Immigrants at Ellis Island. Library of Congress.

For the past few years, the nation’s attention has been repeatedly drawn to “the immigration problem” on the southern borders of the United States. This past summer, images of babies screaming for their mothers as families were separated, and photos of teens and young children peering through chain-link fences—with foil blankets crumpled in the background—tugged at heartstrings. With recent fear-mongering about a caravan of refugees making their way through Mexico toward the United States, the issue is once again taking center stage.

A nation of immigrants.

With each image, my thoughts turn to our nation’s long history of regulating immigration. After all, we are a nation of immigrants. Many of our ancestors sought religious freedom, freedom from persecution, or economic opportunity in America. That history is replete with conflicting policies: from the exclusion of Chinese, prejudice against those of Irish and Italian descent, and the deportation of those who were seen as “unfit” physically or mentally to enter the country, to decrees from the president that all immigrants be treated with respect.

A history of working with immigrants ‘in a middle place.’

For over a century, nurses have worked with immigrants in “a middle place”—balancing the needs of newly arrived families with […]