Family History Information For...
Ken Cuccinelli
Aug 30, 2019
Their Own Two Feet
As the new public face of the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies, acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli has wasted no time stirring up collective ire. Most notably, he set off a firestorm of criticism by rewriting the iconic Emma Lazarus poem that has long functioned as a kind of unofficial American immigration mantra. “Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge,” he proudly told NPR’s Rachel Martin, who somehow resisted the urge to burst out laughing and/or slap him upside the head...
Ken’s grandmother Josephine Policastro Cuccinelli was also the Jersey-born daughter of Italian immigrants: Gaetano Policastro and Maria Ronga...
A teenaged Maria Ronga (her birth certificate indicates she was 17) arrived at Ellis Island in November of 1903 with her widowed 48-year-old mother... The “Record of Aliens Held For Special Inquiry” list indicates the reason they were held, abbreviated as “L.P.C.;” it stands for “Likely Public Charge.” So yes, the great-grandmother of the man now beating the drums to tighten the public charge rule was…labeled a likely public charge herself...
Joe Arpaio
Apr 9, 2018
Hey, Joe Arpaio! Your Grandma Was a Chain Migrant!
Notorious former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, currently running for a Senate seat in Arizona, has made no bones about how he feels about illegal immigrants. Let's say he is a bit — how shall we say? — hard core. But what of Arpaio's own immigrant roots?
Total number in family chain: 13 (14, if you include Donato himself)...
Arpaio routinely punished immigrants for not speaking English — “They are in the United States, and they should start speaking English,” he said in 2006 — given that his own father belonged to a fraternal organization in Massachusetts that was still keeping records entirely in Italian in 1931...
Steve Bannon
Sep 11, 2018
Trevor Noah Uncovers The Immigration Status Of Steve Bannon's Ancestors
Noah then explained that his team had hired a professional genealogist to dig into the immigration history of Bannon's ancestors. They discovered that "Bannon's great-great grandfather Lawrence Bannon arrived in the U.S. from Ireland by the 1850s, at a time when America's borders were so open that Irishmen could just walk into the country with no passports, no visas, no background checks of any kind."
Tucker Carlson
Aug 15, 2017
Sen. Rafael "Ted" Cruz
Mar 7, 2018
Ted's dad then went to Canada where he became a citizen in 1973. 🇨🇦 Here he is on the 1974 Alberta voter's list. 32 years later in 2005, he decided to become an American citizen – 48 years after his arrival in the U.S. 🇺🇸 #resistancegenealogy pic.twitter.com/wtRNrSZABJ
— Megan Smolenyak🕵️♀️ (@megansmolenyak) March 7, 2018
Ann Coulter
Dec 6, 2017
The Immigrant Ancestors Ann Coulter Wishes She Didn't Have
All eight of her paternal great-great-grandparents (four couples) came to America from Europe. Six of these eight were Famine-era arrivals from Ireland, while the other two were from Germany. Her Irish ancestors wouldn't have been welcomed with open arms as can be seen from these typical 19th century political cartoons...
Rep. Bob Goodlatte
Mar 21, 2018
Why Are Children and Grandchildren of Immigrants So Eager to Keep Immigrants Out?
As soon as I realized that Carl married Kentucky-born Marguerite in 1914, my memory bank sent out a flare. Wasn't this that time period when …? Yes, it was. By marrying a foreigner, Marguerite had lost her American citizenship. Thanks to bad timing, Goodlatte's grandparents had fallen into one of the pitfalls of the Expatriation Act of 1907...
On October 30th of that year, [Goodlatte's grandfather Carl] petitioned for naturalization, but in so doing, lied in his paperwork. One of the requirements for citizenship — dating back to 1795 — is five years of continuous residence in the United States, but as we've just seen, the Mentzendorff family spent a chunk of 1919 in Europe...
Laura Ingraham
Aug 9, 2018
His brother, who is already living in Willamantic, Connecticut. In other words, Laura Ingraham is a product of chain migration. pic.twitter.com/PXsgtKjsIb
— Jen T. (@stuffjenlikes) August 9, 2018
John Kelly
May 11, 2018
How John Kelly's family history compares with the immigrants he wants to keep from entering
On his mother's side, Kelly's great-grandfathers worked as a wagon driver and fruit peddler, according to Mendelsohn's research. These were not skilled positions, obviously. It's not clear that any of Kelly's immigrant ancestors had significant educational backgrounds. From one such record, Mendelsohn learned that John DeMarco, the fruit peddler, still didn't speak English after more than a decade in the country. His wife Crescenza — Kelly's great-grandmother — lived in the United States for more than 30 years without learning the language.
