as she died young. My dad's side emigrated from Germany a long time ago, again I don't know details. Other than some German food and some Danish cusomts we don't really have any connection. Depsite my husband's families recent immigration, they passed down no customs or language.

[the_fixer]

Father's side

My father and 9 other children (all orphans) were adopted and brought back to the US by my grandparents after the war in Germany. He was assigned an american sounding first and last name, no middle name. Grandfather was in the army air core as a flying fortress bombardier.

Mother's side

They came from Austria many generations ago but not 100% on the details.



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[big_slacker]

Most recently my wife was living a comfortable life in Poland. Her dad's plan was for the kids to take over the family business. My wife ended up winning her green card in the lottery and had already been to my little ski town several times to get US work experience on her CV. She came back over and we met at a BBQ. We went through the normal legal process which isn't that bad if you already have a green card. It's just waiting. She got her citizenship some years after, I don't recall the exact length of time.

My great grandparents came over from Scotland, family lore says they were invited to leave due to sheep rustling but who knows what the real reason was. They relocated to montana IIRC and worked as ranchers.

My kids and wife are dual citizens, we speak some Polish around the house and do some traditions. I don't get into political discussions about immigration, but I do think it's important to remember that almost all of us in the US are immigrants or descendants of immigrants.

[MishMash]

My mom was a natural born citizen. I don't know when her family immigrated. My father immigrated as a child. Got a blue collar job, worked his way through school, and became an engineer and eventually a manager.

Not family, but at my very first job, working in a restaurant kitchen, I was surrounded by immigrants. Mostly from places like Mexico and Central America. They outworked all of the native born workers, and it wasn't really even close. At my current job, I work with a lot of high skill immigrants from Asia and Africa.

My father, the guys in the kitchen, and my current immigrant coworkers all work very hard, pay taxes, and raise or have raised American children. They're what makes the USA the best country on the planet.

So many times this :-). 

[jinga nation]

My parents, sibling, grandparents, and myself are immigrants. Chain immigrants. Sponsored by my uncle, who married a chain immigrant and moved here in the late '70s.

[ncornilsen]

My mother's side came to the US in the 1800s. they wrote a book about it... wooden shoes west. It only goes as far as my grandpa's generation.

My dads side... well, kinda interesting. My great grandfather flew airplanes for the 3rd reich... mainly training, moving high level military people around, the ocassional jaunt to Russia where he scooped up the last few isolated survivors as Germany tried to withdrawl from Russia.

He didn't want to be in the military, but he was a well-known pilot in the private sector. As the war started and Germany invaded Poland, they came to his house, rounded up my grandmother, great grandmother, and the rest of the family, held a gun to his head to make him sign up, and moved them to a little town right outside Berlin. They saw him once a year until after the war ended.

Later in the war, his plane went down in the mediteranean. He saved a general who almost drowned, and was mad that doing so forced him to loose his favorite leather coat. Things were not going well for Germany and they saw traitors everywhere. They sent him to the firing squad, only sparing him at the last minute because they found evidence that the plane was sabataged by someone else.

He did send word to his family that they needed to flee Berlin. they snuck out, leaving everything behind. They let some friends stay in the house after this... shortly after, the allies bombed berlin, destroyed thier house, and killed the people they let live there. My grandma has a little crystal plate, which was the only thing that survived the bombing intact.

My grandma came to the states through Ellis Island, legally, in the early fifties, and they went on to own businesses, run a ranch, and raise 4 kids, who don't speak a word of German.

[tyrannostache]

My great, great grandparents came over from Ireland and Germany at a time when immigration from western Europe was basically a free-for-all. Thanks to homesteading laws, they were able to obtain land in the upper midwest nearly for FREE, for nothing more than their hard labor invested over time. Every generation since owes their success to that foundation.

[GU]

So, the common theme in the news is the deportation of illegal immigrants, and the deportation of some immigrants that have been in this country for decades.  I've noticed on media comment sections that the vast majority of individuals have NO idea how the US immigration system works (or doesn't) and that immigrants are, in general, getting bashed. We mostly all come from immigrant families so I figured I would start a thread where everyone could share their story.

