Were Mormon Immigrants Part of the Reason for Today's Restrictions?

   As it is so late, I think to revise an email I wrote earlier today and drop it in as today's blog, even though I wrote on the same thing last Sunday.

  As I introduce this, I think to notice how President Russell M. Nelson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in General Conference weeks ago, noted that all eight of his great grandparents were converts to the church in Europe, and all eight of them immigrated to join the Saints here in the United States. 

  They were part of a massive influx in immigration -- and it was this large influx that has brought on the restrictive immigration policies we have today. Millions and millions of immigrants poured into America in the decades leading up to 1900, and, at some point, those who were born here decided enough was enough, that they wanted to bring down the gates on immigration. We speak of open borders and scoff at them, but, up until that time when the massive migration (which included the early-Mormon migration) prompted the changes, the borders were open. 
  The Mormons came for religious reasons, the Chinese came for work, the Italians came for, among other reasons, earthquakes, and the Irish came in part due to the potato famine. Which of the immigrants attracted the wrath of those already living here, I do not altogether know. Maybe the Mormons were not among those who were opposed. As I sit here writing this, though, it occurs to me this was at the time of polygamy, and many opposed the Mormons because of that. 
  At any rate, the Mormons were part of an "invasion" (if I can parrot that word) that brought the backlash against immigration that continues to this day. The drawbridge to immigration, so to speak, came down as a result of this era of immigration -- this "assault" on our open borders -- that occurred during the last half of the 19th Century. Whether the the Mormons were among the immigrants that those already in America sought to lock out, I do not know. Perhaps it was the Chinese immigrants and the immigrants from other countries that drew the contempt.
   Were those who came opposed before they even arrived, or was it not until after they arrived that it was decided it had been a mistake to have allowed them to come? What did they think of the Mormon immigrants after they came? Was there opposition then more so than before they launched on ships from Europe? 

    We speak of the undocumented invading our land these days. We use the word "invasion," and it is members of the church, as well as any, who speak this way. What of ourselves, then? What of the time our own ancestors came? What of of the time when all eight of President Nelson's grandparents "invaded" America's open borders? Did they -- just like the immigrants today -- come despite those already here objecting to their coming? Did they come despite the desires of those already in America? 
   I just wonder if we should not be more understanding of the immigrants of today, given our pioneer ancestors were part of the era of immigration that brought about all the restrictions on immigration that we have today.

Note: Blog last revised 4/24/18