Let's return to stricter immigrant requirements

On the July 11 Opinion page there was a letter from Mike Junge regarding immigrants. It interested me because I remember my father relating the requirements to enter the United States when he emigrated in 1907, and I'll list them here:

Each person had to be able to read and write in her or her native language.

Each person had to have a registered sponsor who would be responsible for the immigrant, and would be sure the immigrant would have a job.

Each person would be quarantined until a physical exam could be administered, and the person declared in good health. Persons who failed the exam, including those with diseases or eye problems, faced return to their native land because the United States didn't want to have to support people who couldn't work.

Each person had to have $50 in American money, and those who were deported paid their passage with the required $50.

My parents sponsored a few people who came here when I was a child, many of them having been on a list for admission because there was a quota system at that time.

These rules and laws were entirely different from the immigration problem today, and I feel were far more fair to everyone than what's going on now. Admission to America when properly documented was right then, and it is today.

Lillian Harris

Des Plaines