Immigration policy

In the wake of September 11, American immigration and visa policy has been given enormous attention. But it is not unprecedented attention, as immigration policy has always been a controversial topic.

The nineteenth century illustrators, Currier and Ives, produced a large number of prints about

immigration issues. The Irish received particular attention. A number of Irish nationalists sought temporary shelter in the United States and were depicted. One such was John O'Mahoney, who came to New York to seek support for the Fenian Brotherhood. In 1866, O'Mahoney attempted to attack Canada, using northern Maine for his base. He and his men were thwarted by the U.S. General George Meade. Afterwards, O'Mahoney continued to plot against Britain, sending arms to cohorts in Ireland. When he died in New York in 1877, his body was returned to a hero's welcome in Ireland.

The divided loyalties of immigrants were a frequent theme. An 1863 print shows John Bull warning an Irish immigrant not to go to America and fight for the Union side in the Civil War. One suspects that the scolding did little good. In another print, an Irishman is looking at an advertisement about ships for the old country. He is perhaps already too far from his former home in commitments to family and job, but there is a sense of sadness. In still another print, a very prosperous immigrant is also looking at a poster advertising return voyages.

A starting place for studying immigration policy is the site maintained by The Center for Research on Immigration Policy in association with the Rand Graduate School of Policy Analysis at http://www.rand.org/pop_area/proj.html, and an elegant and highly useful site for research into Irish immigration is at http://www.lib.siu.edu/projects/irish/irishpgo.htm, maintained by Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. The American Immigration Law Foundation publishes a series "immigration Policy Reports" at http://www.ailf.org/polrep/reports.htm and at http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/migration/institutes.html there is a comprehensive list of European policy centers working on immigration.

Currier and Ives found a ready market for their immigration engravings. The issue of immigration policy is receiving great attention, but since the early days of the Republic it always has, and some of the policy issues, such as political activity by immigrants, have been with us for a long time.

AUTHOR_AFFILIATION

David Merchant

University of the Americas-Puebla