The Week, On Immigration

I meant to post this a while back. The Week had an excellent roundup of columns from the US, all dealing with the proposed immigration law in the US.
I enjoyed the editorial, as well, on the same subject. Found myself singing one of my favorite Indigo Girls' lines:

"I think we were on the same boat back in 1492."

Funny how little things change, really. My great great grandfather walked off a whaler onto the streets of New Bedford, MA, absolutely illegal, in the days when no respectable business would hire an Irishman. He enlisted in the Army to earn a living and make himself legit, and died at 33 in a Union military uniform. Not so unlike the immigrants of today, really, was he?

Anyway, my "line of the week" on the subject comes at the end of this comment from Leonard Pitts in the Miami Herald (as quoted in The Week):

And this wave of immigration will surely change America, just as the Irish, Chinese, Italians, and Eastern Europeans did when they came in waves in the 19th and 20th centuries. Back then, nativists also predicted catastrophe. And guess what? The newcomers all became Americans, adding new flavor to the melting pot. So it will go with Latinos, given some time.

“An influx of people doesn’t threaten our national identity.

It is our national identity.”