My story starts with my grandfather, he was Jewish in Germany during Hitler.  A friend of theirs warned them of what was occurring early on and his mother and father took heed, a rarity.  They weren't wealthy but had enough to secure steerage passage to Shanghai, my great grandmother sewed all her jewelry into the lining of a coat and was able to pass inspection by the Nazi guards at the port.  This was early on in the war, that jewelry allowed them to secure housing in China. 

They lived in Shanghai in the Jewish ghetto, there GF apprenticed as a baker and met grandmother.  Since sugar at the time was a hot commodity...he plied her with sweet baked goods ;-)  They were there for many years until Mao cleared everyone out.  From there they moved the entire family, including both sets of parents to the US, they went through a Jewish foundation to get refugee status.  They were the only survivors from the family.

Grandfather started working in a business and 6 years later had the opportunity to buy it.  He wasn't a full citizen at the time, so he went down to the states office and literally bribed the clerk to put his paperwork through, yes he only became legal because of graft (we are pretty sure he did the same for his drivers license, until the day he died you did NOT want to ride in a car with him).  Once that cleared the entire family, all 12 from both sides that all lived in a 2 bed townhome, pitched in and the business was bought.

Fast forward a number of years and he built that place up to one of the premier bakeries in his city.  It supplied all the fancy hotels, local food establishments and the community for 40 odd years until he retired and sold it.  He had one of the lowest turnover rates in the city, and largely hired immigrants, he always said if you treat your people fair, they will do the same for you.  His funeral (he was 98) brought employees he hadn't seen in 20-30 odd years to the synagogue and to shiva, many of whom shared their own success stories.

1.  "We mostly all come from immigrant families"  That's an interesting statement. Was there a poll on the forum establishing this?  Assuming we're talking about the people who live in the U.S., I would guess that most MMM posters are not immigrants or 1st generation Americans (what I would call "immigrant families").

2.  "the common theme in the news is the deportation of illegal immigrants, and the deportation of some immigrants that have been in this country for decades"  Yes, if you are in the U.S. illegally, you might get kicked out.  That's the risk you take by blatantly flouting the nation's immigration laws.  Most countries treat illegal immigrants way worse.  Here's a look at how Mexico treats its immigrants:  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/06/15/immigrants-mexico-abused-kidnapped/85798440/

3.  Family immigration stories are interesting but irrelevant to policy questions such as "How much immigration should we have going forward?" "Should we grant amnesty to illegal aliens?"  "Should we end chain migration?" etc.

[pachnik]

I've enjoyed reading these.  Here's mine:

My paternal grandparents decided to leave former Yugoslavia in the very early 1960's.  My dad was already married to my mom and they decided to leave as well.  So did my grandfather's two brothers and their families.  There were 11 of them in all leaving.  They weren't sure they'd be able to ever see the loved ones that stayed behind because it was Cold War times.   But fortunately, they were able to go back and forth a bit. 

They wanted to come to Canada but couldn't just go straight from former Yugoslavia to there because again it was Cold War times.  So they spent two years in Switzerland working and then all moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba.   After two winters in the Peg they moved to British Columbia because of the weather.  My grandpa and great uncles were all in the building trades and were successful.  They arrived in Canada around 50 years of age knowing no English but it didn't stop them.  They were very hard working and good tradesmen. 

In the early 80's, I was a teen and was lucky enough to get to help my grandpa build a rental house.  He'd retired from official work but still did things for family members.   

[Morning Glory]

100% immigrant here, my dad was even "illegal" for a while:

My mom is a US citizen from New York , she met my dad while doing a study abroad program in the UK, then stayed and got married and had me. She registered me at the consulate so I have dual citizenship, which is pretty cool. After my dad graduated she convinced him to do his PhD in New York to be closer to her family. Once he finished the PhD he went on to do some sort of postdoctoral fellowship in another state. After the year was up he was offered a job at a flagship university and someone there figured out that he was on an expired student visa. This was the 80's so it was no big deal and the new employer helped him get a green card. Eventually he and my mom divorced and he moved back to the U.K. for a few years, and now lives in Norway. All of his siblings live in Australia or New Zealand, so I have no close relatives in the UK.

My maternal grandfather's ancestors emigrated from France to Quebec in the 1800s. His branch landed in upstate New York but there is a town in Quebec with the same name as him.
Maternal grandmother was of Irish and Scottish ancestry.

