b'L ithuania is a small, northern European country that is of-ten mentioned as one of the Baltic States, along with Latvia and Estonia to the north, that shifted under control of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during the last century, and which declared its independence immediately upon the fall of the Soviet empire in 1990. Today it is an independent republic of about 2.7 million peopleroughly the size of San Antonio and Austin combined. First mention of Lithu-ania in European history was in 1009 A.D., and by 1253 the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest nation in Europe. By 1897, however, Lithuania was an oppressed state ruled under the iron fist of the Russian czar and 20% of its population emigrated out of the country over a period of 30 years, tens of thousands of them landing at Ellis Island, New York. This writers great-grandmother, a poor widow traveling alone with her infant son, my grandfather, were among them.Unless you are an African-American who descends from kidnapped African slaves, or a member of a Native American tribe, there is a high chance that your ancestors came to the United States like mine didthey were fleeing an oppres-sive environment for safety and freedom in America, the Land of Opportunity. The idea for most of them was that if they could only be given peace and an existing population in need of labor, that honest, hard work could lead to pros-perity for them and generations to followthe idea not only worked, but it builtAboveThree siblings, unaccompanied minors from Central America, resting along the caravan America. In 2019, the concept of merit-based immigration sounds wonderfulroute from Mexico to the Texas border; MiddleThe trend in quarterly border apprehensions, to many votersthis notion that only the kinds of people whom American com- spiking 567% since spring 2017; Lower2019 apprehensions tripling from January to May.panies need to fill skilled job openings should be allowed into the countrybut would have excluded virtually all of our ancestors who emigrated here, including my great-grandmother, as well as the grandfather of the sitting President of the United States, who was 16 when he came to America alone (an unaccompanied minor) from Kallstadt, Palatinate, Kingdom of Bavarianow Germany.The Statue of Liberty was presented as a gift to the United States by its first ally, France, the largest, single source of financing and military support for the American Revolution. The statue project was undertaken in 1875 to com-memorate Americas fostering of freedom for its people on the occasion of its Centennial, and specifically the abolition of slavery, which is symbolized by the unshackled chains around the walking feet of the Roman goddess, Libertas, a.k.a. Lady Liberty. The famous poem, The New Colossus, was a gift from celebrated author, Emma Lazarus, to raise money in New York for the 150-foot pedestal of the statue. The poem was intended as a message to immigrants to America from those who preceded themthat ours is a country where you are welcome, where you will find refuge from the oppression you are escaping, and that America is a place where the wretched refuse of your teeming shore would be met with the open arms of freedom and opportunity.For all its boundless natural beauty and rich, ancient cultures, Central America, specifically the three countries known as the Northern TriangleEl Salvador, Honduras and Guatemalais one of the most wretched places on earth to live for most of its population. All three countries have been immersed in civil war, and interchangeably, governmental oppression, for as long as 40 years in the case of Guatemala. El Salvador and Nicaragua were famously involved in proxy civil wars during the 1980s, armed, funded and supported by the U.S. on one side in each country, versus communist Cuban and Soviet-backed forces on the other. While the other Central American countries, Costa Rica, Panama and (most of) Belize have sustained political stability and safety over the last two decades, situations in the Northern Triangle have grown exceedingly worse.These countries are heavily armed with weapons of war supplied by every major arms-producing nation on earthfully automatic assault rifles, handguns and mortar weaponry from the Cold War era, including countless millions of rounds of ammunitionare prolific among all sectors of society. Political and military factions and sub-factions were established over a period of decades, with associations and alliances first organized to fight civil wars, then to hold TheCoastalBend.com THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINEFall 2019 25'