Tomi Lahren
Sep 7, 2017
Tomi Lahren, Meet The Great Great Grandfather Prosecuted For Forging His Citizenship Papers!
I ordered the court file, which included Dietrich's grand jury indictment, in all its 14-page glory. Tomi Lahren's great-great-grandfather was indicted on two separate counts, for “willfully, unlawfully and knowingly” making a false affidavit in connection with a naturalization proceeding, and for forging a naturalization document, in violation of the Naturalization Act of June 29, 1906.
The grand jurors accused him of swearing falsely to the date of his declaration, and of altering the original papers (“with a knife or steel eraser or other instrument unknown to the Grand Jurors”) to make it look like his declaration of intention to become a citizen had been executed in 1911 rather than 1909, apparently because he'd let too much time elapse before completing the naturalization process.
- The Revolving Door Citizenship of Tomi Lahren's Great-Great-Grandfather - It is patriotism of convenience, and I can't help but wonder whether it can be inherited.
- Except the 1930 census says Tomi's 3x great-grandmother had been here for 41 years and still spoke German. Her 2nd great-grandmother had been here for 10 yrs. Spoke no English. Her great-grandfather's 1895 baptism from MN? Recorded in Norwegian.
Jason Chaffetz
Dec 20, 2018
Jason Chaffetz' message for those seeking refuge? "Don't make this journey. It will kill you.”
— Jennifer Mendelsohn 🇺🇸 (@CleverTitleTK) December 20, 2018
Good thing no one told that to 15-year-old Celia Kessel Chaffetz when she came to the US by herself in 1898 from Lithuania.
You'll notice she had no money or job.#resistancegenealogy pic.twitter.com/P1Rk7Ha8OL
Vice President Mike Pence
Jan 25, 2018
Mike Pence's Immigrant Saga Makes a Case for Compassion
Although Mike Pence claims that he “grew up on the front row of the American dream” thanks in part to his Irish immigrant grandfather, he's not keen on migrant workers or chain migration. Other positions he holds on matters as wide-ranging as pregnancy prevention and government-provided safety nets were shared by many in the era of Richard Cawley, the grandfather he's so fond of mentioning, and the consequences for his family were far from trivial...
Turning to the family's Ellis Island saga, his grandfather and four of his siblings came to America (only the eldest remained in Ireland). They were so orderly that they immigrated in age sequence with James starting things off by going to an aunt in Illinois. He then helped Richard who helped Thomas who helped the sisters — one of tidiest set of chain migration links I've ever encountered...
Jacob Wohl
Mar 2, 2018
In 1917, younger brother Maurice joined him in Ohio. And then in 1920, 17-year old brother Jack joined the other two. Jack lists Samuel as his point of contact. Note that Jack's occupation is listed as “none.” He was allowed to come simply because he wanted to join his family. pic.twitter.com/Kwoe676drr
— Jennifer Mendelsohn 🇺🇸 (@CleverTitleTK) March 2, 2018
Dana Loesch
Sep 4, 2018
Friendly Fire: The Unexpected Family History of the NRA's Spokesperson
To summarize, research shows that Loesch's:
- father lost his father to gun violence
- paternal grandmother lost her husband to gun violence
- maternal grandmother lost her father to gun violence and almost lost her mother
- maternal great-grandmother lost her husband to gun violence after surviving his attempt to shoot her
This doesn't include Loesch's own account of her aunt who narrowly escaped being shot by her husband. And all of this was essentially friendly fire in the sense that every incident occurred on home turf and involved family members and patrons.
Stephen Miller
Aug 2, 2017
Stephen Miller favors immigrants who speak English. But the 1910 census shows his own great-grandmother couldn't. #oops pic.twitter.com/16GZ6Wtgvf
— Jennifer Mendelsohn 🇺🇸 (@CleverTitleTK) August 2, 2017
Rep. Ron DeSantis
Jul 31, 2018
Meet Your Great-Great-Grandmother, Ron DeSantis
On February 5th while they were at sea, the U.S. passed the Immigration Act of 1917 which was intended to limit undesirable southern and eastern European immigrants such as Luigia and her family. Fortunately, it wasn't implemented until May 1st. Otherwise, she and her daughters could have been denied entry due to the freshly imposed literacy requirement. They had squeezed in with a margin of ten weeks...
Jesse Watters
Jul 31, 2018
I wonder what semi-literate Irish immigrant laborer Michael Quinn — who in 1862 set down a “family rickerd” for his “dier children” warning them to “shun all bad company,” and in 1865 lost 2 kids to cholera in 10 days — would've thought of his great-great-great grandson Jesse... https://t.co/GooFqByFyG
— Eric Moskowitz (@ELMoskowitz) July 31, 2018
Rep. Devin Nunes
Apr 26, 2018
Why Hasn't Devin Nunes Assimilated Yet?
