The Daily Item
June 8, 2024
Joe Guzzardi (June 5) says we should learn from the 1924 immigration law that severely restricted immigration for the first time in our history. But his portrayal of that law and the whole issue of immigration is incomplete and partisan.
He admits that the 1924 law’s national quotas were intended to block immigration from southern Europe, Africa, and Asia while encouraging northern Europeans, but treats that as a minor glitch. That was the main point of the law: to keep America white, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant. Immigration fell because not enough northern Europeans wanted to immigrate.
Guzzardi completely ignores the 1965 immigration law that replaced that of 1924. The new law allowed immigration by people from all over the world; consequently, we have the more diverse society we know today.
In a highly partisan move, he charges President Biden with responsibility for the current wave of immigration at the southern border, a surge that long predates Biden’s term.
Trump, despite his anti-immigrant racist rants, failed to stop it. Trump blocked a bipartisan immigration law that would have gone a long way toward addressing our immigration problems. Why? Because he wanted to be able to hammer Joe Biden about it.
Guzzardi’s piece is just part of that Trump agenda: Hammer Joe Biden. And the larger agenda? Keep America white.
John Peeler
Lewisburg