"The refugees seeking haven in America were poor and disease-ridden.They threatened to take jobs away from Americans and strain welfare budgets. They practiced an alien religion and pledged allegiance to a foreign leader. They were bringing with them crime. They were accused of being rapists. And, worst of all, these undesirables were Irish."

That quote comes from one of the stories at history.com, "When America Despised the Irish: The 19th Century's Refugee Crisis."

I was reminded about this history by a recent (NY) Daily News article, "Go back to where you came from? Let's remind Irish Americans and others that we've been subject to the very same smears."

My two grandfathers were immigrants, one coming from Germany as a toddler in 1882 and the other coming from the Netherlands as a young adult in 1894. Their families were poor, and emigrating to a new country must have been very difficult. But they were Protestant and white, and they settled in a rural community where most everyone looked and talked similarly. I doubt they encountered the hateful ill will experienced by the Irish in the late 1800s, nor the racial and religious prejudice faced by current immigrants to the U.S.

I can only hope the Daily News writer is correct, that the U.S. will remain a beacon of hope.