[Caroline PF]

I love reading these stories.

I don't know my own family's immigration stories. They immigrated somewhere around my great-great-great-grandparents generation. All I know is that the majority came from England.

My husband immigrated with his family at the age of 17 from China. His father moved over alone, found a US citizen, and married her. Once he was settled, he sent for his children. And after he got his citizenship, he promptly divorced his wife. He had planned it that way from the beginning. He was not what I would consider a good role model.

My good friend just recently got her citizenship. She came over with her mother as a child over 25 years ago; her mother was on a student visa for a PhD program, I think. She transitioned to her own student visa when she got to college. Then fell in love, got married, got a green card, and then her citizenship.

I believe that immigration makes our country better. We generally get educated risk-takers, which overall improve our country.

[MandalayVA]

I'm Irish and German on my mother's side.  Both parts got here around 1840 or so, the Germans (grandmother) coming from outside Munich, the Irish from County Ulster.  My grandparents' marriage--they met in high school--was the first time in either family's memory that German didn't marry German and Irish didn't marry Irish. My grandfather's family, particularly his mother, referred to my grandmother as "the Kraut" for years.

I'm Scottish and French-Canadian on my dad's side.  My grandmother's family allegedly went to Canada to escape the French Revolution, but my grandmother came from Quebec to Connecticut when she was three in 1901.  My grandfather came from Paisley, Scotland and went through Ellis Island in 1915; I found him on the rolls on Ellis Island's website.  How they got together I have no idea, and even though they had eight kids together it was basically a match made in hell from everything I know.  :(

[Fresh Bread]

I love hearing everyone's family stories :)

I'm a first generation immigrant from the UK to Australia. As was common here in the 2000's due to skills shortages, I got sponsored by a company that offered me a job. The paperwork at every stage was a bit of a nightmare. The good news is that to become a citizen is very easy because the difficult hoops have already been jumped through by that stage. My hubby then boyfriend got every legal status I got as my spouse but we had to prove the relationship to the authorities. We've been here 15 years now and some days we feel Australian and other days I think it's too bloody hot and I'm sick of these animals that can kill me, let's move to NZ.

[bogart]

Couldn't tell you my father's side, though I'd guess they immigrated from some combination of the UK and Germany in the 17th or 18th century.  My mother came to the US about 60 years ago, she had one European and one American parent (though neither she nor the American-born parent had ever lived here) and could qualify for joint citizenship (US and European country of origin) if she lived here for some number of years before she turned ... 25?  I don't know.  Anyway, she met my dad and stayed. 

Most of my mother's side of the family still lives in various parts of Europe, and family norms definitely don't include staying any particular place.  I'd probably already have left the US were it not for my husband's resistance to the idea.  Really not at all sure that I want to raise my kid here, with what's going on (including, though certainly not limited to, our current treatment of immigrants).

DH's family, as far as we can tell, got its start in the US after one jumped off a prison ship that the Brits had sent to the colonies...

[Morning Glory]

I'm Scottish and French-Canadian on my dad's side.  My grandmother's family allegedly went to Canada to escape the French Revolution, but my grandmother came from Quebec to Connecticut when she was three in 1901.  My grandfather came from Paisley, Scotland and went through Ellis Island in 1915; I found him on the rolls on Ellis Island's website.  How they got together I have no idea, and even though they had eight kids together it was basically a match made in hell from everything I know.  :(

Small world.
My grandpa used to tell the French revolution story too : ) Also he talked about when he was little his parents divorced and he was sent to live with relatives in Connecticut who spoke only French. Once his dad remarried he moved back to New York with him.

[CSuzette]

I have done a lot of genealogy research. Mother’s side arrived in 1630 to Boston from Devon England with Winthrop -first governor of Massachusetts. He was a sea captain and ferried goods to the colonies. Winthrop called him cousin but not sure if related by blood. Father’s side likely came in 1709 with William Penn. Still working on that one.

I am for legal immigration and voted for Trump. That probably says it all :)

[jim555]

My mother came over from England in 1949, naturalized to a US citizen in 1954.  She was a teenager in WW2.

My father's side came over way back in the 1780s I think.  Became mostly farmers in the Midwest.

