\nHarbors opened their arms to the young searching foreigner<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Come to live in the light of the beacon of liberty<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Planes and open skies, billboards would advertise<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Was it anything like that when you arrived<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
From our nation\u2019s founding and for most of its first century of existence, actual citizenship was restricted to male, \u201cfree white persons\u201d by the 1790\u00a0Naturalization Act<\/a>; though otherwise, our borders were quite open, encouraging new arrivals to help populate the country and supply labor for industrialization and westward expansion.<\/p>\n
\nDreamboats carry the future to the heart of America<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
People were waiting in line for a place by the river<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
It was a time when strangers were welcome here<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Music would play, they tell me the days were sweet and clear<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room that people could come from everywhere<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The Statue of Liberty<\/a> was first envisioned in 1865 as a gift from the people of France meant to commemorate the historical friendship between the two countries and the centennial of U.S. independence in 1876.<\/p>\n
\nNow he arrives with his hopes and his heart set on miracles<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Come to marry his fortune with a hand full of promises<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
To find they’ve closed the door, they don’t want him anymore<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Isn’t anymore to go around<\/p>\n
<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
But by the time of its delayed opening in 1886, the federal government had created its first immigration regulations and popular sentiment was turning against foreigners, particularly non-Europeans: The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act<\/a> was the first law passed specifically to restrict immigrants from entering the country.<\/p>\n
Emma Lazarus\u2019 famous poem, \u201cThe New Colossus<\/a>,\u201d emblazoned on the statue\u2019s pedestal immediately began to feel more aspirational than real:<\/p>\n
Give me your tired, your poor,<\/em>
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,<\/em>
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.<\/em>
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!<\/em><\/p>\nThe rest of \u201cThe Immigrant\u201d is a lament and a cautionary tale about what happens when the \u201cbeacon of liberty\u201d turns its back on the world:<\/p>\n
\nTurning away he remembers he once heard\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
A legend that spoke of a mystical magical land called America<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
There was a time when strangers were welcome here<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Music would play, they tell me the days were sweet and clear<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room that people could come from everywhere<\/p>\n
<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Looking back from 2026, this semiquincentennial year of our nation\u2019s founding, the last hundred-and-fifty years have watched the pendulum of American immigration policy swing back and forth between restriction (often connected to economic anxiety, war, or cultural fears) and openness (usually tied to labor needs or humanitarian ideals).<\/p>\n
\nA 1921 political cartoon portrays America\u2019s new immigration quotas, influenced by popular anti-immigrant and nativist sentiment stemming from World War I conflict.\u00a0(Library of Congress<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n The Emergency Quota Act of 1921<\/a> and Immigration Act of 1924<\/a> imposed strict national quotas favoring northern Europeans and practically eliminating Asian immigration.<\/p>\n
Decades later, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965<\/a> ended those national origin quotas, prioritized family reunification and skilled workers, and significantly increased immigration from Asian and Latin American countries; and, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the Refugee Act of 1980<\/a> (which, perhaps unbelievably given today\u2019s polarized Congress, passed unanimously in the Senate) created a formal system for admitting larger numbers of refugees who faced \u201ca well-founded fear of persecution\u201d in their home lands.<\/p>\n
Most recently, across two very different presidential administrations, the pendulum has swung wildly between reduced refugee admission, barriers to international students, increased border security and deportation enforcement, and bans on specific nationalities; to expanded refugee access, welcoming international scholars and reduced enforcement policies; and now, back again.<\/p>\n
\nThere was a time when strangers were welcome here<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Music would play, they tell me the days were sweet and clear<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
We are all immigrants in one way or another, and beyond Neil Sedaka, American popular culture is filled with stories of how we treat, and often mistreat, those arriving after we did, from Californians rejecting the \u201cOkies\u201d fleeing the Dust Bowl and seeking work out west during the Great Depression of John Steinbeck\u2019s The Grapes of Wrath<\/a> <\/em>to the Oscar nominated In America<\/a><\/em>, about a family of undocumented Irish immigrants barely scraping by in a shabby New York tenement in the early 1980s, surrounded by refugees from all around the globe.<\/p>\n
There is more, though, than just rejection and suffering faced by immigrants in these and other books, movies and songs. The strongest, most common theme is pride in their national identity, coupled with yearning for the promise of America, where that identity can exist freely.<\/p>\n
\nRobin Williams as Soviet circus musician Vladamir Ivanov in the 1984 movie\u00a0Moscow on the Hudson<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n From Robin Williams as Soviet circus musician Vladamir Ivanov in Moscow on the Hudson<\/a><\/em> defecting to the United States during the Cold War proclaiming, \u201cThis Is A Free Country, Welcome To Almost Anyone. Yes, In America Almost Anything Is Possible,” to Ming-Na Wen as Jing-Me (June) Wu in The Joy Luck Club<\/a><\/em> reflecting with the ladies at the mah jong table that, \u201cMy mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America,\u201d there is a resiliency, jubilant spirit, and love for America among those who struggled to reach our shores.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
There was a time when strangers were welcome here<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nMusic would play, they tell me the days were sweet and clear<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
If history is a guide, and I am fervently hoping that it is, our current period of restrictionist policies and sometimes xenophobic anger and mistreatment of others will be quickly followed by the pendulum again swinging toward greater openness and compassion for our global community.<\/p>\n
Every country, including the United States, needs to ensure its safety and security, to manage its resources, and promote its values\u2014goals we can accomplish while still treating everyone with dignity, fairness and humanity, and ensuring that immigration, the lifeblood that has fueled our nation\u2019s success since its inception, remains strong. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32549,"template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-32548","running-the-campus","type-running-the-campus","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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