American Passage_ The History of Ellis I - Vincent J. Cannato [232]
To make matters even more confusing, labor unions, which used to be counted among the most ardent supporters of immigration restriction because of their genuine concerns for the effects of cheap labor on wages, have by the dawn of the twenty-first century become supporters of a laissez-faire approach to immigration. This has more to do with the increasingly weak position of unions in this country and the unions’ belief that their survival hinges upon support from foreignborn workers in the service economy.
The battle over the status of immigrants in a globalized world where borders are increasingly fuzzy will only grow more heated. Americans are in for a debate that might prove itself even more contentious than the one fought over Ellis Island. It will involve not only the question of American identity but also the relevance of America as a nation. Back in 1908, Henry Cabot Lodge put forth the primacy of national sovereignty when he said: “No one has a right to come into the United States, or become part of its citizenship, except by permission of the people of the United States.” Americans are still trying to come to grips with the implications of this idea some one hundred years later.
Can modern Americans learn any lessons from the history of Ellis Island? Historians should be wary of writing history that provides a “usable past.” Studying Ellis Island’s history provides little ammunition for those who wish either stricter or more lenient immigration laws. Studying this history should lead us neither to the elevation nor the condemnation of Ellis Island immigrants for their successes. History rarely provides neat lessons that can be utilized for present political purposes. If history teaches anything, it is that the past was filled with imperfect people who made imperfect decisions in dealing with an imperfect world. In this, they are very much like ourselves.
Even though very little of what was done at Ellis Island could be replicated today, its history can shed some light on our own times. The dustbin of history is littered with the now-discredited warnings of anti-immigrant writers like Francis Walker, Prescott Hall, and William Williams. Their fears about the quality of immigrants passing through Ellis Island now appear unfounded and mean-spirited. Not only did the United States absorb this wave of immigrants, it thrived in the twentieth century in part due to their contributions. We should be aware of similar fears about the supposed poor quality of today’s immigrants and not make the same mistakes of that bygone era.
That is not to say that the problems of today are exactly comparable to those of the Ellis Island era. History does not simply repeat itself in an endless loop. However, the history of Ellis Island should remind us that the problems that the United States is dealing with today are not unique and the questions Americans are asking themselves today are very similar to the ones that bedeviled those who came before us.
During the Ellis Island years, most Americans sought a balance between a completely open door to immigrants and a completely closed door. As modern-day Americans seek ways to deal with immigration, they too will have to find their own balance between the competing ideals of universalism versus national sovereignty, a policy of nondiscrimination versus democratic self-rule, and feelings of generosity versus pragmatism.
Most Americans today believe they live in a great country and understand why people from around the world want to live here. The idea of America as a nation of immigrants is a powerful image that rings true for many across the political spectrum. Yet many of those same Americans are also a little anxious that their country will somehow change in a fundamental way because of mass immigration; they worry that new immigrants are a little too different and that assimilation is not