[retireatbirth]

Been here for generations. Came over legally.

[AMandM]

I'm the product of three strands of arrivals to North America. My paternal grandfather's family came from England in 1630, so they were colonists rather than immigrants. They settled mainly in Vermont.

My paternal grandmother's family came from Ireland during the Famine.  According to family lore, they landed somewhere in the Maritimes and walked down to Vermont.

My mother is the only recent immigrant. When she was about 5, her family came from China to California for temporary project my grandfather was working on, fundraising for a Chinese university or something like that. But their return was made impossible by the outbreak of the civil war in China. Their visas expired, so they were in the US illegally, but were granted permission to stay on humanitarian grounds.  My sister has a letter from a respected Chinese-American doctor to the US immigration authorities vouching for them.

My father's ancestry makes my sisters and me eligible for membership in the DAR. My parents were going to sign us up, just to shake up an organization that they saw as stuffy and exclusionary, but they dropped the idea because it turned out we don't appear very Chinese.

[Lanthiriel]

My great grandparents immigrated from Norway to Canada with all their children (at least five, maybe more) in the early 1900s.  The boat let them off in Montreal.  The Counsul at the Norwegian Consulate took one look at all those poor people and, not wanting them and their problems in his district, paid for their onward passage to the United States.

True story.

This is basically the story of my mom's side of the family. My grandma and her twin sister were the only kids out of 7 that were born in the US. They also came from Norway to Canada in the 1930s and were immediately shunted to North Dakota. On my grandfather's side, his mom's parents came from Sweden in the early 1900s and wound up living in a mud thatch house in North Dakota.

My dad's family is so poor and many in the older generations died so young that I have no idea what their story is. We're German on that side, though, and I think they came over pre-1900s.

[caracarn]

My parents came over separately in the late 1960s from different parts of Poland to escape the Communist bloc.  Both families were helped by other relatives who were already here, but because of the challenges of immigrating directly they came by way of Canada and then came to the US after that.

They met in high school in Chicago and got married very young .  Typical Eastern European not speaking much about family I only found out they they were pregnant with me before they go married  because just before I moved out of the house after college I came across something with the year of their wedding anniversary.  Everything around the house only showed the month and day of their anniversary, but never the year.  They got married in February.  I was born in July.  They still never have really talked about it openly, as it seems to be a point of shame for them, getting pregnant outside of wedlock.  As I grew up both sets of grandparents only spoke Polish and I did not learn English myself until I started going to school.  Polish neighborhoods were prevalent in Chicago in the 70s and every business and establishment like banks etc. had Polish employees so there was not a need to learn English.  When we moved to the suburbs during kindergarten year that changed. 

My parents worked hard, neither having any college.  My mother worked for a time but was a stay at home mom from when I was an infant on.  I was the first person in my family to go to college.  I feel having all this in my background makes me see a much different perspective on immigrants and the blessings we have in the US.  I grew up on stories of what life was like back in Poland during those times.  Lots of family and friends never left and even to this day my mother gets letters from people in Poland.  While things have gotten much better there now, back in their time it was not a really pleasant life.  They taught me to be thankful for the many freedoms taken for granted here.  I'm also old enough to have lived through some of the evil sterotypes of "dumb Polack" and such that emerged from people's mouths before they even could begin to assess my intelligence or understand that I was actually born here.

It is a terrible thing to stereotype people.  Immigrants do so much for a country and continue to be amongst the hardest working people I come in contact with.  Thinking that being born here somehow makes one better is very un-American, or at least it used to be before the underground beliefs became OK in public with our new national leadership.  I pray that we as a country hold on to our old thoughts and appreciate immigrants and the contributions they make and the diversity they add to our melting pot society.  Labeling immigrants as less than is a thing I hope we get away from as a people.

[BTDretire]

My wife's parents fled the Ortega regime in the 80's and moved to Miami.

They experienced the worst of authoritarian socialism so I don't blame them for watching fox news and supporting Trump - it's easy to veer too far in the opposite direction when you have such a negative experience.

 I was born and raised in Michigan, just wondering if I get a reprieve from your blame for watching Foxnews and supporting Pesident Trump.

