Paul Apostolidis, with roots from Lesvos, in his article in the New Lines Magazine describes how his recent ancestors arrived in America and draws parallels with the struggles of the so-called irregular immigrants and attitudes towards them. He also discusses the differences and how skin colour has facilitated the assimilation of Greek immigrants in contrast with immigrants from Mexico and how this is reflected in the anti-immigrant rhetoric which is often spoken by the newly established “white ethnics”
Although Apostolidis focuses on his own experience as a Greek American and as a researcher with migrant Mexican workers, the story is a familiar one throughout the world. He states that “the rhetoric of ‘invasion’ now dominates ordinary Republican talk on immigration” and this is also seen elsewhere and notably so in a Europe where a worrying polarisation in political sentiments has been stoked by the influx of immigrants seeking a safe haven or just a better future, an influx for which Lesvos has often held a centre stage.