One of Nunes's grandfathers was born in Tulare in 1919 to Maria, the sister who had arrived with her whole family in 1908. These tight bonds were surely comforting, but likely made it harder for immigrants to assimilate. Here's Maria again in 1930 — 22 years after arriving in America — still unable to speak English...
It also seems that becoming an American citizen was not a priority for Nunes's family. Some of the nine immigrant relatives listed in the initial chart never went through the naturalization process, but here's a summary of those who did. Collectively, they took an average of 30.8 years from their date of arrival to do so...
Dan Scavino, Jr.
Jan 11, 2018
So Dan. Let's say Victor Scavino arrives from Canelli, Italy in 1904, then brother Hector in 1905, brother Gildo in 1912, sister Esther in 1913, & sister Clotilde and their father Giuseppe in 1916, and they live together in NY. Do you think that would count as chain migration? https://t.co/m25mrJHjcT
— Jennifer Mendelsohn 🇺🇸 (@CleverTitleTK) January 11, 2018
Rep. Paul Gosar
Jan 30, 2018
...and one more. The 1940 census which shows that both of Paul Gosar's immigrant paternal grandparents only had a 5th grade education. (I can come back and look at his maternal side later.) pic.twitter.com/q3Oq8083Nr
— Libby Stigaard Ilson (@TheAllergicKid) January 31, 2018
Rep. Steve King
Mar 13, 2017
Here's @SteveKingIA's grandmother Freda, age 4, arriving in the US with her 2-year-old brother and baby sister in 1894. #SomeoneElsesBabies pic.twitter.com/B6BCzZfHmQ
— Jennifer Mendelsohn 🇺🇸 (@CleverTitleTK) March 13, 2017
- Steve King's District Was Built by “Somebody Else's Babies”
- The Elbert Files: Playwrights expose Steve King - A new one-act play uses the immigrant ancestors of Steve King to expose the Iowa congressman's xenophobia.
President Donald Trump
Jan 11, 2018
Under Trump's new immigration rule, his own grandfather likely wouldn't have gotten in
The policy, the Raise Act, would introduce a point-based system for new applicants to enter the United States. In addition to speaking English, points would be awarded based on answers to these other questions that Miller mentioned: “Can they support themselves and their families financially? Do they have a skill that will add to the U.S. economy? Are they being paid a high wage?
Were that policy in place in 1885, Friedrich Trumpf would likely not have gained entry to the United States. The immigration record for his arrival that year indicates that he arrived without an identifiable “calling”: The word “none” sits next to his name in that column.
Kanye West
Jan 11, 2018
Kanye, Meet Your Great-Uncle
Like countless others, I was confounded by your recent comment about slavery being a choice, so I decided to explore your family tree (as a genealogist, that's my instinctive response to many circumstances)...
Whenever your travels should next take you to Louisiana, I hope that you might consider squeezing in a visit to pay tribute to this great-great-great-uncle of yours because he was far more heroic than his modest headstone might suggest. You see, Pvt. Daniel A. West was born free and made a deliberate choice to help those who weren't.
James Woods
May 8, 2018
The Sullivans then took refuge again, in a second country.
— Jennifer Mendelsohn 🇺🇸 (@CleverTitleTK) May 8, 2018
Here's Catherine and kids arriving steerage in New York in 1872. And here they are in the 1880 census in Providence, RI.
Would you call them invaders? I call them your great-great-grandparents. #resistancegenealogy pic.twitter.com/XId5QKSCi5
Kris Kobach
Oct 8, 2018
I'm sure Kris Kobach is just trying to keep out the kind of immigrants whose unruly teenaged kids would join a "club" to commit burglaries.
— Jennifer Mendelsohn 🇺🇸 (@CleverTitleTK) October 8, 2018
Oh, wait. Sorry. That was his own great-grandfather in 1902.
h/t @ricketiki https://t.co/AQGRgQ2YT1 #resistancegenealogy pic.twitter.com/VlujPQKBCl
Kirstjen Nielsen
Jun 15, 2018
Oh, look - here's Kirstjen Nielsen's grandfather's birth record from Sant'Arcangelo, Italy and him arriving at Ellis Island a few months later - and not being torn away from his mother. #resistancegenealogy#DoUntoOthers pic.twitter.com/y21VPIdPZN
— Megan Smolenyak🕵️♀️ (@megansmolenyak) June 15, 2018