[Spiffy]

Mom's side is from England and were colonists. Is that the same as immigrant? Not sure. My Dad's side came from Germany in the early 1900's directly to Galveston and were part of the settlement in the Texas Hill country, which retains it's German heritage. So I am pretty much as WASPy as you can get. I do not feel like I come from an immigrant family.

[seattlecyclone]

I've done a bit of genealogy research. All 16 of my great-great-grandparents were born in America. Their ancestors all immigrated legally, which I know because there was no such thing as "illegal immigration" in the US until the Page Act of 1875. Before that, you could just move here if you thought there would be better opportunities for you in the US than your country of birth. I'm all in favor of returning to that general policy, with the possible exception of people with a criminal record. The US is far from "full." Immigrants have always had an important role to play in our country. We become better, not worse, for accepting more of them into our society.

[BTDretire]

I've done a bit of genealogy research. All 16 of my great-great-grandparents were born in America. Their ancestors all immigrated legally, which I know because there was no such thing as "illegal immigration" in the US until the Page Act of 1875. Before that, you could just move here if you thought there would be better opportunities for you in the US than your country of birth.
 I'm all in favor of returning to that general policy, with the possible exception of people with a criminal record. The US is far from "full." Immigrants have always had an important role to play in our country. We become better, not worse, for accepting more of them into our society.

Totally different way of life now, you could work without all types of government regs and rules. You could subsist on what you grew and made. A house is what you could build, you can't build a shack to live in anymore, to many rules, you pay the government just to start and land isn't free. We have a 4% unemployment rate, who do you want to displace with the lower cost immigrant workers. The population in 1875 was 11% of what it is now. There was no welfare system for immigrants to collect from.
  I have no problem with legal immigration and since people want to come here, we can use that and have a merit based immigration system. I don't think anyone should be able to come here and collect taxpayer money. All should have a financially responsible sponsor.
 

[caracarn]

All should have a financially responsible sponsor.
 

So that means you're all for Russian mail-order brides then?

[Caroline PF]

Before that, you could just move here if you thought there would be better opportunities for you in the US than your country of birth. I'm all in favor of returning to that general policy, with the possible exception of people with a criminal record. The US is far from "full." Immigrants have always had an important role to play in our country. We become better, not worse, for accepting more of them into our society.

I wholeheartedly agree with this in theory. I would love to be able to accept any refugee, or anyone seeking a better life, without quotas.

In practice, it becomes less realistic. I think that long-term, if we did this, our country would be much better off. But the short-term would be ugly, with an amplified backlash against foreigners 'stealing our jobs and eroding our shared culture.' You, know, just like what we're seeing now, but much worse. Not to mention arguments on who bears the financial burden of getting new immigrants educated (language and/or job training) and productive.

[zhelud]

All should have a financially responsible sponsor.
 

So that means you're all for Russian mail-order brides then?

Why do so many people assume that undocumented immigrants are receiving government benefits?  This belief is so widespread, yet so easily debunked with just a google search.  Undocumented immigrants can't get Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, social security, or welfare. 

Also, green card applicants do have to show that they are not "likely to become a public charge," or have a sponsor make a pledge on their behalf.

[Goldielocks]

These stories are great reading.

Great Grandfather came from a wealthy(ish) family that owned a brewery in England.  He was told (no choice) that he would learn the naval  / sea trade for shipping, his brother agriculture (growing grains in Australia), and the eldest to stay at home to learn the primary business.  All to support the family business.   He was assigned as a cabin boy (as a teenager) on a sailing vessel at the time when there was a mixture of steam driven and wooden sailing ships on the seas.   On his first voyage, he jumped ship in Lima, Peru.  At the time, this was a hanging offense, so I can only imagine what life was like for him on board that vessel as the cabin boy.  He made his way north.  Far, far north, to hide from being found.   He ended up homesteading 100 miles north of Edmonton.   I don't think he ever wrote or spoke with his father again.

