ORANGE COUNTY ( CALIFORNIA ) NEWSPAPER-New Immigrants

This is a very good letter to the editor. This woman made
some good points.

For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their
arguments when arguing against supporting the currently
proposed immigration revisions. This lady made the argument
pretty simple. NOT printed in the Orange County Paper.


Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which
they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which
does not agree with the philosophy they're pushing on the
public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that
should have been published, but, with your help it will get
published via cyberspace!

From:

"David LaBonte"

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of
the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I
decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the
Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Written in
response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange
County Register:



Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how
this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one,
suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because
the people now in question aren't being treated the same as
those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of
entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to
people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to
accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900
when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to
the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in
a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even
get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They
made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new
country in good and bad times. They made learning English a
primary rule in their new American households and some even
changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their
children a new life and did everything in their power to
help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was
handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws
to protect them. All they had were the skills and
craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a
future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke
out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come
straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan.
None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought
about what country their parents had come from. They were
Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of
Japan. They were defending the United States of America as
one people.

When we liberated France, no one in those villages were
looking for the French-American or the German American or
the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans.
And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not
one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking
up another country's flag and waving it to represent who
they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents
who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants
truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the
melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the
same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by
playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the
entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their
mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American
is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on
Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that
for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future
generations to create a land that has become a beacon for
those legally searching for a better life. I think they
would be appalled that they are being used as an example by
those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of
Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are
voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about
dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed)

Rosemary LaBonte