Jed LeonardFeb 25, 2023
Roj 🏳️‍🌈

Here is your reminder that a majority of naturalized immigrants (including those Europeans who immigrated to the US early on - yes your white ancestors) lied through their teeth.

My family and I told the visa agent in the US consulate that we DEFINITELY planned to go back to Iran.

Let’s not pretend that we are somehow more ethical or law abiding than undocumented folks.

My mom would have gone to any length to get us out of Iran. She got the job done and changed our lives.

#immigration

Feb 25, 2023 at 5:15amWeb
Show threadRoj 🏳️‍🌈Feb 25, 2023

Oh and we also got the visa through a “job offer” from a large flower nursery (which happened to belong to a family friend of my aunt), that required skills for a special flower that my dad had magically had expertise in and a letter that could testify to his experience.

In reality my dad was an agricultural engineer working on dams and had never had a job at a nursery.

Also there was no actual job in the US, just a friend of my aunts who pretended to “hire” my dad and applied for an H1b.

Show threadDavid Palk#RejoinEU 💖🇪🇺🕊🌈Feb 25, 2023
@mathcolorstrees Thanks for this refreshing toot. The kind of thing that we all need reminding off from time to time.
Show threadPeat BogFeb 25, 2023
@mathcolorstrees
Yeah immigrants who somehow figure out our dumb path to legal residency are typically tough and patient geniuses.
Show threadshmoopFeb 25, 2023

@mathcolorstrees I’m Irish and Italian. My Italian ancestors lied and said they were here for tourism in order to avoid an anti-Italian immigration quota.

My Irish ancestors immigrated early enough that there were essentially no immigration laws, but they would have never been admitted under our current system.

Both would be undocumented today

Show threadSpongefileFeb 25, 2023

@shmoop @mathcolorstrees I lived legally in the US starting when I was ten, under my parents’ visa. Went to middle school, high school and Yale. Had no visa post graduation.

Had to pay an immigration lawyer $4k to get a working visa for a teaching job that paid $12k a year. Tried to get a green card, but nope. So I moved back to Europe.

Even if you’re white, with resources and references, legal #immigration is insanely hard. Lying to get in makes total sense to me.

Show threadPacky AndersonFeb 25, 2023

@shmoop @mathcolorstrees My Irish ancestors also lied. One of them arrived with a rugby team and just never went back.

I am no different than immigrants today, and the promise of the US should be no different for them than it is for me.

Show threadshmoopFeb 25, 2023
@packy @mathcolorstrees My Irish ancestors came here in 1860. There were really no immigration laws back then, but my great-great-grandfather couldn’t read or write English. No way he would have been admitted today.
Show threadPacky AndersonFeb 25, 2023
@shmoop @mathcolorstrees Oh, yeah, mine are all 1890s/1900s.
Show threadshmoopFeb 25, 2023
@packy @mathcolorstrees That’s when my Italian ancestors arrived. Your Irish ancestors and my Italian ancestors were probably both fighting the common anti-catholic bigotry that existed at that time
Show threadPacky AndersonFeb 25, 2023
@shmoop @mathcolorstrees Yup! I grew up hearing the stories about the "HELP WANTED / Irish need not apply" signs in shop windows.
Show threadBryan HaggertyFeb 25, 2023
@mathcolorstrees Some of the things I read in “Streets of Gold” have made me question just how my Irish ancestors came through Canada and then to the US in the 1800s.