Great grandmother came from Germany via Ukraine.  Her strict German father had been assigned as an overseer on Ukranian farms (that had been taken away from the Ukranians that owned them).   She fell in love and her beau went to Canada to start a new life, vowing to send for her.  After a year, she heard nothing, and escaped Ukraine.  Mainly escaped her father, but at the time, there were uprisings against the German take over, and she describes crawling under fences and hiding in muddy ditches overnight while people were being shot at.   She arrived in western Canada to find out that her beau was now with someone else.  Eventually she met great grandfather, and moved to his homestead to scratch out a living.  Grandmother was born there and talks about the dirt floors in the winter, and sitting on the kitchen table to peel potatoes, the floor was so cold.   They moved to Edmonton area eventually.

Another grandfather came on his own at 16 from Denmark in the 1930's.  Married grandmother (above) who was working as a maid at a hotel.  Here is the thing, because of the wars, in Western Canada, anyone that spoke German, or any language that sounded like German, including Dutch, low german, danish, polish etc., were discriminated against (especially those Ukranians and Dhoukabors!).  As a result, nearly everyone worked very hard to only speak English, and the languages were not passed down.

Interesting fact -- because Grandfather did not have his formal immigration papers for Canada complete (he was legal entry in the 1930's, just did not finalize paperwork, maybe because he was a teenager and did not know), during the second world war, he was suddenly termed a "Displaced Person" (DP) around 1943 with no status or rights to assistance within Canada.  Therefore my grandmother, his wife, who was actually born in Canada, was also now a "Displaced Person" with no country of citizenship.   This status was not resolved for many years... no voting or governmental assistance was available to them during this time.  My fathers remembers being quite poor, as grandfather's carpentry work was sporadic, likely due to anti-german attitudes, lack of Canadian status, despite his being Danish and having lived legally in Canada for more than 10 years.

It is hard to describe how important having a PR or Citizenship status is.

[caracarn]

All should have a financially responsible sponsor.
 

So that means you're all for Russian mail-order brides then?

Why do so many people assume that undocumented immigrants are receiving government benefits?  This belief is so widespread, yet so easily debunked with just a google search.  Undocumented immigrants can't get Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, social security, or welfare. 

Also, green card applicants do have to show that they are not "likely to become a public charge," or have a sponsor make a pledge on their behalf.

No clue, but you are right, it is the biggest false assumption people make.  But hey, Fox News said it is so, so why would I do a google search, they say. 

The moochers of the system I know are not undocumented immigrants.  They are lazy US citizens who pretend they have issues so they don't have to work.  I guess it's always easy to blame the "other" instead of taking a hard look at what the real problem is.

[seattlecyclone]

I've done a bit of genealogy research. All 16 of my great-great-grandparents were born in America. Their ancestors all immigrated legally, which I know because there was no such thing as "illegal immigration" in the US until the Page Act of 1875. Before that, you could just move here if you thought there would be better opportunities for you in the US than your country of birth.
 I'm all in favor of returning to that general policy, with the possible exception of people with a criminal record. The US is far from "full." Immigrants have always had an important role to play in our country. We become better, not worse, for accepting more of them into our society.

Totally different way of life now, you could work without all types of government regs and rules.

I support changing that too. :-) If you live somewhere, you should be allowed to work there.

As to the welfare stuff, I have no real problem with telling newcomers that they aren't eligible for certain benefits programs until they've spent a few years in the country.

I personally would like to live in a world where I could choose to go anywhere I want at any time for any reason, and stay however long I like. Wouldn't that be nice? I realize that's not realistic unless I'm also willing to grant others the same right.

[the_fixer]

Do we really have to turn this thread into a political discussion???

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[Milizard]

I learned via her obituary, that my Polish grandmother was born in Connecticut, but returned to Poland as a child in the early 1900's.  My dad was a young child when WWII broke out, and his family went through hell as refugees sent to Siberia and then to Africa.  My dad emigrated from Poland to the US in his 20's.  He had gone to a technical school in Poland, and became an engineer in the US.  He became interested investing later on, which he tried to pass on to me, and died with a decent stash.

My mom recounted a scary childhood, hiding in bomb shelters and churches during bombing raids during WWII.  Her whole family was relocated from Lithuania to another part of Poland after the war (still pissed at FDR for that).  She met my father on her second visit to family in the US and stayed.  She was older, and he was a widower with 2 small children.  This was during the cold war, and life was very crappy behind the iron curtain.  During my childhood, she would often send packages back to family back home, mostly clothing obtained at garage sales, but sometimes money that had to be hidden so that it wouldn't be stolen.  My cousin told me if it hadn't been for those packages, his family would have been completely destitute.  Despite continuing to be very attached to her old country, my mom eventually became a citizen when I was in my 20's.

