Immigration is not what it used to be. There was a time you booked passage on a ship, crossed the Atlantic, spent a few hours in Ellis Island and were sent on your way. No visits to consulates, no background checks, no tests, no interviews, no waiting for years to be let in. Now it’s all hassle for anyone to gain legal immigrant status, to the extent it’s surprising anyone even tries. It’s no hassle, of course, for illegal immigrants from certain countries. They just walk across the border, get free health care, free schools for their kids, and sooner or later amnesty makes them citizens, while those who try the legal way wait in limbo while favored others cut in line. Thank goodness my grandmother came when she did.
A woman from Norway with tow-headed kids
Boarded ship for the US one day
And settled in steerage so young and afraid
Their passage was only one way
The northern Atlantic in winter was fierce
And in steerage the air grew most foul
As the ship heeled to seas that came crashing aboard
And the wind made the most fearsome howl
At Ellis they waited in rooms densely packed
Where clerks at long tables all day
Asked for places of birth and the spelling of names
And in short time were sent on their way
No consular visits, no bulletproof glass
No scanners, no waiting for years
She got on a ship with her husband and kids
After kissing her family with tears
They settled in Philly and raised fine strong sons
And beautiful daughters as well
And that’s how my grandmom came to the New World
And I have a story to tell