In the late 1890s all of my grandparents came to the United States from Scandinavia. My father’s parents from Sweden and my mother’s parents from Denmark, unannounced, looking for a better life. They were welcomed into the country. My dad’s parents settled in Barre, VT, where my grandfather worked in the granite industry. My mom’s parents settled in Montpelier, Idaho, where my grandfather worked laying railroad tracks before moving east and working as a gardener in Newport, RI. One of my mom’s sisters was born in the old country and came here with them. They all became U.S. citizens.
I think it would not be any different for those that have come across the U.S. borders unannounced if they were offered a pathway to citizenship. While I was serving in the Army there were three guys I knew, two from Central America and one from Canada, using military service as a quick pathway to citizenship. There is nothing wrong with letting people become productive workers in our country.
A quick pathway could be made for the illegals if we had a caring Congress allowing citizenship for all that pass vetting. It certainly would be less expensive than removing them. Especially in the manner presently being used, in which, the illegals are being treated as if they are less than human.
This is where the problem lays. We presently do not have a democracy or a republic. We have a Congress that is dominated by a political party that fears their vindictive party leader, and president, so much they sit silent and have handed over their power to him. We have a Supreme Court run by members appointed by the president. The judicial system is controlled by the president’s appointees. The military is being totally controlled by the president. The rest of the executive branch is messing in a bad way with voting rights, our health, public and private education, rewriting our country’s history, interfering with the free press, and broadcasting, and taking benefits away from the unfortunate living among us.
Our president does not respect other countries’ sovereignty. Universities, businesses, and corporations bow to the president’s demands. There have been very questionable presidential pardons given to persons both foreign and domestic. Our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the amendments are being superseded by hundreds of executive orders signed by the president. At the very best our national government is an autocracy that is teetering on being a very dangerous dictatorship.
The balance of power in the United States is in bad need of restoration. If, and when it is, we may be able to welcome in the tired, the poor, and huddled masses yearning to be free.
Hendrickson lives in Moretown.
