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Cutting in line, Part 2: Breaking bad on immigration

Domenic Troisi arrived in America May 2, 1907, like 5,000 people a day, steaming into Ellis Island.

He left behind an economically starved Naples, Italy, and looked to America for a better life.

He earned that better life, helping raise and feed the rest of his family on New York City’s Lower East Side while going to school and perfecting the tailoring trade that would lead to his first jobs and, ultimately, a move to Williamsport.

He opened his own store at age 25, became a naturalized citizen and married a music teacher, Bernadine Beiter. In an Italian villa house of his own design, they raised 10 children and supported them with a men’s tailoring shop that evolved into a men’s clothing store.

From those children bloomed a generation of 40 grandchildren. From them came another generation and the generations to come.

Who we are and what our children and their children will become all began with Domenic’s 17-day voyage across the Atlantic 112 years ago.

Domenic took little time off from his tailoring. A notable exception was any naturalization ceremony in federal court. He would attend those and pass out miniature American flags to newly naturalized Americans.

So the deeply ingrained wish here is that all who immigrate legally carve out the same life story, including the 39 people who recently became American citizens at naturalization ceremonies in federal court here.

That is why it is an infuriating insult to watch this true tale of immigration twisted into politicized yarn by elected leaders and national media barkers who know the difference between Domenic’s story and what is happening today.

Caravans are bringing thousands of people a month toward our southern border. Families — used as political bait — are being separated. Children are being used as sex trafficking objects. Illegal drugs are being transported by a drug cartel feeding an addicted American population.

Politicians and presidential candidates say there is no crisis. Or, they say, the crisis is being created by faulty policies that, by the way, are dictated by measures enacted by previous administrations and Congress. An agenda-driven media provides cover, allowing them to resist a president trying to tackle the issue.

Don’t take my word for it; and call President Trump all the names you want. Jeh Johnson, President Obama’s homeland security chief, says the situation is clearly a crisis.

There are people in these caravans fleeing horrible lives. We have a system for them. It is called legal immigration. The process for them needs to be quickened and improved.

But border enforcement has uncovered thousands of people with ill intent in this six-figure border crashing.

Thousands of people don’t just happen to get on a truck with their life’s possessions and travel hundreds of miles at great danger and know just what to say to seek asylum. How did they know to do this now? How are they getting transportation? Food? Water? Shelter? Shoes? Who is promising them what? How do they know where to enter? When did legal and illegal immigration become identical?

Suppose everyone coming has only pure motives. The country’s population is about 340 million people. What should the future population be, 360 million, 400 million, a billion? How many people can our health care, social services and education system support? With multiple sanctuaries being provided, how long will it be before the spillage of those with unpure motives impacts the rest of our country? Is our criminal justice system capable of handling that?

No country takes in more legal immigrants annually. We should all want that to continue. Immigration is the heart and soul of our founding and development.

But that takes border security — and yes, walls where necessary — which would channel people to limited, legal ports of entry and allow border agents to consolidate their patrol efforts to those areas.

It takes a radically larger network of immigration services, from judges to temporary facilities to food and medical supplies, and a speedier process to handle asylum claims on the spot.

These things are doable by a Congress that wants to solve the problem instead of politicizing it. Elected leaders are willfully jeopardizing our security in a political gambit. They term attempts at border security and execution of asylum policies racist. They get away with it because an agenda-driven media is reporting the issue incompletely.

The story of Domenic Troisi and millions like him does not deserve this immigration chapter.

They came here and assimilated into the greatest combination of inclusion, economics and democracy the world has seen, potent enough to overcome flaws and continue working on the ones that still exist.

We owe it to them to regain that spirit and solve this crisis before chaos overwhelms us.

David F. Troisi is former editor of the Sun-Gazette.

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