Saturday, July 28, 2007

4007

An immigrant's story

This morning on a local call-in radio show (Bob Connors, 610 am) I heard a Columbus immigrant counter a caller who had apparently called before I tuned in saying something negative about the Somalis. This immigrant caller I heard was Somali and had lived in the U.S. about 20 years, 10 in Columbus. His English was accented but grammatically perfect. And here's the general points he made.
    All Somalis who come to the US are legal immigrants who comply with all the government regulations. It cost him about $3,000 to bring his wife later, of which about $1,500 is legal fees for an attorney to make sure everything is done correctly. There are about 25-30,000 Somalis in the Columbus area, although he admitted to not knowing the exact number because no one tracks them. There are about 200,000 in the Minneapolis-St.Paul area, and a large group in Maine. He said Somalis succeed where others here much longer--hundreds of years (I think this was a reference to African-Americans)--do not because they "build their house." They help each other and establish small businesses--groceries, gift shops, bakeries, restaurants, clothing stores, etc., gradually moving up the socio-economic ladder. There is even a small shopping center in Columbus that has all Somali businesses.
We are not helping illegals become established by offering amnesty and encouraging them to continually break the law. It is possible to do it right, as this man, now a citizen, demonstrated.

2 comments:

Ladybug Crossing said...

That's the way the Italians and the Irish did it back in the day...

That's the way my hubby did it more than 25 years ago. He worked and worked and became a citizen. He probably knows more US History than any US school kid!! He had to sign a paper that said he'd never ever be on welfare.

Have a good weekend!
xo
LBC

Anonymous said...

Your comment about the grammar reminds me of "12 Angry Men" when the one juror is talking about PR immigrants not being able to speak the language properly but he "don't" speak it too well himself. lol.