Dem
47
GOP
53
Today, we start with a memory from R.W.G. in Bexley, OH:
My great-grandmother Rose was born in a shtetl near Odessa, Ukraine. Both her husband and brother emigrated to the U.S. in 1912 or 1913. When Rose and her sister-in-law began their journey to the U.S., World War I had broken out. It was too dangerous to go through Europe and then across the Atlantic Ocean, so the two women, with four children under the age of 5, took the long way. They went east across Russia, and south through Mongolia, arriving in China. Rose's passport has a stamp from the American Consulate in Harbin, China, dated 13 August 1917, followed by a stamp from the Consul General in Yokohama two months later. They entered the U.S. in San Francisco and traveled by train to Stamford, Connecticut. The journey took them 2 years; when they ran out of money for travel (or bribes) they would stop and launder clothes until they had enough to continue.
That set of great-grandparents entered the U.S. legally, but another of my great-grandparents did not. My father's grandfather, Harry, was born in Vilna, Lithuania, and, like many young Jews of the time, he became a socialist. (My father remembers going with his grandfather to socialist party meetings in New York. After the meetings they would sometimes go to burlesque shows.) According to family lore, Harry was involved (to what extent is unknown; details are sketchy) in a plot to assassinate the governor of the province, who was directly appointed by the Czar. In any case, my great-grandfather thought it prudent to get out of Dodge, so to speak. Harry came to the U.S. using someone else's passport, and used the name on the passport exclusively thereafter. He never would tell anyone what his real name was. Perhaps he was more involved with that plot than we thought?
What strikes me about these stories (and the stories of those who are coming here today) is that while the details may have changed, the extraordinary risks that ordinary people were willing to undertake in order to provide a better life for themselves and their children is humbling. Thanks to my great-grandparents I have always lived in a place where I have been free to worship, think, or live the way I choose. I owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid—I can only do my best to pay it forward.
Thanks, R.W.G.
The present-day story we had yesterday, about Luís Leon, may or may not be true. DHS denies the whole thing, which is not exactly the most persuasive evidence we've ever heard. However, other outlets, including Snopes and the DailyKos, have also raised questions. At the same time, there are numerous outlets that have the story, and have not retracted or updated it.
In any case, we've decided to focus on just the stories from readers for now. We will most certainly have several items about the harsh side of the Trump administration's immigration policy, but we've decided they will work better on their own.
If readers have immigrant stories, please do send them in to comments@electoral-vote.com. (Z)