By Carol Fisher-Linn
June is Immigrant Heritage Month in America. It is an initiative put forward by the “I Am An Immigrant” foundation that seeks to celebrate our shared heritage as an immigrant nation and recognize the important contribution to our economy, culture and common identity by immigrants from all around the globe. Not all immigrants, even those now famous, came here legally. Movie star and former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger violated the immigration rules. He left his homeland, Austria, in the 1960’s to come to America as a bodybuilder. His visa was very explicit – bodybuilder only. But Arnold needed more work, so he took another job as a bricklayer, which was in violation of his visa. Fortunately, he was never caught, or the authorities looked the other way.
Who doesn’t love Cesar Millan, ‘The dog whisperer?” He entered the United States illegally, worked under the radar for years and became a U.S. citizen 18 years after coming to America. Selma Hayek was illegal for a short period of time, but she lived in America for over 20 years before becoming a citizen. Sweet Michael J. Fox had a working visa so he could work across the Canadian border, but he jumped under the radar and crossed over even before his visa had gone through. Oops! Another celebrity who shaved the rules and worked without a visa for some time was Melania Trump, earning over $20,000 when she had no permission to earn a dime. One thing they all had in common … they were all immigrants wanting a better life here in America.
Fact: All Americans who set foot on North American soil were immigrants. Here comes the history lesson! Ever hear of Beringia? It was the land mass that formed between Russia and Alaska possibly as far back as 30,000 years ago. With a bridge over the water, those first Americans just meandered all the way to Chile about 15,000 years ago … and then, inexplicably, some went back to Alaska and Russia. Later groups came, killing off many of the first groups mainly with their European diseases, so we ended up with so many Europeans that America became known as a nation of immigrants. Even today, America is still home to more total immigrants that any other country in the world. In fact, in a 2013 UN report, it showed that 19.8% of the world’s international migrants (around 45million) live in the U.S. Before we pat ourselves on the back for representing “the most welcoming country in the world,” there are smaller countries that have been more open to immigrants in recent decades. By comparison, little Luxembourg’s percentage is over 40%.
By allowing immigrants into America, we benefit from the gifts, talents, and humanitarianism of people like Turkish Hamdi Ulukaya – CEO of the Chobani yogurt empire who also hires a vast number of immigrants in his plants and gave them 10% of Chobani shares (look up his amazing Wikipedia story), German genius Albert Einstein, Russian Sergey Brin – young Founder of Google, German Levi Strauss, diplomat, Secretary of State – Czech refugee Madeleine Albright, Columbian Sofia Vergera, Canadian Alex Trebek, Spanish Penelope Cruz, German Bruce Willis, Belgium native Audrey Hepburn who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and so many countless others.
Locally, we can enjoy the talents from refugees and immigrants from Burma, Africa and other oppressed nations working and thriving in the Buffalo area. Stitch Buffalo (stitchbuffalo.org) is a textile art center committed to empowering refugee and immigrant women through the sale of handcrafted goods. They also offer stitchery classes for those who want to learn the art of the stitch. Their handiwork can be found at Alexandra in Ellicottville. Owner Joan Ess, who teaches English as a second language to these refugees would be more than happy to tell you about these amazing individuals in our Buffalo community.
The ironic thing is that many of them came to America through Ellis Island, no doubt reading and being encouraged by the poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty, the statue herself being an immigrant from France.
Give me your tired, your poor;
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore;
Send these, the homeless, tempest-toss’d, to me;
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
—Emma Lazarus, 1883
Caption: Locally, we can enjoy the talents from refugees and immigrants from Burma, Africa and other oppressed nations working and thriving in the Buffalo area. Stitch Buffalo (stitchbuffalo.org) is a textile art center committed to empowering refugee and immigrant women through the sale of handcrafted goods. They also offer stitchery classes for those who want to learn the art of the stitch. Their handiwork can be found at Alexandra in Ellicottville.