I have a cousin from my dad's side who came legally to the US with his parents and sister at the age of 3.  He is so typically American, I couldn't believe it when I learned this fact.  He is now in his mid-50's, has been here legally the entire time, but, as far as I know, has still never bothered to get his citizenship.  For the longest time, it was just a matter of voting rights, but the winds have changed quickly and I worry for him a bit.  He's now married, but that doesn't seem to matter too much.  There was a recent story about a Polish doctor, who came to the country in a similar fashion, that is being detained by ICE.

[MishMash]

Yup not turning this into a political thing.  I will say to all the fox newsers up thread, if your grand parents or great grandparents aren't Native American, you are from an immigrant family.  We are a country based off of immigration.  Some people tend to forget that.

[Baboo]

Do we really have to turn this thread into a political discussion???

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Um, it was political from the OP's post from the giddy-up?

[the_fixer]

Maybe I misunderstood the intent but the OP asked us to share our or our families stories not to debate or attack each other.

Ohh well...

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[MishMash]

Do we really have to turn this thread into a political discussion???

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Um, it was political from the OP's post from the giddy-up?

no, no it was not.  just a reminder that we all come from immigrant families, even probably almost all you folks that are anti immigration.  this thread is for people to share their family immigration stories, so that we can hear what folks have accomplished or escaped over the generations.  it's just a general reminder of our countries history.  if you don't like it, please feel free to remove yourself, and your vicious attitudes from the thread.  you know...personal choice and all.

[BTDretire]

All should have a financially responsible sponsor.
 

So that means you're all for Russian mail-order brides then?

 No, there should be criteria other than a sham marriage to get into the US.
But there seems to be plenty of that happening, and not just Russian.

[BTDretire]

 I'll relate my wife's story.
She was a teen when the Vietnam war ended, here father was a fisherman/shrimper business man and had 5 boats that he had working. When the communists took over they took all of his boats away.
  At some point her father made the decision to escape Vietnam, but wanted to wait until his son, my wife's brother, got out of the reeducation camp, he was in the South Vietnamese army so, needed “reeducation”.
 Once the son was released, my wife's father started to build a large boat, it was a scary situation because they didn't know who was reporting to the authorities. The last thing put in the boat was the motor, there was never a test run, the first time out was the escape run. He did a rendezvous at a predetermined spot, others who had taken smaller boats out to the spot, got on the larger boat.
  They then headed for Malaysia. When they arrived at one of the Malaysian islands and got near shore
other Vietnamese who had escaped earlier, came out and started knocking holes in the boat making it un-seaworthy. The reason for this, the Malaysian Navy would tow any seaworthy boat back out to sea.
  My wife, her father and two brothers spent 6 months surviving in a camp, making their hut, beds and
doing some trading with the Malaysians that brought supplies to the island. They actually did OK, because they were used to buying and selling from growing up in her fathers business.
  The were sponsored by a Vietnam Veteran, that brought them to a northern state, the first time they saw snow and cold!  An older sister and her family immigrated and end up in the same city with  the rest of the family. About as soon as her father got a car, he headed for Florida and the ocean, so he could work at what he knew. He worked in the fishing industry until he had enough money hand built a 40ft shrimpboat, he worked that while saving money, then again, hand built a 60ft shrimpboat.
  My wife was at a community college taking English as a second language, and I was taking an English class in the same hallway. I saw her standing in the doorway of her classroom during a break between classes and well, "they lived happily ever after.”
 We sponsored another sister and her son about 8 years after we got married. So all the brothers and sisters are together.
 

P.S. My wife, has told many funny and some sad stories about the escape, island time, learning the culture and more, early on I tried to get her to write it all down for a book, but she wasn't interested.
 After her time on the island, she has zero interest in camping! She says, I camped for 6 months, no more. :-)

[Paul der Krake]

Repeat first generation immigrant here, currently in the US as country #4. There will be a #5, and probably more after that. No story about escaping from poverty or oppression.

Currently staying here because of the high wages, great leisure, and complacency.