Mario Cuomo Quotes
Let's not confuse the words immigrant and alien.
Mario Cuomo, 1932-2015, Governor, New York State (Democrat), Interview, ABC This Week, October 31, 1993
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This was the first restriction on immigration and citizenship, and was at the time uniquely directed against Chinese.
At the time, many people referred to immigrants who had entered the United States without the proper documentation or by contravening our laws were referred to as “illegals” or “illegal immigrants”. Bank robbers and rapists were never referred to as “illegals”—only immigrants. Carroll and others pointed out that there was no such thing as an “illegal person”—only illegal acts.
This discriminatory act was one of the lowest points of American history. Essentially, many native Americans saw the large scale immigration of Chinese as a threat to their jobs and livelihoods. This has been the fear of large scale immigration of poor people throughout our history. The progeny of the immigrants of yesterday have always feared the immigrants of today would usurp their jobs and lower their standard of living.
I was born here. My children were born here. What the hell do I have to do to be called an American?
A Boston newspaper referred to Kennedy as "an Irishman." Until the latter part of the 20th century, there was an ugly, anti-Irish dimension to the national scene that was every bit as ugly as the other ethnic hatreds like anti-Semitism. The Irish like the early Jews had six strikes against them. They were foreigners. They were not Christian Protestants, they were poor, they did not know the American culture, they spoke English with a distinct accent, and they were the lowest of the lower classes. Even rich Irish like Kennedy were looked down upon and when his son ran for President he had to overcome a still significant block of anti-Irish Americans.
All foreign immigrants were welcome provided they would “renounce” their allegiance to an foreign ruler or religious leader. The latter was really directed at Roman Catholics. European history had many instances where the Pope and the Vatican plotted with different forces to produce armed rebellion in various states to maintain a Catholic Establishment. England and Ireland were both the subjects of Papal revolutionary initiatives and the Americans were well aware of it. Popes and cardinals had ordered good Catholics to take various political positions including what was treason and sedition. The fear of political control of American Catholics motivated the inclusion of Ecclesiastical renouncement to become a naturalized citizen. Also note that it was the States who controlled citizenship at that time and not the Federal Government.
Clyburn was the Democratic whip of the House. He was opposed to his party’s initial position on Immigration Reform. What he and many others who opposed “amnesty” did agree to was a scheme where undocumented immigrants who had broken the law were declared guilty, paid a fine, and had their application for citizenship delayed for some years. Others who opposed amnesty saw this alternative as amnesty if citizenship would ever be granted to an “illegal alien”. The latter group were all Republicans who also believed that immigrants tended to vote Democratic once they became citizens.
A number of Americans had asked for and were granted political asylum. Many were left-wing dissidents, but a number were Southern Black Civil Rights workers who had been framed with trumped up charges by racist states and communities.
Mario Matthew Cuomo was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd Governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1979 to 1982 and Secretary of State of New York from 1975 to 1978. He is the father of current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and CNN news anchor Chris Cuomo.
