Sometime in the spring of 1864, Johann and Barbara Krzmarzick left the village of Deschenitz in Bohemia knowing they would likely never see that home again.\u00a0 Their four sons and a daughter were with them.\u00a0 The family went north to the port of Hamburg.\u00a0 There, they boarded the SS Bavaria bound for the United States.<\/p>\n
They traveled in \u201csteerage,\u201d the part of the ship reserved for cargo and the cheapest fares.\u00a0 They were common people, not designated because of any merit system.\u00a0 When my great, great grandparents arrived in New York Harbor on July 1, it was the beginning of our family in America.\u00a0 All Krzmarzicks in America are descended from them.<\/p>\n
Johann was listed as \u201cfarmer\u201d on the passenger list.\u00a0 Working farmland in Europe then meant laboring as a tenant-leaser.\u00a0 The opportunity to own a farm almost certainly drew him to this country.\u00a0 After going through Castle Garden Immigration Center, they somehow made their way to Wisconsin, where a sixth child was born in Green Bay.<\/p>\n
A short time later, the family travelled to Brown County. \u00a0They settled a farmstead in Home Township, west of New Ulm.\u00a0 Family lore has it that they lived in a dugout on the Cottonwood River for a short time.<\/p>\n
I was talking with my cousin, some-times removed, Peggy Tauer.\u00a0 Peggy is a great granddaughter of Johann and Barbara and has researched family history.\u00a0 We know frustratingly little about those first Krzmarzicks in America.\u00a0 We can speculate that the hope for a better life pulled them away from everything they knew.\u00a0 The journey across the ocean and half a continent must have been difficult, even treacherous.\u00a0 Once here, they faced the large task of creating a farm out of the prairie.<\/p>\n
Unless you are Native American, there is a story like this in your past: ancestors taking tremendous risks, allured by the promise of this country.\u00a0 It is the American story.\u00a0 In most cases, they were hardscrabble families who were at the bottom of society in their old country.\u00a0 The upper class were not compelled to take such a journey.<\/p>\n
There is another family that I don\u2019t know much about, except that they have the same desire to come to America that my great, great grandparents did.\u00a0 I am on the Social Concerns Committee for the Diocese of New Ulm.\u00a0 A while back, Deacon Tim Dolan told our group that the Diocese was exploring the possibility of hosting a refugee family with some other groups.<\/p>\n
The lengthy process had begun for that.\u00a0 It was likely to be a Congolese family.\u00a0 Following civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, half a million refugees have been forced from their homes and are living in camps throughout the region.\u00a0 These camps are unsafe places in poor neighboring countries.<\/p>\n
Contacts had been made with local employers.\u00a0 Southwest Minnesota has a worker shortage; there would be no problem finding jobs.\u00a0 I started to think this was something I could help with.\u00a0 It is exactly the kind of thing we Catholics should be doing.\u00a0 It was the same American story Johann and Barbara were part of, separated by 150 years.<\/p>\n
In September, it was announced that the number of refugees allowed to resettle in the United States would be cut from 100,000 to 45,000.\u00a0 Our family was in the group that was cut.<\/p>\n
45,000 is the smallest number of refugees taken by our country since 1980.\u00a0 The Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations all supported a larger number.\u00a0 This comes at a time when there are over 22 million refugees in the world.\u00a0 They are in that condition through no fault of their own.\u00a0 More than half are children.<\/p>\n
When one sees a number like \u201c22 million\u201d in print it is easy to glaze over.\u00a0 Don\u2019t.\u00a0 Stop for a moment and think of these people as real as those you live with, as real as your children and grandchildren.\u00a0 Refugees are all in some heartbreaking plight.\u00a0 Imagine your children or grandchildren in that situation.<\/p>\n
To be honest, it angered me that our local effort was halted.\u00a0 Countries like Bangladesh and Turkey are taking in hundreds of thousands of refugees.\u00a0 Meanwhile, 45,000 is .2% of the world\u2019s refugees.\u00a0 Is that the best we can do?<\/p>\n
The refugee issue is part of a larger debate over immigration.\u00a0 There are those who see immigration as something to be feared and opposed.\u00a0 That side is winning right now as immigration programs are all being slashed.<\/p>\n
We are told that immigrants bring crime and take jobs.\u00a0 But the crime rate among immigrants is lower than the general population.\u00a0 And no refugee has ever been involved in terrorism.\u00a0 These are simply facts.\u00a0 As for jobs, immigration has always backfilled low wage jobs that are essential to agriculture and service fields.<\/p>\n
In 1981, President Reagan released a Statement on Immigration and Refugees.\u00a0 It included this: \u201cWe must recognize that both the United States and Mexico have historically benefited from Mexicans obtaining employment in the United States.\u00a0 Illegal immigrants in considerable numbers have become productive members of our society. Those who have established equities in the United States should be recognized and accorded legal status.\u201d<\/p>\n
I showed that to a friend.\u00a0 He said any politician who said that now would be tarred and feathered.<\/p>\n
Reagan again: \u201cMore than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands.\u00a0 We shall continue America’s tradition as a land that welcomes peoples from other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
As citizens we need to weigh these issues.\u00a0 As Christians, we are called to a higher standard.\u00a0 The Bible is filled with exhortations to care for the alien and the foreigner.\u00a0 In the Old Testament we are told, \u201cIn whatever tribe a foreigner resides, you are to give them an inheritance declares the Sovereign Lord.\u201d\u00a0 In the New Testament, we are told, \u201cDo not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
We will be measured as Christians by this.\u00a0 We are to care about the 22 million refugees.\u00a0 We are to care about the Haitians and Salvadorans who are being forced to return to their struggling countries.\u00a0 We are to care about families being torn apart here in America to achieve some imaginary security.<\/p>\n
In this debate, I\u2019ll stand with the Bible and Ronald Reagan.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometime in the spring of 1864, Johann and Barbara Krzmarzick left the village of Deschenitz in Bohemia knowing they would likely never see that home again.\u00a0 Their four sons and a daughter were with them.\u00a0 The family went north to the port of Hamburg.\u00a0 There, they boarded the SS Bavaria bound for the United States. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weeds-by-randy-krzmarzick"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-22 19:05:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105284"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105319,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105284\/revisions\/105319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}