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Re: Did My Family Really Come “Legally”?

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 7:47 pm
by morgan
Yes. 100% Legal proud American on both sides of my family.

Re: Did My Family Really Come “Legally”?

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:02 pm
by Deleted User 276
"Acknowledging the large numbers of Europeans in the United States without proper authorization, the government devised ways for them to remain in the country legally. The 1929 Registry Act allowed “honest law-abiding alien who may be in the country under some merely technical irregularity” to register as permanent residents for a fee of $20 if they could prove they had lived in the country since 1921 and were of “good moral character.” Roughly 115,000 immigrants registered between 1930 and 1940—80% were European or Canadian. Between 1925 and 1965, 200,000 unauthorized Europeans legalized their status through the Registry Act, through “pre-examination”—a process that allowed them to leave the United States voluntarily and re-enter legally with a visa (a “touch-back” program), or through discretionary rules that allowed immigration officials to suspend deportations in “meritorious” cases. In the 1940s and 1950s, several thousand deportations a year were suspended; approximately 73% of those who benefitted were Europeans (mostly Germans and Italians). "

Re: Did My Family Really Come “Legally”?

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:13 pm
by Deleted User 276
Fourmonkeys wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 7:01 pm My great-grandmother's family had to sneak over illegally in the 1800s. They were Canadian and wanted to move to Michigan, but her husband had tuberculosis so he wouldn't have been allowed in
My paternal grandparents married on a ship coming from Netherlands to Ellis Island. My grandmother was illiterate and would not have been given entry. She was 15 and he was 18. My grandmother was traveling alone as my great grandmother had tuberculosis and couldn't make the journey.

Re: Did My Family Really Come “Legally”?

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:32 pm
by Lexy
My family came from Italy on both side legally.

Re: Did My Family Really Come “Legally”?

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:36 pm
by Deleted User 276
Lexy wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:32 pm My family came from Italy on both side legally.
When did they arrive in the US?

Re: Did My Family Really Come “Legally”?

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:40 pm
by Deleted User 1074
msb64 wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:02 pm "Acknowledging the large numbers of Europeans in the United States without proper authorization, the government devised ways for them to remain in the country legally. The 1929 Registry Act allowed “honest law-abiding alien who may be in the country under some merely technical irregularity” to register as permanent residents for a fee of $20 if they could prove they had lived in the country since 1921 and were of “good moral character.” Roughly 115,000 immigrants registered between 1930 and 1940—80% were European or Canadian. Between 1925 and 1965, 200,000 unauthorized Europeans legalized their status through the Registry Act, through “pre-examination”—a process that allowed them to leave the United States voluntarily and re-enter legally with a visa (a “touch-back” program), or through discretionary rules that allowed immigration officials to suspend deportations in “meritorious” cases. In the 1940s and 1950s, several thousand deportations a year were suspended; approximately 73% of those who benefitted were Europeans (mostly Germans and Italians). "
so over the course of 50 years 300k illegals were given amnesty? we are getting more than that every quarter! just those who are apprehended at the border. not counting the 22 million + already here! not counting the millions of illegals Reagan gave amnesty to.

Re: Did My Family Really Come “Legally”?

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:48 pm
by Valentina327
bluebunnybabe wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 10:17 am My parents absolutely came legally under the laws in place in 1968, and became citizens as soon as they were legally allowed to.
Where your folks from Blue?

Re: Did My Family Really Come “Legally”?

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:58 pm
by Valentina327
My grandparents and their families came here, following and obeying the laws and process set out at the time. They came between WW1 and the end of the twenties between both sides of the family. Italy on both paternal sides, Czechoslovakia which was being occupied by Austra Hungary, I believe, at the time. Poland also.

Great grandpa came here first, got work and paved the way for great grandma and the kids to come. I've actually found a manifest, some naturalization papers, and a scary letter for an uncle that he had to go for some extra hearing because something was in question on his paperwork. I think that was after he was naturalized.

I always heard the stories of how proud they were to have earned their citizenship. My great grandma was embarrassed about her broken English, so she didn't like to go out. They were very grateful to be here. ❤

Re: Did My Family Really Come “Legally”?

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 9:04 pm
by morgan
You can try to discredit our ancestors all you want.

But the fact is, none of our ancestors knowingly broke the law and ran across a border illegally.
None of our ancestors reaped the benefits undocumented illegal immigrants are granted on taxpayer's dime. None of our ancestors worked illegally under the table and sent half of their pay to families in another country, who in turned spent it in foreign economies.

No. Our ancestors came. They came legally, they assimilated, they learned English, they became Americans. They worked in factories. They grew crops. They built cars.
They had babies. Who grew into boys who went to war and died at 18 years old. For this country.

Sorry OP.

No comparison to today's illegal invasion to our legal ancestors.

Re: Did My Family Really Come “Legally”?

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 9:10 pm
by Deleted User 276
Valentina327 wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:58 pm My grandparents and their families came here, following and obeying the laws and process set out at the time. They came between WW1 and the end of the twenties between both sides of the family. Italy on both paternal sides, Czechoslovakia which was being occupied by Austra Hungary, I believe, at the time. Poland also.

Great grandpa came here first, got work and paved the way for great grandma and the kids to come. I've actually found a manifest, some naturalization papers, and a scary letter for an uncle that he had to go for some extra hearing because something was in question on his paperwork. I think that was after he was naturalized.

I always heard the stories of how proud they were to have earned their citizenship. My great grandma was embarrassed about her broken English, so she didn't like to go out. They were very grateful to be here. ❤
So they came during the third wave of the Italian Diasporia where hundreds of thousands of Southern Europeans were leaving Europe for the US and other countries to escape poverty, political problems, and organized crime. In 1921 the US enacted the Quota Law which closed the door to "undesirables" from Southern and Eastern Europe but immigrants from those countries still found a way to enter illegally resulting in 1.4 illegal immigrants living in the US in 1925. Many of these immigrants were granted amnesty under the 1929 Registry Act.