The true Immigrants of America deserve respect
By Mesho Younas
Despite the criticism of President Donald Trump from extremists in the United States and elsewhere, the President has proven himself to be a champion of true American immigrants.
Nearly everyone in America is either an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants. The only real inhabitants are the Native Americans, or “Indians” as they have been derogatorily called.
According to the critics, President Trump is attacking that immigrant spirit by demanding that new immigrants to this country go through a thorough vetting process from their countries of origins. And, he has demanded that immigrants also be legal.
Trump’s critics argue that he is attacking all immigrants and undermining the immigrant spirit of this nation. But as an immigrant myself, I say he is not. I say President Trump is in fact embracing the foundations of America’s true immigrant spirit by insisting that immigrants who come to this country do so with good intent in their hearts and with the desire to become true Americans.
Most importantly, he is demanding that all immigrants enter this country as equals through an equal process defined by the U.S. Constitution and American Laws.
Those who enter this country illegally and seek protections without forthrightly embracing America’s laws and our fundamental beliefs are in fact not true immigrants at all.
I came to this country in the 1970s. It was not easy. I applied for citizenship and waited years before I was able to join distant relatives who were already here. I was required to swear an oath to America, which I gladly did and will continue to do.
I was vetted and my true intentions were determined by my desire to not only immigrant to America but to become America. I disavowed by ethnic homeland, which had been devastated by years of conflict.
I learned to speak English. And I have raised my children as Americans, too. Yes, I am proud of my Iraqi, Nestorian and Chaldean heritage. But I am more proud of my American citizenship, a citizenship that I cherish above all. Above politics. Above national origins. Above even religion.
I recognize that in America, I am an equal because I have entered America legally. I did not lie to come into this country. I have not lived in illegal limbo praying on the political rivalries of this country’s divisive politics.
My children do not go to American schools as thieves who have stolen their status my entering this country illegally in the shadow of the nighttime. We do not demand that America give us anything other than the opportunity, now that we have earned it through a true and full embrace of Americanism and patriotism, that we have earned.
Yes, we earned this right. And we are outraged that others who have broken the laws entering this country illegally from countries that continue to debase abd assault America, continue to demand rights that they refuse to earn.
I learned about the history of the American Constitution and because I learned it I have come to appreciate what it really means to be an American. I don’t distort principles of others who have fought for freedom and civil rights as Americans, by dreaming to be something. I did not come here and have children that could shame the powers that be to make me a citizen. I dream of the rights I have and consider it an outrage that some would come to this country and steal benefits that they have not earned. (DACA)
There is nothing wrong with wanting to come here. But you must come to this country in the right way.
Everyday I listen as extremists attack President Trump. They claim that he must embrace millions of immigrants who sidestepped the process I had to struggle through to enter this country and instead they entered this country illegally.
Yet these same fanatics everyday decry people from the Middle East who have entered this country legally but have been expelled because they are Middle Eastern. One of my co-workers, an immigrant from Yemen, was expelled because he was falsely accused of being “anti-American.”
It’s time we stop denigrating the true immigrants who made this country great by equating them with illegals who enter this country through desire and deceit.
Those who lie to enter this country. Those who sneak into this country and live the life of a lie. Those who take from this country but give nothing back. Those who believe that they deserve to be here more than others simply because it was easier to enter through a border from Mexico or Canada. They shame the honor that I have as a true American immigrant. Don’t use the term “immigrant” to describe those who continue to lie their way into this country. They are offensive.
Allow them to come to this country the same way millions of us entered this country. Require them to embrace American culture. Require them to speak English. Require them to educate themselves on our Constitution and our Majestic History. Require of them the respect of the law.
Because if they disrespect the law to steal their way into America, they will disrespect all of America’s laws when it is convenient to their selfish agendas.
Stop hiding behind young children. Stop making children your shield. Come to American through the legal process and join our movement of patriotism as Americans.
I love my heritage and I love my people. The Chaldeans are an ancient people and my children and grand children and great grand children will always learn to love, remember and cherish that heritage.
But above all, they will learn to love this country more. Because no other country has stood up to defend their rights to freedom as human beings in this world than America.
God Bless America. And God Bless President Donald Trump for having the courage to standup and defend the rights of true, legal and honest immigrants to America.
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Younas settled in Detroit's Chaldean Town in 1977 and attended Wayne State University studying political science and writing.
He speaks English, Arabic and Aramaic, the original language of the Fertile Crescent.
Email Younas at [email protected]
- The true Immigrants of America deserve respect - September 5, 2017
