Letter to the Editor

The Wall is a balancing act

Friday, March 15, 2019

Dear Editor,

In order not to hear or read about the problems of building a wall along the border between the U.S. Mexico, we would have to live on another planet.

El Paso, Texas, is located on the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Residents there watch President Donald Trump, wondering what will happen when the wall is finally completed. (This was a disputed territory -- 99 years ago.)

Mexico and the U.S. solved a 99-year border dispute in 1963. Before the Rio Grande River changed its course in 1864, 630 acres along it were Mexican territory. It included part of downtown El Paso. In 1963, the dispute was settled and this strip of land was returned to Mexico.

Our country is a land settled by immigrants. They have made many valuable contributions to the U.S.A.

In 1893, a Russian-Jewish immigrant named Israel Baelin arrived in New York with his parents and five siblings. They were part of the many immigrants who came to Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. Altogether, 71 percent of these U.S. immigrants arrived there.

Israel Baelin’s name was changed to Irving Berlin. His son, “God Bless America,” is sung almost like the Star Spangled Banner. During a recorded interview, his daughter, Mary Ellen, said “The lyrics had a very personal meaning to him. They expressed his love for America.”

Back in 1953, I visited Ellis Island. They were planning to close it. More than 16 million aliens entered the U.S. at Ellis Island in New York Harbor.

In 1965, it became part of the U.S. Statue of Liberty Monument, which is on nearby Liberty Island.

For thousands of years, people have moved from one region to another. Moving from one region to another is referred to as emigration. Entry into another country is called immigration.

Immigrants must qualify under eight different categories. There are 31 reasons for barring an alien from the United States.

Congress passes all the immigration laws of the United States. The Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs controls passports.

From the 1600s to the early 1800s, 1,700,000 people entered our country from Europe. In 1929, the National Origins law went into effect. It excluded Asians. In the 1930s, the Depression caused economic problems that limited immigration.

President Trump’s wall is actually a balancing act. We are faced with desperate people who climb walls and fences. We have to provide medical care, education, housing, jobs, social security and decent environment for them.

Helen Ruth Arnold,

Trenton, Neb.

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