By Brad Bernstein
President of The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein
A little before noon on Sunday, November 1, 2009, I stumble over to my computer and launch my Internet browser.
My homepage is The New York Times and I was greeted with the banner headline “Keflezighi USA Breaks the Tape,” about this guy with a funny name winning the New York City Marathon.
My first thought was, “WOW! People ran 26 miles while I was sleeping.” My second thought was, “I don’t know how to pronounce Keflezighi. Wonder where he’s from.”
I read the story to discover that Meb Keflezighi is an immigrant from war-torn Eritrea. His parents brought him and his 10 brothers and sisters to the United States so that they could all enjoy better lives.
I thought, “Of course, The New York Times would accept without reservation or qualification that Mr. Keflezighi is an American.” The Times is a pretty liberal paper and takes a lot of shots for being immigrant-friendly.
Out of curiosity, I Googled Meb Keflezighi and was hit by a resounding chorus of how great of an American he is and how he and others are combining to make American marathon running resurgent.
I wondered how many of these same people lauding his American status and the greatness of an American running are the same people who vociferously argue against immigration reform. Did they think Meb Keflezighi was a “great American” when he was newly arrived from Eritrea? If not, when did he become a “great American”?
The original article from The Times also said that this marathon result was the best for American runners since 1979 with 6 Americans finishing in the top 10.
Without an accepting immigration policy, the result would not have been so great for the USA. In addition to Mr. Keflezighi who was born in Eritrea, the top 10 included Abdi Abdirahman, who immigrated to the U.S. from Somalia, and Jorge Torres, the son of Mexican migrant workers.
In the face of such evidence, I wonder how people can still argue that immigration is destroying America.
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This is so true…then why are some politicians trying to lock immigrants out?….SOMEONE PLZ TELL ME…