Letter to the editor: Our immigrant strength

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 12.18.25

“Our strength comes from our immigrant heritage.”

So said President Reagan in 1981. Trump calls immigrants “rapists,” “killers” and “illegal monsters.” He says immigrants “aren’t people — these are animals” who are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

In fact, both documented and undocumented immigrants have significantly lower crime rates than native-born Americans. But that fact never got in the way of the vicious anti-immigrant sentiment each wave of new Americans suffered.

German-Americans are 19% of our population. They were the first and largest group of non-English settlers, driven to escape war, poverty and religious persecution. Benjamin Franklin said German immigrants “are generally of the most ignorant, stupid of their nation” and complained that they, along with Italians, “are generally of what we call a swarthy Complexion.” Franklin lamented the fact that “the Number of purely white People in the World is proportionably very small. I could wish their Numbers were increased.” Admitting, “I am partial to the Complexion of my Country,” Franklin asked, “why should we in the Sight of Superior Beings, darken its People?”

Irish-Americans, fleeing famine and political oppression, became our second-largest non-English group, with 16% of our population. They were depicted as ignorant, violent, drunken sub-human apes in political cartoons. “No Irish Need Apply” appeared in job listings.

Italian-Americans are 7% of our population and the third-largest non-English group, driven by poverty and political unrest. They were depicted as job-stealers, cutthroats and rats spreading disease and violence. In 1891 a New Orleans mob of thousands murdered 11 Italian immigrants in the largest single mass lynching in American history. Theodore Roosevelt called it “a rather good thing.”

Reagan called immigration “one of the most important sources of America’s greatness.” On his last day in office he warned, “If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”

Trump, the anti-Reagan, calls immigrants “garbage” from “shole countries,” adding, “I don’t want them in our country.”

Arthur Hill

Southport