Solidarity and Immigration: the Ellis Island model
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
These words, etched at the base of the Statue of Liberty, were part of a poem called “The New Colossus” written by American poet Emma Lazarus in 1883. Lazarus, who was living in New York City was of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish descent and was able to trace her roots back to the first Jews who came to North America according to the National Park Service. According to Alan Kraut, a professor of history at American University, “Immigration and freedom of the oppressed was very much on her mind when writing this poem”.
And this message was translated into reality in the generous U.S. immigration policy for legal immigration in the ports of entry at Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco, New Orleans and most predominantly at New York City. In fact, the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island in New York City was a minor teenage girl named Annie Moore who came with her younger brothers. For the next 62 years, approximately 12 million people, largely from European countries,would be processed through the Ellis Island port of entry alone. The relatively efficient inspection process usually lasted about three to five hours and only 2% of the arriving immigrants were excluded from entry despite the fact that they did not have appointments or were expected in any way. In fact, during Ellis Island's first few decades, immigrants to the United states did not require passports, visas or any official government paperwork at all.
During the Great Atlantic Migration which began in the 1800s, immigrants from Italy, Ireland and other European countries, including Germany, came to the United States. There was political turmoil, such as the repercussions of a revolutionary movement in Germany, and economic difficulty such as the aftermath of the potato famine of Ireland that drove many to the United States. Many Americans of European descent can trace their heritage through Ellis Island and interestingly there is a database where one can search the ships’ documents for the name of an ancestor who came to the United States through Ellis Island. In fact approximately 40% of America's population can trace their ancestry through Ellis Island. One notable immigrant in 1885 was Friedrich Trump, the grandfather of current president Donald Trump. In an article from Forbes magazine, it is noted that the region that Friedrich came from was ravaged by wars and misrule that propelled Germans like him to flee to America. Friedrich, who spoke little English, was a minor of 16 years old when he came to the United States and joined his sister who was already in the United States.
In the midst of this generous immigration policy, an anti-immigration movement was active and resulted in the first restrictions on immigration notably the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which provided an absolute 10 year ban on Chinese laborers immigrating to the United States, the Foran Act of 1885 which prohibited the importation and migration of foreigners under contract to perform labor in the United States, and other quotas (limits on the number of immigrants from any particular country) after World War I. Notably, the Immigration Act of 1924 awarded 82% of the world quota of immigrants to the United States from western and northern European countries, 14% to immigrants from eastern and southern European countries and a mere 4% to immigrants from the remaining eastern hemisphere. During this post World War I time, a notable immigrant arrived in New York City from a favored region in quota allocation. President Donald Trump's mother Mary Ann McLeod was born on the island of Lewis in Scotland but emigrated to New York In 1930 at the age of 18 to seek work as a domestic servant. She was one of many thousands of Scots who traveled to the United States and Canada in the early years of the last century looking to escape economic hardship at home.
The current state of legal immigration to the United States is astoundingly difficult with very long wait times to obtain a visa on average. There are currently in place immigration quotas: 1) for country of origin, 2) for particular employment preferences with skilled laborers, advanced degrees having more preference whereas unskilled workers having the least preference 3) family preferences with spouses or minor children of legal residents or US citizens, adult married or unmarried children of U.S. citizens, unmarried child of resident, and siblings of U.S. citizens. As noted in this article by the Cato Institute, more than 100,000 legal immigrants- 28% of those seeking family sponsored and employment-based visas waited a decade or more to apply for a green card in 2018 up from 3% in 1991. Thirty-one percent had no wait from the quotas in 1991 whereas only 2% had no wait in 2018. In particular there are certain countries where there is a backlog of people waiting for visas due to the quotas. Consider, for example, our neighbor to the south, Mexico which has a total backlog of 1.3 million people waiting for a visa. The number of years on average for waiting to apply for a green card from Mexico was over eight years in 2018. The wait times are so long that many will die before seeing a green card. About 675,000 would-be immigrants, 14% of those waiting in 2018, will die without ever seeing a green card if they refuse to give up and stay in the line indefinitely. According to the Cato Institute, the projected wait time for Mexican and Filipino married adult children of U.S. citizens and Mexican siblings of U.S. citizens is approximately 100 years (in the backlog to apply for a green card if they applied in 2018, if linear trends continue).
Contrast this to the three to five hour wait times at Ellis Island at the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. One can see more clearly the problem with the current immigration system for those seeking to reunite with their families or to seek a better economic situation. And one can see why migrants would come to the United States without documents as there is no clear port of entry similar to Ellis Island. And one can contemplate if our current immigration system is an injustice for the migrant.
The Donald Trump presidency currently seeks to deport millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States without any foreseeable plan to reform the legal immigration system or measures to improve the economic and political situation in countries of origin. He has used unnecessarily degrading political rhetoric such as calling immigrants “invaders” or “criminals.” It is important to note that coming into the United States without documents is considered a civil offense and NOT a criminal offense. In addition, it should be noted that undocumented immigrants have a lower felony rate of crime than legal immigrants or U.S. citizens and also pay a good deal of taxes (over 16 billion per year without ready access to tax credits or social services) despite misinformation to the contrary. And despite all the political claims of the administration targeting criminals with its deportation plan, around half of those being deported by the current administration’s policies had not committed a criminal offense. Vice President JD Vance spoke on a Fox News interview about taking care of family and the United States citizens while seemingly ignoring the grave needs and injustices faced by immigrants from other countries. He even later referenced a Christian term “ordo amoris” on X in an incorrect way to somehow justify this immigration policy. In response to the Catholic Church’s criticism of the Trump Administration’s immigration policy, Vance, who is a recent Catholic convert, even (falsely) accused agencies under the Catholic Church, who care for refugees, of selfishness (and not being “a good partner on immigration enforcement”), in an interview on CBS Face the Nation, “I think that the US conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns or are they actually worried about their bottom line?”
In a statement from Jan 22, 2025, in response to the Trump administration’s executive orders on immigration, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (or USCCB) said: “we cannot abide injustice, and we stress that national self-interest does not justify policies with consequences that are contrary to the moral law. The use of sweeping generalizations to denigrate any group such as describing all undocumented immigrants as ‘criminals’ or ‘invaders’, to deprive them of protection under the law, is an affront to God who has created each of us in his own image” and from Jan 23, 2025: “we uphold the belief that all people are conceived with inherent dignity reflecting the image of God. Through our parishes, shelters, hospitals, schools and other church institutions, we recognize that this dignity is not dependent on a person's citizenship or immigration status.” In addition, “non-emergency immigration enforcement in schools, places of worship, social service agencies, healthcare facilities and other sensitive settings where people receive essential services would be contrary to the common good.” In response to the accusations by JD Vance, the USCCB also put out a statement on Jan 26th, 2025 stating “every person we settled through the United States Refugee Admissions Program is vetted and approved for the program by the federal government while outside of the United States. In our agreements with the government, the USCCB receives funds to do this work; however these funds are not sufficient to cover the entire cost of these programs. Nonetheless, this remains a work of mercy and ministry of the church.” In other words the Catholic Church does not make money off of this endeavor (confirmed by tax records) as was incorrectly suggested by JD Vance. Pope Francis also released a letter on Feb 11, 2025, in response to the immigration situation in the United States stating “the true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), that is by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
So what is the solution to this seemingly complicated immigration situation? I think we can start with solidarity, a commitment to the common good.
The Christian tradition is rich with the command to help the immigrant. As the original chosen people of God, the Israelites were many times immigrants in foreign lands and Jesus himself with Joseph and his mother, Mary, needed to flee as refugees to Egypt from the violence of King Herod against innocent children. And specifically as stated by Catholic tradition in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (a central resource on Catholic Church teaching) entry 1867, there are sins that “cry out to heaven” that include “the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, the cry of the foreigner”.
The American Solidarity Party (ASP) is a relatively new political party which is informed by Christian tradition. As it stated in a February 5th article in response to the discussion of the concept of ordo amoris: “the ASP is a Christian Democratic Party: that is it's a party that takes what the Christian tradition has said about human beings and their duties to each other and tries to apply that to modern political life”. It also later stated “you might need to be reminded that when you're forced to decide how to treat a person or a group of people, and ask, ‘how much do I owe them’, the answer, whatever it looks like, will never be ‘nothing’ and will always be ‘love’”, with Christian love defined as willing the good of the other.
Officially, the American Solidarity Party platform states that it “believes the biblical admonition to welcome the stranger creates an obligation to migrants and refugees seeking entry to our country. We must enact policies that reconcile the legitimate interests of Americans and secure borders with the core commitment to human dignity”. This includes the responsibility to implement “safe, secure, and orderly borders” with facilities at specific ports of entry and not other locations to “combat human trafficking and smuggling”. This also includes “extending labor protections to all workers to prevent their exploitation … and for immigration enforcement to prioritize curtailing illegal hiring practices over mass deportations.” One other policy change which is not specifically in the ASP platform would be to reform the unsustainable visa processing system as it currently is.
In this spirit of solidarity, our country could truly be great, as it had been specifically with the orderly, efficient, and charitable immigration policy through Ellis Island. So let us now come together and seek the common good of all, citizens and non-citizens, documented or undocumented. And as such, let us say, with a sense of justice and a great sense of mercy to our brothers and sisters, in the U.S. and abroad, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”